The Doctor, 1991
Reviewed by Teresa Hartman, The Cheeky Librarian
123 minutes, 1991, William Hurt, Christine Lahti, Elizabeth Perkins, and Mandy Patinkin
The Doctor
Based on the book, A Taste of My Own Medicine, by Ed Rosenbaum, M.D.
A Taste of My Own Medicine: When the Doctor Is the Patient
(Or check them both out at your local library.)
Opening scene sets the stage--heart surgeons in their element, the O.R., saving a dying patient while joking that he didn't try to commit suicide correctly, closing the incision to a boom box full of that lyrical tune: "Why don't we get drunk and screw." That and the scenes that closely follow it set Dr. Jack McKee up as a doctor whose motto is, "Get in, fix it, and get out." He is insulting to the surgeon that has done research on patients' awareness while under anesthetic. He admonishes his residents that "...there's a danger about feeling too strongly about your patients... Caring is all about time... I'd rather you cut straight and cared less." He slowly begins to change his tune as he is unexpectedly a patient for the first time, with the abrupt diagnosis given to him by his ENT: "You have a growth on your larynx." It is darkly comical to watch him try to pull rank unsuccessfully as he navigates his familiar medical center world in the unfamiliar (and, in his view, disrespected) patient role. He is finally set straight by June, a fellow radiation oncology patient, who snaps at him when he says he is a doctor: "Not down here you're not." The movie winds up with Jack having his eyes opened to the experience all patients go through when they put their lives in doctors' hands, and introducing his residents to this side of life by assigning them a disease for 24 hours with the appropriate tests to go through, complete with hospital-gowned nudity.
Potential difficulties for cancer patients or caregivers watching (and I don't know if I am saying this in the right way): The only gut-pulling I experienced when watching this was when he was fitted for his mask in the treatment room. Even though it was the old style masking, I had a minor flutter while remembering a few of my own experiences. There is one deathbed scene when June has passed away, with Jack holding her hand and talking to her.
Jack's cancer strains all of his relationships, since he isn't used to turning to anyone for support: with fellow partners, his family, particularly with his wife, who has always been kept at arm's length, even to the point of her getting news about his upcoming partial laryngectomy through a phone call from his secretary. An example of how far a distance: Jack snorts after his wife says that they will beat the cancer, "We? It's not a team game." Comparing Jack and his (lack of) support circle in this movie to how I experienced support since my diagnosis is like comparing a 50's movie about childbirth to a Discovery Channel birthing show: in the former, everyone is outside, everything appears perfect, woman is alone in the process, no sharing going on; in the latter, it's more messy, lots of hollering, but is full of togetherness and bonding. Jack lets a perfectly good wife go to waste during most of the movie, only becoming aware that he needs her near the end of the movie, and finally tells her.
I chose to review this movie since the author of the book it is based upon is an alumnus of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where I work. I walk by his display daily--we have a copy of the script, a VHS tape, and the book in a glass case, along with other historical memorabilia involved with the teaching of medicine. The other reason I chose to review this movie--I was just getting into health education after it came out, and witnessed some of the changes that were attempted in education to get the empathy factor across to the students. Currently in our medical school, some of these changes are still in place. For the past 15 summers in June, third-year medical students have to do all sorts of procedures--including nasogastric tubes and drawing blood--on each other as they get ready to begin their specialty rotations. Before they touch a patient, they experience some of the touching themselves.
Read the intro to my Cancer Movies series:
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