To the brink and beyond

Stuff happens, there's no doubt about it. However, this is taking it to the extreme:

"...Naum Ciomu, 58, was operating on the man to correct a testicular malformation when he lost his temper. Grabbing a scalpel, he sliced off the penis in front of amazed nursing staff, then cut it into three pieces before storming out of the operating theatre at the Panduri Urology Hospital in Bucharest..."
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Stress and personal problems have been forwarded as the cause. No one enters medicine thinking they would do something like this, and presumably, few people will. My worry is the negative personal changes that will occur over my med school training - the affects of busyness, stress, and dealing with the emotionally charged routinely. How could someone that was able to pass through all the hoola hoops to becoming a surgeon do such a thing? It's hard for a young, idealist, self flattering medical student to understand. Yet, I've already seen changes in myself. 4 months ago I would have told you that urology (assuming I actually knew what urology was) is disgusting. After meticulously dissecting a cadeaver, speaking to a few gleeful kidney transplant recipients, learning about emerging prostate cancer research, and general desensitization to anything anatomically private...it's suddenly become a specialty of interest. That's only 4 months.

I've witnessed a doctor uncover a sensitive area of an older woman without asking her. I've heard a pediatrician refer to a child as a FLK (funny looking kid). These things bother me...at least for now. In doctors' defence, I suspect one cannot deal with emotionally charged things all day. Could a doctor look at private parts all day comfortably if she saw them as private? Could a pediatrician sustain himself without depersonalizes the innocent suffering around him (treating children who could easily be his own)?

So what are some strategies to ward off the jadedness and remain emotionally balanced?

-hang out with people outside of medicine

-blog about stuff other than medicine; I hope someone comment slaps me if I become overly fixated on med stuff

-document my current idealistic euphoria regarding my future career in medicine

-complain about stuff that doesn't seem right

We'll see how it goes.