Every December a hospital communique concerning gifts “provided and received in the course of your work” lands in my inbox. It says, naturally, your patients are grateful but in accepting their thanks you must behave with integrity.
In a nutshell, public sector doctors can keep gifts worth less than $50. (The threshold for teachers is $100, which makes me happy.) Gifts between $50 and $500 must be submitted for limited approval. Gifts beyond $500 will not be approved. Distinguishing “high value” items (jewellery) from “low value” (a small bunch of flowers), the policy ends on a soaring note: “Ultimately, we are seeking to earn and sustain trust in our people so that we are best equipped to serve the community.”
To me, the reminder feels simultaneously poignant and moot. I work in an area of stubborn disadvantage. To some of my homeless, disempowered or despondent patients, $50 is a princely sum. It is the unaffordable one-way taxi fare to clinic and the difference between buying medication and not. It is the cost of a fraction of groceries from the “not quite right” outlet. And tragically, for some, it is the cost of a drug habit for which there is little systematic help except the revolving door of emergency.
My friends in private practice sometimes regale me with their gifts of gourmet food, box seats and beautiful books. I respond with mock envy, but in all honestly I would never trade places.
Here are some of my favourite gifts........