A caring hand can touch our patients in many ways

Commentary. By Eric Anderson, MD, AMNews contributor. Dec. 10, 2001.

COMMENTARY

Observations on the state of medical practice and medical life

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I was a speaker at the annual meeting of the American Pharmaceutical Assn. in Montreal about 18 or so years ago. I don't recall the details of my subject much, but what I do remember is that one of the other speakers was a corner-store pharmacist from the Los Angeles area who enjoyed being called "the Hugging Druggist."

This was in the days when a pharmacist's job seemed to be merely to deliver a bottle of the designated dose of the correct medication. But his style, he said, was to fill the prescription, hand it to the customer, then come around his counter and embrace the patient. He called his hugs "Vitamin H." Customers, he told me, would drive all across L.A. just to get his personal service and his hugs. "I can't understand why so many doctors are so standoffish with their patients," he told me, "Why they don't show their interest in their patients more. Why they don't lay on hands more and give more comfort."

I don't understand it either.

Oh sure. Lots of doctors are friendly. And it's not every patient who enjoys being touched. Said a young male physician to me once: "I'm really careful about not giving an encouraging pat to any female patient, especially if she's a young career woman. I reckon if they don't want me holding doors open for them they sure as heck don't want me patting them on the shoulder -- or anywhere else." [...]