Doctors Are Human Too

Patients need to be reminded that doctors are human too and that they do occasionally make mistakes. This is not very comforting. After all, when you are ill, you'd prefer to think of your doctor as being superhuman - someone who is omniscient and omnipotent and can help you recover quickly. Unfortunately, doctors are not Gods - though some of them do seem to behave they they are !

I'd love to provide a guarantee to all my patients that their IVF cycle is going to work - but this is not possible, given the fact that biological systems and complex and unpredictable.

Some patients naively believe that because doctors have a lot of training, they should be perfect. Yes practice does make perfect, but doctors are not infallible !

While I do my best ( as I am sure all doctors do ), patients should understand that there is a lot they can contribute to helping make sure the doctor does a good job.

I once miscalculated the age of my patient. Making a 31 year old women older by a decade is not something which women will forgive easily ! I created a very poor impression - and the look on her face told me that she was beginning to wonder if she might be better off with another IVF doctor. However, after I apologized, and recalculated her age, things were much better, and I can only hope she does not hold my bad math against me !

I want my patients to understand that I can make mistakes just like they can, but I do appreciate the trust and faith that they have in me. These women have come to me because they want to have a child, and working together , we can solve their problem and help them to have a baby .

Want to learn more about how you can prevent your doctor from making mistakes ? Please send me your medical details by filling in the form at www.drmalpani.com/malpaniform.htm so that I can guide you better !