Missing Fingers?

[nub]

I had meningits when I was 16 and I am missing 1.5 fingers and 1 toe. Will this hender my chances of becoming a doctor?

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"Damn Alligator Bit My Hand Off!"

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[kimberlicox]

I don't see why it should - after all, there are blind and deaf people who have been admitted to medical school. I've been told that "Hopkins 24/7" featured an orthopedic surgeon with achondroplastic dwarfism.

All things are relative. Missing 1.5 fingers might make suturing more difficult for you, but I assume you've been able to compensate for your loss in other ways and would be able to do so in this case as well. So the gloves have an extra finger dangling off? That's no big deal. There might be things that will be more difficult for you - in those cases, you either do the best you can, find a way around it, or do it a different way.

As for the toe...I can see no reason why that would be a problem; heck, you'll have lots of sympathy amongst the diabetic/vascular patients!

IMHO there is no reason why missing a couple of digits should reasonably exclude you from the practice of medicine.

Best of luck to you.

 

[kwilson]

I have a good friend who is a peds ED doc, who is missing his left hand and wears a prosthetic hook. He did fine in med school and residency (except in anatomy, but that's unrelated

), and even honored in surgery. Every once and awhile there's a kids who flips out at the hook, but he also gets a lot of fan mail. Good luck!