Injustice

摘要

Towards the end of my surgery rotation, I had the misfortune of witnessing an incident in the hospital that I have since catalogued in memory under the heading 'Terrible Unfair Things I Saw When I Was A Medical Student'. A fellow student and I were on call for the evening with a junior resident, when we were summoned to the emergency department (ED) for a consult. We were assigned to do a complete history and physical examination and present our findings to the resident. The only information we received was that the patient was a 'prisoner with anal abscesses'. I found myself wincing inwardly at this description for reasons that even now are complicated to tease apart. I suppose I should have been desensitised by then to feelings of disgust about 'taboo' body parts, and I prided myself on having an open-minded attitude towards patients from all backgrounds. Nonetheless, I experienced a visceral jolt upon hearing the words 'prisoner', 'anal' and 'abscess' strung together like that. Furthermore, the entire evaluation would be performed in front of accompanying police officers. I had done this once before and found myself vicariously humiliated. However, as soon as we began talking to this frightened, vulnerable 42-year-old patient, my fears of mutual embarrassment were quickly supplanted by concern.