Letters

Doctors must learn to let others treat them and their families

EDITORMy parents, who are 92 and 86 and otherwise in excellent health, are both virtually blind as a result of glaucoma detected too late. It is not their having the condition that saddens me, as they still manage to maintain their independence and constantly push the boundaries of their impairment in order to enjoy life to the full. What is sad is that neither of them can attribute late diagnosis and the attendant complications to social deprivation, poor access to medical care, or any of the factors identified by Fraser et al.¹

Quite the opposite, in fact. My father is a retired general practitioner, a prominent member of the community in which I grew up. The best ophthalmologists in town would have readily investigated and treated him or any of his immediate family free of chargeif they had been asked to do so.

The problem is that too many doctors still tend to treat themselves and their families rather than delegate this important responsibility to colleagues. In doing so, they sacrifice objectivity and sentence themselves and their families to a lifetime of well meant, but severely compromised, medical care. My father was no exception.

How many doctors are able to separate their personal and professional responsibilities and enter themselves and their families into appropriate health surveillance programmes, so that conditions such as glaucoma are not missed? The alternativeseeing your children die of diseases associated with social deprivation and poor access to medical careis sobering.

David Bass, medicolegal adviser. 
Department of Health, Provincial Government of the Western Cape, PO Box 2060, Cape Town 8000, South Africa dbass{at}pawc.wcape.gov.za