A Letter to Patients With Chronic Disease by Dr. Rob Lamberts

This is a re-post of a wonderful essay from a few years ago that delves into the reasons for the lack of understanding and empathy between doctors and their patients with chronic illness.

Dr. Lamerts gives good advice for how we pain patients can approach our doctors to get them on our side, instead of alienating them.

Dear Patients: You have it very hard, much harder than most people understand.  Having sat for 16 years listening to the stories, seeing the tiredness in your eyes, hearing you try to describe the indescribable, I have come to understand that I too can’t understand what your lives are like.