Arriving recently in T&T, I began to see some curious cases. One day a father came in with his two-year-old son, who appeared quite normal, strong and active. He was concerned about the antibiotics his son had been taking for the past year. He opened a large bag and began pulling out empty bottles. There were 12. One for each month of the year. This healthy appearing two-year-old had been put on an antibiotic every month for a year by his doctor.
To get medical attention, Trini parents often exaggerate about their past contacts with doctors, so I confirmed with the pharmacy that the medication had been prescribed. Unless this child had some debilitating condition, some rare immune deficiency producing recurrent infections, there was no reason for any child to be on so much medication. The child’s condition precluded any such impression. He had been treated with antibiotics for simple things—colds, minor diarrhoea, rashes, colic, crying, teething, the occasional low-grade fever. How was he in the first year of life? Well, colic and some teething problems. Was there any change in life at one year? Yes, he started daycare. There it was, he had “Daycare syndrome”. He was picking up all the little germs that children at daycare share and there was nothing wrong with him.
I told the parents what I thought and monitored the child for six months. He got sick three times during this period, couple of days max, I suggested no medication, he recovered quickly and at the end of the six months, the father advised me he was not satisfied with my management and had returned to see the child’s former doctor.
What could have caused this decision? What emotion was so strong that it drove the father away? Was it me? Was I seen as arrogant? Demeaning? Condescending?
Did the father need to believe his child was sick? Did he enjoy the sense of caring, of protectiveness, of success he must feel in doing something for his “sick” child? Had he been indoctrinated to believe that his child was “vulnerable” and needed a constant dose of medicine to be healthy?
Was he just arrogant? Vain? Believed in his superiority and that he alone knew what was best for his child?
I was surprised at the time. No one had ever spoken to me about this in training. This happens frequently now. It has got more common in the last ten years as people have got wealthier and gained more access to computers.
Money seems to make people believe they are smarter than they are. It also gives them more confidence to “stand up” to the medical practitioner when they believe they are correct. After all, you cannot be rich and successful and not be smart, can you? At least that’s what the rich believe.
Dr Google plays into this scenario. Want to know what to do for the latest “flu”? Google “treatment for flu” and you have the latest treatment in a second. One million people have logged on to this page! Forget that Google works by showing you the most popular page and not the most accurate. Forget that Google also traces your Google viewing history and shows you the pages that it knows you most like and presto, you are a genius who knows all there is to know about the “flu” and since 99 per cent of “flu’s” go away spontaneously, they also go away after you take vitamin C or vervine tea or African Sea Coconut or Echinacea or Brewer’s Yeast or Po Chai pills.
There is a real arrogance about the phrase, “God is a Trini!” Recently I’ve been hearing the phrase “Trinis believe they know everything” Or “A Trini is a specialist in everything”.
It’s impossible to forget VS Naipaul’s description of us as mimic men who don’t know where we came from, don’t know where we are and don’t know where we are going.