Let's assume that I am a Cardiac Surgeon and I performed an Open-Heart Surgery on a middle aged man to replace a few of his coronary arteries that were blocked due to long standing disregard by him for his hypertension and diabetes in addition to chain-smoking and sedentary lifestyle. Did you imagine the scenario? Patient comes to me begging for his life and naturally I do what it takes and we spend time and effort, myself and all the health care providers involved, to make him better. Thousands of Riyals are spent too by the government or the man himself to ensure that he gets the best care possible. What happens next? Man goes home back to his life and I forget about him and get busy with my own life too.
Unfortunately, and this is a very repetitive scenario we see everyday, a couple of years later, same man is back to you with chest pain. What have you been doing these last years, you ask. "Eating, smoking, sitting on my big fat ass and have not changed anything you asked me to," he replies.
"You don't deserve a second chance. You can drop dead for all I care. You had your chance and you blew it. Why should I waste my time and effort again on such a lost cause? Not to mention, the bed, the manpower and money that is going to be wasted on you should go to someone else who didn't come back again with the same PREVENTABLE disease like you did." That is the EXACT thing I think of saying every time I see a similar case. Am I harsh? Am I cold? Did I choose the wrong profession? Hmm... I'm not sure.
Just one more reason I consider Pediatrics as a speciality, children don't CHOOSE to be sick as much as we adults tend to do. Yes, it's our choice in most cases.
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