Doctor, doctor : an appreciation of the medical profession

Abstract

My first encounter with a gentleman of the medical persuasion, apart from the obs and/or gynae who, untimely or otherwise, ripped me, was with Prof. Charles Zahra Neumann, our family doctor known, presumably in an effort to make him less terrifying, as "Uncle Charlie". Whether he actually was a Prof. or not is buried in the mists of time, as is his real demeanour, but in my memory, he was a cuddly old bear who made up for wielding a syringe ­ as doctors tend to do when in the vicinity of small children ­ by being a cuddly old bear.