This scene from Scrubs reminds of
a case I saw in the surgical emergency of Dr RML Hospital. This young guy in
his late twenties comes with his index finger wrapped in a cloth. His finger apparently
got stuck in a hotel food processor. And when he unwrapped the cloth- lo
behold, the sight was Gross! The distal phalanx (that would be the top
one-third of the finger) was exposed to the bone, covered in blood… and when he
shook his finger in pain- a piece of muscle fell in front of me. Inspite of all
this, he had a big smile bordering on a LOL face- I thought he was either high
or being a 5-star-hotel-employee, I thought the smile was a permanent feature!
Well, it wasn’t any of those, it was a mature defense mechanism that our body
has, to cope with the immediate excruciating pain… (The body never ceases to
marvel!) (Even in the clip, Ben seems to be fine with the nail in his hand- defense mechanism again!).
Anyways, what did I want to do
when I saw that? I wanted to faint (just like JD did) but I didn’t. As an
intern we see many things that would make us woozy! But, as a matter of fact- I
have never seen or heard of an intern fainting at the sight of blood or exposed
anatomy. Why is that?
Well, I can say this for me (and I
think for most medical interns)- such things are thrilling- it may
sound rude, but it is the fact. There is an adrenaline rush that gets you through
it. You don’t want to miss out on the learning experience- you want to be in
the spot and see how it is going to be managed. You want to be of help and be
proud of it. Also, being exposed to dead cadavers and gross anatomy on the very
first day of medschool helps! (There are people who faint then).
Sure, stuff like rectal
examinations, or inserting a Ryle’s tube and getting vomit all over yourself,
makes me want to vomit! Gross Gross Gross!!! But these urges certainly dont get in the way of finshing up our work.
No copyright infringement intended!
