More hurt than ill

Garrulous doctors may be anathema, but those who respond in monosyllables are the harder to deal with, says the author

The last line of defence of any panicky patient is sickly humour which can fall flat if the doctor doesn’t have a funny bone. Sepulchral physicians who go around looking mournful ought to be banned from hospitals. If the prognosis is bad, you can excuse them for appearing morose, but what’s the reason when all you have is a mild fever, or an irritating cold? Whatever happened to bedside manners (not that doctors come around on house calls all that much these days)? 

When I was forced, after a few days of being laid low with a viral, to go see