DOCS IN THE BOX
(Movies
about Doctors & What We Can Learn From Them)
Talking about movies is all about
personal taste.
One said it's brilliant, meanwhile for
others that particular thing is awful awful. But people can reach one common
conclusion about movies, such as in IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Cannes, Oscar,&
so on (hahaha, I know, it’s a bit pathetic to write IMDb & Rotten Tomatoes
alongside Cannes & Oscar). I hope that you share my taste on the following
movies. Movies about doctors. Many of them, but I pick only 4 of my fave (so
far). Well, "fave movie" is a growing list, they even evolutionize.
I present them in random order.
(A) The Doctor (William Hurt, 1991, Touchstone
Pictures, 2hours 3mins)
A story about one
very successful cardiothoracic surgeon, Jack MacKee, in his fortieth. Very
confident, skillful, takes life easy. Then suddenly his world crumbles when he’s
diagnosed with laryngeal cancer. The
wake-up call : the doc now becomes the patient. Di sepanjang film digambarkan
how he deals with this unpleasant reality. The film is loosely based on dr.
Edward Rosenbaum’s 1998 book, A Taste of My Own Medicine.
The good :
The
movie reminds me how it feels to be a patient. Makes me appreciate my patients
more. I have to be more emphatic with their sufferings & struggles. Have to
be grateful for the second big blessings in my life (after salvation), which is
: health. Like they said, when you put yourself in somebody else's shoes, your point
of view changed. Itu digambarkan dengan baik saat dia lagi didorong as a
patient in a gurney. Belajar menempatkan diri sebagai pasien makes you a better
doctor.
Kemudian
dikontraskan antara dr. Eli Blumfield dan dr. Leslie Abbott. Sama-sama pintar
tapi beda pendekatan dengan pasien. Leslie sama persis seperti Jack. Dingin,
distanced, not caring enough. Sementara Eli (yang selalu Jack dan teman2nya
olok2) hangat, ramah, care sama pasiennya, selalu berusaha menjelaskan prosedur
sebelum dikerjakan. Pada akhirnya, yang dipilih pasien bukan hanya kepintaran
dan keahlian dokter, tapi juga bedside manner dan perhatiannya.
Jika
dokter harus menjadi pasien dulu supaya bisa mengerti betul rasanya menjadi
pasien, maka sungguh hebat keputusan Allah untuk menjadi manusia dalam diri
Tuhan Yesus. Dia bisa menyelami sepenuhnya bagaimana rasanya, sengsaranya,
susahnya, sukacitanya menjadi manusia. Terbatas ruang, waktu, kuasa. Hanya Dia
yang layak kita andalkan, karena Dia mengerti betul kita, karena sudah pernah
jadi seperti kita (hanya saja tidak berbuat dosa).
Film
ini juga mengingatkanku tentang apa yang penting dalam hidup. Seorang dokter
seringkali tenggelam dalam pekerjaan dan melupakan pentingnya memelihara family
relationship. When your health deteriorate & you find yourself helpless,
the one that will be with you ‘til the end is your family. They need you &
you need them. So we have to learn to appreciate every moments in life,
especially with our beloved ones.
“Every
doctor becomes a patient somewhere down the line and then it’ll hit you as hard
as it hits me” – Jack MacKee to Leslie Abbott
