I have been friends with the brilliant Dr. Balpal Sandhu for many years now and over that time I have seen the true side to a doctor’s life, beyond the gown and the face mask. WE often talk about how much respect doctors get and in my view it is 100% warranted. These men and women dedicate their lives to the improvement of others, and they have to work so incredibly hard for a very long time just to be able to help people. If you are in any doubt as to whether or not you should give this level of respect to a doctor, here is an insight into what some of their lives are like.
Sacrifice
Something which none of us are aware of is the level of sacrifice that doctors have to make in their personal lives because of the fact that their professional life is so important. Balpal tells me stories all of the time of doctors who have had to cancel events and parties, some have even had to cancel their honeymoons! The divorce rate for doctors is also incredibly high and that is because they just aren’t there, they are either working or on call, being pushed and pushed to their limits.
Emotional Anguish
We often think of doctors working on patients in the same way that a mechanic may work on a car, juts looking at it as a group of parts with something wrong. The idea that doctors are thick skinned and that they are able to ignore their emotions is very true, the notion that they don’t feel what they live each day however, that is completely untrue. Doctors are humans and they never get used to death or pain, or the heartbreak of a family which has to say goodbye to a loved one. They store this up and eventually the levee breaks and those emotions come flooding out, it is just that we don’t see it.
Studious
We all know that doctors must study for a very long time in order to pass their medical exams, but what many of us fail to realize is that the studying never stops. Balpal will regularly get home from a 12 hour shift at the hospital and go to his study in order to read a new theory or a new treatment method. Medicine is evolving and advancing all of the time and it is vital that doctors stay on top of things so that they can provide the very best duty of care to their patients. most doctors will continue to study throughout their entire careers in order to be the very best that they can be, and that is on top of the ridiculous number of hours that they work in the hospital.
These are the reasons why doctors are some of the most noble and well respected members of our community, and why I consider them all to be heroes.
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