Hello, this is your doctor. I wanted to talk to you, dear patient. It’s that I’m trying to heal you, I’m trying really hard. But sometimes I can’t do it. I am sorry. It disturbs me and keeps me up at night.
I learned in medical school that I had to provide you with a quality of care commensurate with the scientific knowledge of our developed society. That’s what I try to do.
Despite all my good will, on the other hand, I manage to do it rather badly. It’s that the health care system is so broken! I know that you already know this and that you have plenty of examples to give me of the failures of the system to treat you. But I want you to know that you’re not alone in the trenches — I’m there with you, by your side. Sometimes, I confess to you that I don’t know any more than you how to get us out of this war. However, it should be so simple: I who want to help you and take care of you by doing my job, you who allow me to take care of you and who receive the care you need.
I want to be there for you when you suffer not only physically, but also morally. I have lots of ideas on how to better help you and I try to implement them. But as you have surely noticed, this is not the time for small ideas — it boils down to one big basic concept: the humanization of the health network.
For me, your doctor, the humanization of the network means that the elderly do not wait in garages before entering an emergency room; children in distress are not cared for in the corridors; and patients are all seen in a timely manner by a doctor before disaster strikes. The humanization of the network means that I can pick up a test for you when you need it, that you will have laboratory samples near you, that you will receive your imaging exams and that you will see the specialist required in time, that you will have the surgery that will help you, or a social or psychological worker to listen to you and bring you help when life is just too much.
It breaks my heart to have to call a politician to have you seen by a specialist for your cancer, to write to the newspapers to get you a vaccine or to go out in the media to prevent the closure of my CLSC.
So, I need you, your entourage, your whole network: get up, help us out of the trenches, to organize a compassionate network that benefits from the resources necessary to treat you, a network that is governed on a local base and which provides local care. Write to your MP with your concerns, participate in a monitoring committee, contact your users’ committee, support a group of patients, do what you can. But get involved, because we’re in this mess together — in fact, we’re partners for life!
Dear patient, you will have understood that, without you, we will not succeed. You will be more and more unwell, and so will I. Our destinies are intimately linked. We are in this together, and only together will we get through this.
Thanks for your attention.
your doctor