You say
so, and he replies, "But you have not told me that I am seriously ill."
Such is sick human nature.
The people who really want to know if they will die of some given
disease are few in number. Those who pretend they want to know are more
common. Those who should not know are frequent enough, and among them
one is troubled to do what seems right and to say in answer to their
questions what is true.
Wise women choose their doctors and trust them. The wisest ask the
fewest questions. The terrible patients are nervous women with long
memories, who question much where answers are difficult, and who put
together one's answers from time to time and torment themselves and the
physician with the apparent inconsistencies they detect. Another form of
trouble arises with the woman whose standards are of unearthly altitude.
This is the woman who thinks herself deceived if she does not know what
you are giving her, or who, if without telling her you substitute an
innocent drug for a hurtful one which she may have learned to take too
largely, thinks that you are untruthful in the use of such a method.
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