What with the hypochondriacs and the time-wasters, a medic’s work is never done. And let’s not forget the injured bottoms …
At school, I was quite nerdy and interested in human biology, so I decided to go into medicine. No one else in my family is a doctor, so I didn’t have any role models. At medical school, you were given a whole dead body to dissect – I heard stories of people playing cricket with limbs and skipping with intestines.
Dealing with patients every day means dealing with a lot of hypochondria – people who have minor symptoms, or absolutely nothing wrong with them, are often convinced that they are dying. One lady came into A&E every day for a year – even though she would be waiting six hours or more to be seen. We have had parents who wanted to have a party, but didn’t have childcare, so dropped off their kids at A&E. Another set of parents came into A&E on Christmas Day to try to get batteries for their kids’ toys because the shops were closed.
