matters or affects my relationship with patients. −Dennis Michel, MD I disagree. If a physician addresses the patient by his/her first name, the patient should be able to address the physician similarly. The respect needs to flow in both directions. −Gary Roach, MD I was brought up to refer to men whom I knew casually or little as “Mister,” regardless of his apparent age; obviously young women as “Miss” and older women as “Missus” (Mrs.) and then change the honorific word only if the addressee asked me to do so (even though he might be, for example, a WW II veteran who had won a Silver Star at Iwo Jima), and I continued to follow that practice until I retired. Since I always used those terms, I must say I felt a bit put off when the patient would address me as “John” or “Jack,” and that was almost always the case only with younger patients. Even when the patient used my first name, or nickname, I would continue to use, when addressing him/
her, the appropriate honorific prefix unless he or she insisted that I address him/her by their first name. I used to cringe when I would hear my clinic assistant open the door to the waiting room and call out, “Molly, come on in!” Now, as a patient, I go to see my PCP and his assistant opens the door and says, “John, come on in!!” She doesn’t know my nickname. One day, I might tell her/ him. Maybe I won’t be as bothered if I hear “Jack, come on in!” −Jack Ostrich, MD I, for one, am uncomfortable being called by my first name by anyone except good friends, especially by patients. My first name is something I am allowed to give when I feel close enough to someone. −Sandra Hand, MD To be most agreeable, I’ll disagree. We live in a pathologically thin-skinned society. If my patient addresses me by my first name, I choose to respond in my own manner, by formally addressing my elders and people who are not continued on page 28
Be a Source of Hope
Jacqueline DeGracia, shown with her mother Leticia, needed plasma-based medicine to survive Kawasaki disease.
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