The GP Who Believed Me
It is 2013. We are sitting across from yet another doctor, hopeful that this one will be able to shed some light on what is causing the unrelenting pain in my (then) ten-year-old daughter’s foot. He reads over her medical history and proceeds to ask me a plethora of questions. Not once does he address her directly. But why am I surprised? He barely acknowledged her as we entered the consultation room.
I’m growing increasingly irritated by him ignoring my child – the patient he is supposed to be consulting.
Doctor (looking directly at me): “Can you describe what the pain feels like?”
“Why don’t you ask my daughter? She’s sitting right here.” Doctor: “I don’t have time to listen to a child.”
At what age are we deemed old enough to be seen as the expert in our own health? The laws around children and young persons in Aotearoa do not specify an age at which an individual can consent to medical treatment (New Zealand Psychologists Board (NZPB), 2017). Rather, the focus is on the individual’s capacity to understand the treatment being proposed and to express their own wishes. Given that the doctor above had never met my daughter, nor made any effort to engage her in conversation, the only information available to him to judge her level of maturity (capacity) would have been her biological age. Without conscious awareness, my gut instinct was that the patient is the best person to describe the sensations within their own body.
I do not recall how old I was when my mother stopped accompanying me into medical appointments. But I do remember the first doctor to treat me as an equal and respect my right to medical autonomy. With decades of experience, John Pollock was like a father figure to me; yet he trusted that I was the expert of my body. Rather than dismissing me when I did not fit the textbook symptoms, he would listen empathetically and work with me to diagnose and treat bothersome health conditions. He was the first person to suggest I try alternative therapies in the form of acupuncture and naturopathy; and one of only three general practitioners I have ever known to fully support holistic approaches to health. John also lobbied for euthanasia – even resigning from the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) because its views that euthanasia is unethical was in direct conflict of what he and many other doctors he had spoken to believed (Binning, 2010; “Doctor with Cancer Lobbies for Euthanasia,” 2010). Perhaps unconventionally, I knew of John’s views on assisted dying prior to him going public – long before his own terminal diagnosis. Indeed, I can recall many occasions where medical consultations turned into philosophical conversations – where any form of power imbalances simply did not exist.
Following John’s decision to step away from general practice, I decided to transfer to a new medical practice closer to home. It was at this point when I learned that not all doctors are created equal; and struggled when my new doctor was dismissive, dictatorial, and completely lacking empathy. However, by a wonderful twist of events, I discovered that a very close friend of John’s also worked at my new medical practice and for the next decade I enjoyed (and took for granted) full autonomy over my health. I am alive today because (unlike his colleagues) this doctor listened to me and was willing to investigate my suggested diagnosis. To be fair, I also had the privilege of having private health insurance – meaning that I was able to consult specialists, undergo expensive testing, and receive life-saving surgery in a very short period. Within the public health system, my symptoms had been dismissed (“it is just a recurring urinary tract infection”) and I was sent back to my family doctor. Had my doctor not viewed me as the expert of my own body, I would have died of sepsis.
References
Binning, E. (2010). Dying GP’s last wish: Legalise euthanasia. NZ Herald.
Doctor with cancer lobbies for euthanasia. (2010). Otago Daily Times.
New Zealand Psychologists Board (NZPB). (2017). Guidelines on informed consent. https://psychologistsboard.org.nz/wp- content/uploads/2021/06/BPG_InformedConsent_CURRENT_ADOPTED_230217.pdf
