Introduction
The 1991 drama film The Doctor powerfully explores the flaws in the medical system and the dehumanization that can occur when physicians view patients as mere diseases rather than complex human beings. Directed by Randa Haines and starring William Hurt in the leading role, the movie centres on Dr Jack McKee, a practising surgeon who is full of himself gravely diagnosed with throat cancer. For McKee, who is suddenly becoming “the patient,” the crisis is a sharp thorn that puts him on a voyage of change, and the film critically examines the medical establishment and demonstrates that humanity should be essential.
Body
In his first days at the medical health facility as a patient rather than a doctor, Dr McKee is with his patient and is shocked by the impolite and offhand way the doctors treat him. The movie displays how doctors would respect their patients and disclose their diagnoses more effectively by having the Doctor ideally speak to McKee directly without mentioning his cancer (Haines, 1991). In addition, the pitted hospital bureaucracy needed to allow McKee to access his medical files. The figure represents the degradation of not just the body but the humanity of the patient being treated by the health care system. Nevertheless, the approach of many fellow doctors still needs to be humanized. However, of a couple of physicians who used to show interest and care for their patients, Dr. Abbott is one of them to be particular that he benignly treated me.
The movie proposes that medicine should be about more than just using clinical knowledge and lots of technology. However, it should also be about having an unbiased concern for the whole being, not just the physical problems. McKee discovers where the boundaries of humanity lie as he starts to buck up with the possibility of his mortality. This newfound understanding leads him to the future treatment of his patients more respectfully and compassionately (Haines, 1991). For example, he barely showed any empathy or care towards terminal patients before, but now he stays with an older man who, a couple of hours before death, is only enough to place his hand on his hand. He also dares to do something unorthodox, treating a dying young girl with an experimental treatment instead of just following conventional medicine. By showing the process of his healing and change, the film promotes the idea of having a kinder, gentler and more humanitarian way of healing.
Conclusion
The Doctor, in the hands of a brilliantly enlightening storyteller, touches lightly upon many authorities’ discontents while providing a doctor with a way of course correcting. What the surgeon sees when he faces troubles after being identified with cancer is a sense of empathy that helps him understand the pain of his patients. He starts to have doubts concerning his clinically-detached attitude toward medicine. By conveying this criticism through Dr McKee’s transformation as he witnesses events in the system, medicine becomes an emotional field that strongly impacts the relationship between the patient and the Doctor, where compassion and humanity are the keys.
References
Haines, R. (1991, August 16). The Doctor (1991). Watch.plex.tv. https://watch.plex.tv/movie/the-doctor
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