医者と患者との問題は日本に限らず，アメリカでも取り上げられることが多いようです。人間を扱うお医者さんという仕事に関しては，昔から変わらない生物としての人間と，進歩している技術の違いがあると，塩野さんも書いていらっしゃいました。この違いはこれからも変わらないのだと思います。人間味を持つべき場面と，人間味を排除する場面の使い分けがお医者さんには求められるのでしょう。そのバランスがお医者さんには求められていると言うことを患者さんは理解しないといけないのかもしれません。
What I experienced when I was diagnosed, the minute I became a cancer patient, when I walked into the room, that's all I was. And they had to open up the file, look at the kind of cancer I had, see that it was very bad news, and then it was just hard for them to get past that and talk to me as a person.
So, part of my journey was really trying to reappear to them as a person. I think the idea of wearing lipstick in the operating room -- I wanted to get noticed. It's a very anonymous situation, when you have to wear the hospital gown, and it says, you know, "property of the hosital." And I just thought if maybe they saw my lipstick during the surgery, they might be surprised to remember that there was a young woman there.EJ Interview Geralyn Lucas - English Journal March 2008 issue
I think my story is so universal; it's not really just my story -- I think it's just a matter of telling it, and, um ... So I just, it almsot reads like a diary, like, that I kept notes during my treatment. And, uh, again, it's just a real honor that so many people connect with it and say, "You were telling my story. It wasn't your story," which I think is so cool. I love that.EJ Interview Geralyn Lucas - English Journal March 2008 issue
