A Human Touch

By Kathleen Fifield

Originally published by Philadelphia magazine, May, 2005.

Founder of Breastcancer.org, is spreading the word: Doctors need to rediscover their "sacred bond" with patients.

As is often the case, but rarely with doctors, you know things are about to get interesting when Marisa Weiss, M.D., takes off her pants. They come down about two minutes into her presentation—not "Tips and Toys," the one about getting back your sex drive after breast cancer, but the truly radical "Doctor, Doctor, Lend Me Your Ear." Discussing ways to improve the doctor-patient relationship before an audience of young breast cancer patients, Weiss, 46, a breast radiation oncologist at Lankenau Hospital and founder of Breastcancer.org, not only puts herself in the patient's shoes; she gets into his gown. That is, takes off her white coat, untucks the blue tissue from her trousers, shimmies them off, and with a deadpanned "Now, when would you ever choose to wear something like this to an important meeting about your future?" crosses the great divide that separates doctors from their patients.

Over the course of the next 30 minutes, Weiss—with a delivery that calls to mind a more maternal Ellen DeGeneres—covers what it's like to go to the doctor, any doctor, when you've got a serious health concern on your mind. She explores the sleepless nights before the exam ("That's when I see my husband the longest") to the prep work the morning of ("One time, I forgot to shave one leg. I looked down. I was half man, half woman") to the inevitable, inordinate wait in the office ("Where are they? Are they playing poker or something?"). But her routine is not merely an entertaining romp. The practical tips she provides for communicating better with your doctor are meant to help balance a relationship she sees as inherently lopsided.

Of course, being sprawled on an exam table has always been uncomfortable, but in the HMO era the doctor-patient bond has become increasingly taxed. Partly, that's due to additional pressure on doc.

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