We hear it all the time as doctors, and we say it a lot as patients: "I know my own body." There are many layers packed into that one phrase.
I have my own integrity as a person. You, doctor, with your knowledge: wonderful, but you must recognize my independent existence, needs and wants.
I am unique. Indeed, you, doctor, know the ways in which a particular disease commonly presents itself. But I still can teach you things about the way my body reacts.
I am the expert about me. You can tell me the ways I should react to interventions, but only I have direct and unmediated access to my senses.
Take these facts into account, and remember: in general physiology, you might be an expert. But in the particular physiology of myself (says the patient, say us) we are awarded a doctorate every single day of our lives.
I have my own integrity as a person. You, doctor, with your knowledge: wonderful, but you must recognize my independent existence, needs and wants.
I am unique. Indeed, you, doctor, know the ways in which a particular disease commonly presents itself. But I still can teach you things about the way my body reacts.
I am the expert about me. You can tell me the ways I should react to interventions, but only I have direct and unmediated access to my senses.
Take these facts into account, and remember: in general physiology, you might be an expert. But in the particular physiology of myself (says the patient, say us) we are awarded a doctorate every single day of our lives.
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