“What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine” by Danielle Ofri, MD; c.2013, Beacon Press $24.95 / $28.95 Canada; 240 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer

He wasn’t the doctor you normally see.

It really didn’t matter, though. Choice of physician wasn’t an issue in the ER, but pain and fear definitely were. You didn’t care who you saw right then. You just wanted it over – stat, as they say.

When it was, and you were finally home safe, you realized something: you saw the doctor for about three minutes. He was caring, but cursory. Brief, and very businesslike. And in the new book “What Doctors Feel” by Danielle Ofri, MD, you’ll get a glimpse of what might’ve gone through his head that night.

For decades, we’ve been conditioned to believe that doctors are supposed to keep an emotional distance from their patients. We expect a certain detachment and formality – but we also expect compassion. Is this a contradiction in demand?

Dr. Danielle Ofri says no. Though remaining businesslike may often be essential, the physician-patient interaction “is still primarily a human one.” No matter how aloof the doctor or sick the patient, we still connect on a one-to-one basis.

Terri Schlichenmeyer

We shouldn’t be surprised, therefore, to note that doctors are mortals who sometimes “fall short on empathy” when an illness doesn’t make sense or a wound isn’t obvious, when patients don’t follow advice, display entitlement, or steadfastly maintain bad habits. In those cases, frustration rises and remaining empathetic is “challenging,” but as a young medical student, Ofri learned from “an act of compassion” that finding empathy is possible as well as essential.

We shouldn’t feel surprised to note that medicine is like many professions, and certain clients are “problem” clients. As in many jobs, doctors use dark humor and “derogatory terms” to deal with personal discomfort, show solidarity, ease unpleasantness, or bring levity to the situation. And, as in every job, some topics are off-limits.

Doctors fear harming their patients, missing something important, making mistakes. They become overwhelmed by neediness and illness, and by reams and reams of paperwork necessary in today’s medical world. They can succumb to the kinds of maladies and addictions they see every day, they can be stubborn in their decisions, they momentarily forget things, and they surely experience burn-out.

And yes, doctors do have favorite patients. And they cry when those patients die.

With incredible insight, lyrical beauty, humor and consideration, author Danielle Ofri, MD gives readers the kind of comfort we need when faced with any sort of medical anything by revealing exquisite vulnerability in an esteemed profession. She successfully portrays the processes of diagnosis and treatment as more human than clinical, and that’s likewise soothing.

But not everybody will enjoy what’s here.

Medical personnel might be unhappy that Ofri exposes certain, darker bedside manners. Indeed, the section on medical slang is uncomfortable to read – and yet, because that blunt truth follows with the spirit of this book, it belongs.

Overall, I couldn’t let go of this graceful, elegant, honest book and I think you’ll love it, too. If you’re a doctor or if you’re anyone’s patient, “What Doctors Feel” is a book to read – stat.

The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 12,000 books.