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Being a truthful doctor || Acharya Prashant (2017)
4.8K views
5 years ago
Dharma
Right Action
Doctor-Patient Relationship
Truth vs. Expectation
Hippocratic Oath
Fear
Devotion
Description

Acharya Prashant addresses a doctor's question about dealing with patients' expectations. He begins by questioning what obliges a doctor to conform to a patient's wants. Drawing a parallel to his own work, he asks whether he should provide what people want or what he knows is good for them. He states that while everyone is entitled to have wants, there is no obligation for a professional to simply pander to them. He then invokes the Hippocratic Oath, asking whether its purpose is to fulfill patient expectations or to do what is truly best for them. He probes the doctor's motivation for wanting to meet these expectations, questioning if it stems from a genuine sensitivity to not hurt the patient's feelings, or from a fear of material loss, such as the patient leaving for another doctor. He asserts that in either case, the doctor is not following their true duty, or 'dharma'. Catering to a patient's emotions or acting out of fear of losing business are both deviations from the right path. Acharya Prashant advises the doctor to have faith, do what is right, and let a higher principle guide their actions. He reassures them that they will never be short of patients and should focus on doing what is genuinely good for them. He emphasizes that the world needs such doctors, but more importantly, these doctors need themselves. To be the 'right doctor' is to be right for the patient, and fundamentally, to be right for oneself. Being right with oneself, one's relationships, and the world is the prerequisite to being right for the patient. He concludes by urging the doctor to abandon all fears and doubts and to remember their true role. A doctor, he explains, is not a 'shopkeeper' or a 'fulfiller of patients' demands.' He is a doctor. Using his own work as an example, he notes that people listen to him because they trust he will provide what is right, not what is demanded. He encourages the questioner to be one of the few who are doctors in the truest sense of the word, stating that the world is waiting for them.