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GazerRise Fantastic!

Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

n-34574 Marianna Lorusso The Doctor, 1991, Director Randa Haines I had the pleasure of watching this movie last night with my family. It raised many ethical issues that are relevant to my Bioethics class, this semester. The movie starts out by depicting a successful heart surgeon listening to music as he is operating on a person's heart. The undesirable behavior continues towards the nurse as he is asking her to sing while she is clearly not comfortable doing so. At this point, I get the idea that this heart surgeon is egoistic and self-centered. He makes a comment to the residents as he is doing rounds that feelings have nothing to do with the science of medicine. The residents do not seem to find this odd as they are being trained to believe this for themselves. When he returns home, the movie demonstrates a father that is not much available to his family. Perhaps he feels "larger" to father a young boy and form a strong relationship. As time progresses, he realizes that his is developing a cough that is not subsiding. Finally, he makes an appointment to visit a doctor that will represent the same undesirable behaviors as him. This doctor is rude, disrespectful and demonstrates poor bedside manners. It is as this time that he is now the person needing care. He starts to see and realize the bureaucracy of the hospital and the effects on him. He now has to wait to be seen, signs multiple forms and is told when the surgery will take place to remove a malignant tumor in his throat. During this time, he meets another care-receiver, that is dying and I believe that this woman is there to teach this heart surgeon some valuable lessons about compassion for the ones that are sick. He undergoes a transcendental transformation into another Being. He is now connected to humans on a deeper level than before. He feels their worry and fear. My favorite part of this movie was how he took the same group of residents on rounds but this time, they were the ones receiving care. Teaching medical students just this important lesson, that the ones that enter the hospital are not just sick, but they are people. People that have feelings and emotions. Those attributes need to be put on a pedestal, for medicine to be a well-rounded success.

kdarnell-1 This movie came out about a year before I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and I watched it during my recovery from surgery and radiation treatments. It helped me to understand the relationship between doctor and cancer patient. William Hurt is indeed excellent in this film, but I have always liked his understated presence and aloof yet empathetic evocations. Recently, a colleague was diagnosed with a serious cancer and he continues to undergo his treatments. I think the American medical community has made great improvements in the emotional component of care for cancer patients, but in 1992 Hurt's portrayal was close enough to echo my observations of how I was cared for then.So, though it's a bit of a tearjerker and has a happy ending that reality will not always produce, I think it is a meaningful film and especially for those who are facing a serious diagnosis or caring for those who are.

vm_postitnotes As a person born with a genetic disorder that suffers from a variety of maladies, I have a very hard time being sympathetic towards people in the medical profession. Many times, it seems like being a doctor requires you to turn off your heart (so to speak) and treat everything like a problem that needs to be solved, forgetting about human things like emotion and fear.This movie is very useful for people like me in that it makes doctors human again.I admit that in the past, I have often vacillated in my opinion on this movie. The main character (William Hurt) does not appear to have learned anything by this movie's conclusion. While he is more sympathetic to the fears and woes that patients suffer, much of the underlying pathology present in the medical profession in general is downplayed. For example, the variety of cancer patients that have to suffer either painful or humiliating deaths (or both) because their cases were mishandled seem to simply be put aside as mistakes that happen because doctors are human.That may be the point, though.Without spoiling excessively, the final scene of the movie involves Hurt's character getting a message from a friend of his, a terminal cancer patient played by Elizabeth Perkins that had died recently. She tells a story about a farmer who is feared by crows because he chases them violently off his farm. One day, he changes his heart and comes outside, raising his arms to welcome the crows. But no crows come - because they are terrified of the farmer's new scarecrow. Doctors have a path to follow. When they find what they are looking for, they must use their knowledge and compassion together to create a new path for themselves. They cannot expect the world to forget their distrust in a heartbeat. It takes demonstrated work.This is what "The Doctor" teaches you. Doctors and patients alike should give this movie a fair shake. It may not be a classic piece of film, but it is a very compassionate, heartfelt story.

elton-4 This movie is excellent. I am a Doctor too, General Surgeon and was very impressed by it. I am a teacher, as well, and it would be very good if I could watch together with my medical students. I do not know why this movie is not available to buy. It should be, either in VHS or DVD.