By David Hartman, MD
Dr. David Hartman described his experiences practicing psychiatric care without sight for the past 45 years. He was the first person without sight to be admitted into medical school in modern medicine.
Dr. Hartman described the barriers and challenges he faced, the adaptations necessitated, and his gratifying experiences in fulfilling his dream of becoming a doctor. The major barrier he faced was overcoming others’ misperceptions about what it means to be blind. Blindness did not interfere with key aspects of clinical evaluation.
The most important part of an exam is listening to the patient’s history – this aspect of evaluation does not rely on sight. Dr. Hartman shared that some patients did react to having a blind psychiatrist; for example, feeling guilty about telling a sightless physician about their problems. Other patients were relieved at having a blind psychiatrist who would not be staring at them. Listening skills are of paramount importance; skills he had carefully honed perhaps more than the usual psychiatrist.
Dr. Hartman highlighted two of the most challenging aspects of practicing medicine without sight: (1) TIME is always a factor – the reality being that everything takes longer to complete and (2) technology is constantly changing making it difficult to continuously have one’s adaptive equipment able to adjust to the ever-changing electronic medical records.
Finally, Dr. Hartman concluded with the key concept that how we approach our patients may have an even more profound effect on them than whether or not we cure the patient.
