Doctors Quote by John Updike
““We expect the world of doctors. Out of our own need, we revere them; we imagine that their training and expertise and saintly dedication have purged them of all the uncertainty, trepidation, and disgust that we would feel in their position, seeing what they see and being asked to cure it. Blood and vomit and pus do not revolt them; senility and dementia have no terrors; it does not alarm them to plunge into the slippery tangle of internal organs, or to handle the infected and contagious. For them, the flesh and its diseases have been abstracted, rendered coolly diagrammatic and quickly subject to infallible diagnosis and effective treatment. The House of God is a book to relieve you of these illusions; it … displays it as farce, a melee of blunderers laboring to murky purpose under corrupt and platitudinous superiors.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: In the Death of the Gods, John Updike, 1971
The quote critiques the idealized view of doctors, exposing their humanity and the messy reality of medicine versus the myth of infallible healers.
In simple terms: Doctors are not flawless; they face fear, doubt, and messy work.
Key Takeaway
Recognize the limits of medical authority and empathize with clinicians.
Themes
medicine
human frailty
illusion
authority
ethics
Mood
critical
reflective
skeptical
Type
literary
philosophical
social commentary
When to use this quote
- hospital wards
- medical training
- patient counseling
- health policy debates
Key Concepts
Professionalism
uncertainty
mortality
diagnostic error
Questions to Reflect On
- How does this perception affect patient trust?
- What responsibilities do doctors have to acknowledge uncertainty?
A Different Perspective
The narrative may overgeneralize physicians, ignoring many dedicated professionals.
![“there is a God, there always has been. I see him here, in the eyes of the people in this [hospital] corridor of desperation. This is the real house of God, this is where those who have lost God will find Him... there is a God, there has to be, and now I will pray, I will pray that He will forgive…” quote by Khaled Hosseini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9b5/khaled-hosseini-251_benevolent_there-is-a-god-there-always-has-been-i-s_621288.jpg)
