Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of nearly one hundred people, there was not a single person willing to alert him to the fact
that his fly was undone. QED.
Oneofhismostinteresting insightswasthewaysocialperformance isorganizedintofront-
stage and backstage, i.e., the public face we put forward and all the stuff in the background
that we hide from view. Usually there's a doorway that says “employees only” which sep-
arates the two worlds. When you step from one through to the other, you find the elegant
hostwhogreetedyouearlierthiseveningsittinginhisshirtsleeves smokingacigarette with
his aching feet up on a chair.
In America the world of medicine observes a very strict separation between frontstage and
backstage. The person who has just run your test remains mum. You ask how it went, and
you are informed that the results will be sent to your physician who will discuss the results
with you at your next consultation. In America when you overhear two doctors conferring,
theirconversationisdeliberatelymutedandsubdued,thelanguageisinscrutableinitstech-
nical obscurity, there are no facial expressions to tip you off as to how communications are
being received. The screen that separates you from them is absolute and impenetrable.
One of the reasons that “doctor shows” on TV are so popular is that they purport to give
us access to the backstage world of the doctors where, in real life, we are never admitted.
From MASH to ER to Doctor House, we have a chance to see what “really” goes on behind
the scenes. In place of noncommittal masks, we get to hear lines like, “Poor bastard. I give
him three weeks max. If we shot him, we'd be doing him a favor.”
In Italy there is a much more porous interface between world of the doctors and nurses
and that of the patients. They don't try to hide their perception of your situation from you
(or from anyone else for that matter.) There's no effort to keep you mystified and in the
dark. Sounds great, but it takes a bit of getting used to. As you lie there with a tube down
your throat, three guys are gathered at the screen and one says, “Madonna! Look at that
valve just flopping around.” Or, as you're about to have dye injected into your arteries, you
hear the doctor complain to his cohorts that your wrists are narrow; it's going to be a tight
squeeze to get that needle in. On the other hand, when you finally have that high-tech ima-
ging test to find out about those worrisome spots they saw on your liver, what a pleasure it
is to have the doctor come out immediately and tell you not to worry, they're just harmless
discolorations. Your liver is as healthy as a fish. Praise God and pass the pureed potatoes.
***
You've probably heard the “cat's on the roof” joke somewhere along the way. A husband
comes home and his wife tells him that their cat was run over by a truck today. He is
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