Eric D. Manheime is the director of Bellevue Hospital Center. He is also a physician. And the survivor of throat cancer. Writing for the NYTimes, "When Doctors Become Patients," he reveals that when it comes to serious and profound illness affecting them, "doctors are as irrational" as the rest of us; and probably more so given what they know intellectually.
Dr. Manheim recounts the ups and downs of being diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the throat, brutal treatment regimens, the removedness of physicians from the real world of their patients, the peaceful resignation of choosing not to go on, and the intervention of his spouse who told him he would complete the treatment. It's a rigorous read.
In Dr. Manheim's story he is a better doctor for having been a patient. Once he let himself be the patient. Still and all he will tell you that even if he had to do it all over again, he would not be any more prepared. "No amount of doctoring can prepare you for being a patient."
What happens back in the Land of Jurisprudence when a lawyer becomes a client? Do you make it any easier for those who are on your side, fighting your case? Or are you still in charge?
In Manheim's situation his wife made the crucial decision for him to finish the treatment. As a result he is three years now a survivor of the cancer. He recognizes the dilemma of who will make the right decision when the physicians and the patient can not.
A law suit may be equivalent to a case of cancer. I am forced to wonder how much control the lawyer has clenched in her fist because she has seen the bad outcomes when she was sitting on the other side of the desk. Will she allow herself to be a client? How will she let another advocate on her behalf?
In situations like these, Counsel, those of us working on your behalf may disagree and differ with your assessment, legal story and strategy. Who is there to help call the game shot?
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