Are Doctors Modern Day Priests?

Dear Reader,

Doctors may have become modern-day priests. They navigate vast cathedrals of care we know as hospitals. Medicine is their sacred text, with evidence-based principles akin to holy scriptures in vast journals waiting to be named.

They don distinctive attire like sacred robes and partake in time-honored rituals- morning report, M&M, and grand rounds. There is a beauty to this way of life. The intensity of its solitude at times. The front-row seat to human suffering interspersed with moments of joy. The deep-seated compassion and empathy that drives it all.

It is a way of life that binds us together. It is a path where one must be committed to going through the learnings repeatedly, revisiting cases both in the mind and in the text. It is a lifestyle that requires moments of recovery after long periods of neglecting one’s own sense of self and well-being.

To bind together, to go through over and over, to recover- these are the meanings of the Latin roots from which the word religion is derived. The intention here is not to uplift religion. The intention is to remind doctors of their venerated place in the lives of people in their community.

Medical practice isn’t merely a hub for prescriptions and running lab tests. It is a chance to walk beside others on their journey through good and bad times. Patients are seeking some sort of wholeness, much as we ourselves are seeking. I understand this quest intimately both as a doctor and a patient myself.

Even when a cure is unlikely, the space for wholeness or healing is still very possible. The most intuitive practitioners of healing understand this. Whether you are a patient or a practitioner, remember to hold a space for healing.

Warm Regards,

Dr. Hector Carballo, MD

P.S- Has anyone else observed the rapid vanishing of healing spaces from mainstream healthcare?