Surgeon's OCD

    St Luke is considered as the patron of physicians and surgeons by catholic church. But some behaviour peculiar to surgeons make me think we are followers of Apostle Thomas. We don't believe unless we feel it ourselves. This is a job induced obsession.

    Every time when someone comes with a deep wound, the surgeon is restless until he could put the finger inside, rotate and feel the depth and floor of it. It is a part of medical examination, and it has to be done. But even if one doctor in a group feel it and explain, others wont be satisfied until they have their own personal experience.

    There was one patient who came with a 'T tube'. It was time to be removed. Normally it would come out easily on a gentle tug. So the junior most resident tried, it didn't come out, then the next senior guy tried, then my colleague tried, but it didn't come out. Then a weight was attached to it and the patient was asked to move around. Even after the description how tight it was, I could feel my inner urge to try myself. I couldn't resist it. I also gave a try only to find that it was abnormally tight as they described.

     But a many a times, this obsession can save the patient from catastrophes. Counter checking the clinical findings by a senior resident, going through the lab results from original reports and confirming the biopsy results have saved lives and decreased unwanted morbidity.