The doctor arrives in the exam room after you've waited a while.
And it's great that she's finally here, but is she really present?
Doctors are thoroughly trained, but they also have to work like the rest of us to make sure they're present in the moment.
Ronald Epstein, a doctor himself, writes about mindfulness in medicine in his book Attending. It includes examples of doctors who have (and have not) stepped up when the moment demanded. Dr. Epstein visits with tales from the other end of the stethoscope.