No apologies necessary. Your observations are valid. I have seen either spectrum of doctors at my hospital as well.
However, there is still the need for doctors with better social skills after we have seen a large proportion of patients being misdiagnosed, given subpar treatment, or given excessive/unnecessary treatment.
Here's a pretty good article to read:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/12-million-americans-misdiagnosed-each-year-study-says/
As I have said before, you can't rely on the basic tests and physical alone. And you can't get an effective patient history if patients can't be entirely truthful with you. You've already heard that, and may not agree with me, but that's okay. I have this as an example:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21178804
Furthermore, physicians aren't just healers. They are also advocates and counselors. If you're socially inept, how are you going to talk to a patient about aborting a fetus with severe birth defects? Or how are you going to talk to a patient about alerting authorities after suspected abuse or rape? Not all clinicians have to deal with ethical issues such as these, but I believe those physicians are the exemption rather than a representative example...
Lest we forget that the title of Doctor comes from the root word
docēre which means to teach. And teaching inherently requires some degree of social skills to effectively convey the subject matter.
Perhaps with more sophisticated technology, we wouldn't need social skills. But then again, that's the age of automated diagnosis/treatment/counseling where human doctors are no longer needed.
On a side note, I very well understand my position as a pre-med and your position as a 4th year medical student. But what I have written is not just my personal opinion, but rather the collective opinion of other doctors, professionals, and patients I've spoken to for the past 4 years.
