5人の脳外科医

私がアメリカで一番印象的だったのは両手が熱傷後の瘢痕で不自由になった医師と働いた経験です。ちょうど野口英世博士が幼い頃【てんぼう】と福島で呼ばれて育ったように、彼は右手は薬指と小指しか使えず、左手は2指から5指まで癒着しています。

この医師がレジデントとして私の所へ回ってきました。初日、彼はうまくカテーテルを握れませんでした。注射器で生理食塩水を吸う作業も時間がかかります。しかし、徐々に彼は努力をしてほとんど他のレジデントと同じ作業が出来るようになりました。

また彼は私が手術用ガウンに着替えようとするとテーブルの上に私のサイズに合った手袋、術着を準備してくれています。手術の前からレジデントに“Thank you.”と言ったのは初めてでした。

アメリカにはＡＤＡ（障害をもつアメリカ人法）http://www.arsvi.com/0i/3usa3000.htmがあります。時にこの法律はいき過ぎと言いますか、超肥満者をも障害者として認定しているため、病院の駐車場は障害者用のスペースに半分の面積を使用しています。その為、健常者が駐車スペースを探すのに一苦労することがあります。

両手に障害を持ったレジデントは私にその事を再認識させてくれました。心から彼に“Thank you.”と言いたいと思います。

Dreams Come True ドリカム - サンキュ. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld0xAQbN7Xs&mode=related&search=

＜紹介＞聴覚障害を持つ医学生の会http://adhims.blog92.fc2.com/

 ＜参考資料＞

１．医師法第４条

次の各号のいずれかに該当する者には、免許を与えないことがある。1.心身の障害により医師の業務を適正に行うことができない者として厚生労働省令で定めるもの 

２．障害者等に係る欠格事由の適正化等を図るための医師法等の関係法令改正試案に寄せられた意見について　http://www.mhlw.go.jp/public/kekka/p0316-1.html 

３． 医師国家試験に視覚障害者が初めて合格　厚生労働省は２４日、今年３月に実施した医師国家試験の合格者を発表した。視覚障害のある男性が初めて合格。 心身の障害を理由に資格や免許の取得を制限する法律が政府全体で見直され、医師国家試験は０１年７月の法改正で目や耳などが不自由な人の受験が可能になった。厚労省の検討会が昨年１１月、問題の読み上げや試験時間の１．５倍までの延長を認める特例受験の方針を決め、３月の試験で初めて３人の視覚障害者が受験した。今後、厚労省は専門家らによる委員会を設置し、合格した男性からどの分野を目指すのかなどを聞き、医師としての業務が可能か判断し、免許を与えるかどうか決める。米国には全盲の精神科医がいるという。男性は大学５年のときに病気で、重度の視覚障害と足、手指に障害が残った。http://j.peopledaily.com.cn/2003/04/25/jp20030425_28288.html 

４．「障害がある人の受験とその結果、試験時の配慮、試験広報」http://www.dpi-japan.org/friend/restrict/shiryo/shikaku-shiken/shiken2004.html 

5.Barriers Fall for Disabled Medical Students　by Linda Villarosa

As a fourth year medical student, Jeffrey Lawler listens—really listens—as his patients run through their lists of physical complaints. （中略）

He cannot read the numbers on a thermometer, blood pressure monitor, or his pager.His eyesight began fading twenty years ago, as a result of the disease retinitis pigmentosa. By 1993 Mr. Lawler, now forty-three, was legally blind. Still he took the medical college application test with the help of a reader and a scribe and was accepted to Western University Medical School in Pomona, California. He will graduate in June near the top of his class and hopes to practice physical medicine and rehabilitation."

Some medical schools, for example, say that one cannot rely on the physical skills of a third party for assistance, but other schools don't have that," Dr. Sabalis said.（中略）

"Too many schools are using the standard that a doctor has to see perfectly, walk perfectly, and hear perfectly, but if they really followed that standard, no one would graduate," said Ms. Premo of the Center for Disability Issues."I support dropping students who don't achieve, and I don't believe in lowering standards," she added, "but you have to allow for difference."The disabilities legislation may have had other influences as well. No studies have looked at malpractice and whether disabled doctors and medical students are at higher risk.

But, according to the Physician Insurers Association of America, a trade association of medical malpractice insurance companies, there is no difference in underwriting medical liability policies for doctors who are disabled and those who are not.（中略）

Mr. Lawler, the student, said he had a hard time getting a surgery rotation, a medical school requirement, because of his blindness."Me being in the operating room became a big issue," he said. "In the third year you don't do anything except hold retractors during surgery, but it was very challenging finding a site where I'd be accepted. Finally I was able to scrub in on a procedure, and I was extremely focused.

（中略）As for insurance coverage, Dr. Yarnell said, "The company knew I was blind, but as long as I could perform a procedure safely with or without accommodation, then the malpractice carrier had to insure me at the same rate as other physicians performing the same procedures."

Dr. Margaret Stineman, an associate professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was born with a deformity of her skeletal system, a reduced lung capacity, and missing muscles to move her eyes. She consults on rehabilitation of patients with neurological injuries."I look for settings where my mind and creativity are valued because these are the two particular gifts I have," Dr. Stineman said.She said that early in her career some mentors were concerned that she might have difficulty getting through medical school.

To her knowledge, however, "there has never been a patient who has been uncomfortable with my disabilities," she said. "I work in a trauma service, and as a person who has lived with disabilities, I can help my patients figure out how to develop ways to overcome their physical problems and grow. The life experiences that I've had are part of what I bring to patients, and they appreciate that."http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm04/bm0401/bm040106.htm