I had a few moments to spare this morning and I watched part of a real life TV show set in a North London medical center. Why people would want to let the world know their medical problems I don't know, but I was surprised by how rude some of these patients were to the doctors and nurses. One Charlie George lookalike felt the need to question and doubt everything he was told. After the doctor gave him some medical facts the patient replied "That's not strictly true". Then when he was told two pints of Guinness every single day was too much he said something like "No it is not. I was told by a specialist to drink Guinness everyday because I need the vitamin B." The show then showed an Irish traveller and her kids running around the surgery uncontrolled. One of the kids was even caught nicking 20 pound notes from his mother's purse.

I rarely watch TV so this might have been an unfair sample of patient behaviour, but when I go to the doctor I treat him and his staff like demigods even if I suspect that he bought his medical degree from a Karachi market stall. Is this an unusual attitude nowadays? Do you see doctors as just ordinary people who are no more deserving of respect than the bloke who lives next door. Do you address them as your social superiors? For example, "yes doctor" verses "Ok mate".