The Clinic

     Even though I enjoyed reading many of the selections in our text, I would have to say "The Clinic" is my favorite. I know big shocker with me being a premed student and wanting to become a doctor in the future. However, I felt the story told by the medical student, in the "The Clinic", to be a powerful lesson about how medical diagnosis isn't just about the physical aspects of an illness. The young medical student in the excerpt had tried to diagnose a young boy using solely the boy's physical symptoms which left the student without an answer. Then when the med student consulted an actual physician, did he learn that diagnosis was not so black and white. The medical student was changed in that instant he was told the child was being abused and suffered depression. I have found that this medical lesson is very common in the novels I read about doctors and their journeys. The doctor always discusses an instance in their journey where they are faced with a patient that is difficult to diagnose because the patient is not only physically ill. This lesson acts a stepping stone for all doctors when they're learning to treat patients. "The Clinic" clearly potrayed the importance of the lesson and I enjoyed reading it because it also taught me about one of the difficulties that face physicians.