Looking after your own

I had an X-ray a while ago, and as a result I have just been diagnosed with a chest condition. Namely Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. For the medically minded among you, I am not, and never have, smoked. I am not in my late sixties or early seventies.

I am 20.

So why do I have the tell-tale hyperinflated lungs which are so stongly associated with the condition?

I hope to have all these questions, and more, answered when I go to see the thoracic medicine consultant in a few weeks time. But will he look after me?

I read months ago in the studentBMJ an article from a like-minded student who thought that we (medical students or any other health-care professional for that matter) should get preferential health-care treatment - a kind of "look after your own" mentality. And why not? I'm on full time placement - any missed time could cost my learning dearly. I have to travel 20/30 miles to get to the hospital from my placement (which seems ironic, as I live about 10 metres from the nearest hospital). I want to be seen quickly so I can be treated and get this business sorted out.

A few years ago, my grandad had a collapsed inter-vertebral disc. My auntie was an ICU nurse at the time. Lots of anaesthetists work on ICU, so it's fair to say that she knows lots of them. When grandad needed his operation he was fast-tracked through the system because of my auntie's "connections." It could be argued that this kind of behaviour is outrageous. I can see the point that a more needy person may be being robbed of their life-saving operation because people want to get their friends sorted out first. But that's probably because i've been listening to two years worth of "managing resources" lectures.

Do I tell the consultant that i'm a medical student when I walk through the door? Or do I wait until the end-of consultation pleasantries when he/she asks me what my job is? Either could be risky.

Oh well.