AMA VICDOC_Spring 2026_09.09.2026 - Flipbook - Page 41
Her restraint underscored the unspoken
to hide, guilt at our own self-blame and
condition of our sense of professional
anger at a culture that makes that hiding
belonging within healthcare. An unspoken
necessary.
rule imposed upon her identity, her culture,
her life beyond the ward or the clinic that
our very selves must remain muted or
carefully translated into something more
palatable. Something safer. Something
closer to neutral.
But what struck me most wasn’t her words
alone, but how familiar they felt – how much
they resonated with my own experience.
Beneath my knee-jerk instinct to defend
our professional culture, to celebrate our
positivity and acceptance, was a recognition
of the space between care and culture.
That same quiet vigilance she sits with
echoes within me. A repetitive introspection
where we calculate the potential risk of
inviting another party to see who we really
are. Of not knowing when it is safe to let
the veil slip, and when it is not. The strange
pairing of shame at having something
We are asked to bring our whole selves to
our patients. To be present, empathetic,
human. In reality, our patients rarely desire
total neutrality. They seek connection and
warmth. They seek something real from
within us. And yet, we continue to sand
down the edges, speak in generalities and
transform our experiences into abstraction
– or to not speak of them at all. We are
pressed to maintain a version of ourselves
that is universally acceptable, professional,
and, above all, non-disruptive.
For many, this means concealing core
parts of who we are, be it gender,
sexuality, religion, disability or, worryingly,
our dissenting views on how to provide
the best care. Not because these things
are irrelevant, but because their presence
risks unsettling a system equating
professionalism with emotional distance
and cultural neutrality.
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