Communication and Persuasion in Medicine

Similar to James, I also plan on going into the medical field.  Much of what I have to say is similar, as our two fields coincide, but I will attempt to make my post as unique as I can, or at least give it a different flavor through my own voice. 

I am still ambivalent and oscillating as to what exact study I am going to devote my career to, but I have narrowed the choices down mainly to pharmacy and surgery (and also maybe neurology).  Though the realms are quite different in terms of prescribing and physically applying learned medical skills, the rhetoric employed is nearly identical. 

One must know what to put in the syringe,
and where best to put the syringe, while also
convincing the patient to accept the syringe.

As a physician or surgeon, communication first takes place in the office or in the operation room, depending on the patient's current circumstances being dire, or slightly less so.  Either way, be it an emergency or a routine checkup, the patient must be convinced via oral or written reasoning and information as to whether or not to go through with what the doctor professes is "best."  This can be an easy process at times, as the authoritative presence of someone who has spent a large portion of their life to study and practice bears much weight.  Conversely, a stubborn or skeptical patient might require substantial counseling before accepting or rejecting aid.  The outcome of this decision is in part determined by urgency and the gravity of the patient's condition, but much of the time is also heavily reliant on how effective the doctor is in persuasion. 

"To take this medicine or that medicine—or no medicine," or "to go under the knife and radiation, or risk it" are some of the dilemmas patients must acquire an opinion on.  "Is it worth it," and "what is 'it?'"  Before making a decision to heed or dismiss the advice of the doctor, the patient must better understand the nature of their own condition, a worrisome need readily assuaged by said physician or surgeon. 

Take the right one and you live, but take the wrong one and you die.
Better ask the doctor first.

In theory, the doctor is the more knowledgeable of the two with regards to the patient, no doubt due to numerous years of learning and practice before actual application even begins, but this is not always the case.  In general, yes, the patient feels a sense of inferiority to the doctor, or possibly just respect for the medical position, but this does often lead to excessive pride in the doctor.  This "God Complex," as James put it, is a force that must be monitored. 

In my own personal experience, I had a medical tragedy that kept me out of school for two years (and continues to inhibit my success in academics even now).  Fearing for my health and even my life, I consulted a doctor for their professional diagnosis.  Going into the meeting, I had a theory as to what had happened to me, but the doctor disregarded the thought and labeled it "impossible."  Putting me through all the motions for the tests that he thought I needed to go through, the results concluded that nothing was wrong with me—a self-fulfilling prophecy that deeply offended me.  My proposition was to look into a second, "impossibly" rare scenario, but I was merely stuck with a massive painkiller shot and sent home. 

Though the Tenth Doctor might be experienced,
I do not think that he has the appropriate
"experience" for solving most medical issues,
nor of harboring the corresponding ethos.

Months later, I was still unable to properly function, and after attempting to return to school, was forced to go back home and seek further medical assistance.  Something was wrong with me, and after meeting with another, more receptive doctor, we found that I indeed had suffered the exact condition that I had suspected and feared. 

To make a long story short, a doctor must make excellent use of logos in assessing issues in a patient and providing a train of thought leading said patient to accepting help.  This is not all, however, because though the doctor must exercise skillful epideictic oratory (and even judicial oratory to demonstrate prior experiences and results), they must do it in a way so as not to dissuade the patient from accepting the physician's or surgeon's ethos.  Additionally, in order to be the most effective doctor, one must be willing to listen to the plea of the patient, as neither of the two parties are operating or prescribing for themselves.  Without a proper connection of minds under mutual respect, a doctor's rhetoric can still fail him or her.  Looking back at my own interest in this field and my unfortunate, but eye-opening event, I wish to pursue the path of biology with a wiser gait.