Who is the best doctor? Years ago, when I had to choose my path… | By future internist | October 2025

Years ago, when I had to choose my path into medicine,
I stayed away from surgery.
Not out of fear, but because to me, surgeons have always been like mechanics.
They open, cut, replace and close.
Precise, skillful, necessary, yet mechanical.
I wanted something else.
I didn’t want to cut up bodies. I wanted to understand them.
That’s why I chose internal medicine – a field where the real tools are not scalpels,
Rather, reason, observation and patience.
If humans were machines, they would be the most complex machines ever.
Except we can’t open it to find out what’s wrong.
We have to listen to their noise, feel their rhythm,
And determine what’s broken – without removing any part of it.
There is no trial and error here.
Every decision walks a fine line between healing and regret.
Lab tests, scans, pathology reports – none of them swore to the truth.
They can lie. They can mislead.
And in this silence, the only thing that remains trustworthy
They are the doctor’s eyes – and ears.
So who is the best doctor?
The person who spends hours examining every inch of the patient,
Or someone who sends them directly for examinations and imaging,
Chasing a faster answer?
I don’t know.
But I know that the art of clinical attention —
Really see the patient – fade away.
Small signs, quiet symptoms, hidden glances –
They are ignored.
That’s why patients often arrive at the emergency room
Not because their illness was unstoppable,
But because there was no one, before that moment,
I really looked up to them.