So you know I have to defend Carson here. I've had overwrought patients. The ones who have more neuroses than physical problem. The big problem with them is that they give you SO MUCH information that it becomes difficult to sort out what's important. Worse, they can be so panicked/strident that it makes it harder to focus. Yes, you take it all down -- unless they're going on and on about something irrelevant -- such as the intimate details of their personal life when you're just trying to get a few facts. They're just difficult to deal with.
You've done computer fixing type stuff. You've never had someone so worked up that all they can do is say that things are bad and rant and are too caught up in their ranting to answer your important questions -- like, is the computer plugged in?
OTOH, I totally agree that something is OFF between them, and I suspect a couple of things:
I strongly suspect that Carson gets tired of the disrespect/ingratitude/sheer difficulty of treating someone like Rodney. Have you noticed the way Rodney constantly refers to medicine not being a real science and Carson as being a witch doctor? That kind of thing grates on the nerves. It's hard to treat, to literally care for, someone who's being abusive and disrespectful towards you. Moreover, I get the impression that they're supposed to be friends. It's especially hard to take that kind of crap from someone close to you. The hardest people for me to treat are people like you and mom and T. He used to snap and get angry. Mom used to whine like there's no tommorrow. You, I freak out. (With T and mom, it's alot like Rodney being a pain in the ass patient who you truly feel wouldn't treat you that way if they were paying, and that they don't appreciate what you're doing for them. With you it's a different kind of problem, in that it's difficult f or me to do something that's going to possibly cause you panic.)
I don't have a problem with the way Carson treats him. The thing you were upset about, where he said something about possible overdose: you have to understand that medicine is far from the science it pretends to be. (And Carson is aware of this, thus Rodney's remarks about witch doctoring probably sting.) With Rodney I'd be pretty uncertain about what kind of dosage to give him too; his body chemistry is sensitive and wonky so he probably reacts stronger than most. At the same time, you do not want to leave a patient in pain, especially not before removing an embedded object! So there is a degree of uncertainty with that kind of thing.
Then there's a strong possibility that some of that tension is professional jealousy. It was probably okay when Rodney sucked at the being a person thing, but now that he's becoming a person who cares and stuff, it's getting harder to take. Probable Reason 1) Rodney's being nicer to other people, but he's still being an ungrateful prick of a patient to Carson despite the fact that carson has patched him up over and over. Possible Reason 2) It's hard not to be jealous of someone like Rodney. He's fucking brilliant. But it's easier to accept the brilliance along with the ego because hey, they gives you a reason that you have an edge on them. But Rodney's becoming more fully rounded, and that probably makes the jealousy harder to deal with, but Carson is losing that edge he has over him. Carson is a brilliant research scientist, but he's not a Silver Bullet the way Rodney is.
You've done computer fixing type stuff. You've never had someone so worked up that all they can do is say that things are bad and rant and are too caught up in their ranting to answer your important questions -- like, is the computer plugged in?
OTOH, I totally agree that something is OFF between them, and I suspect a couple of things:
I strongly suspect that Carson gets tired of the disrespect/ingratitude/sheer difficulty of treating someone like Rodney. Have you noticed the way Rodney constantly refers to medicine not being a real science and Carson as being a witch doctor? That kind of thing grates on the nerves. It's hard to treat, to literally care for, someone who's being abusive and disrespectful towards you. Moreover, I get the impression that they're supposed to be friends. It's especially hard to take that kind of crap from someone close to you. The hardest people for me to treat are people like you and mom and T. He used to snap and get angry. Mom used to whine like there's no tommorrow. You, I freak out. (With T and mom, it's alot like Rodney being a pain in the ass patient who you truly feel wouldn't treat you that way if they were paying, and that they don't appreciate what you're doing for them. With you it's a different kind of problem, in that it's difficult f or me to do something that's going to possibly cause you panic.)
I don't have a problem with the way Carson treats him. The thing you were upset about, where he said something about possible overdose: you have to understand that medicine is far from the science it pretends to be. (And Carson is aware of this, thus Rodney's remarks about witch doctoring probably sting.) With Rodney I'd be pretty uncertain about what kind of dosage to give him too; his body chemistry is sensitive and wonky so he probably reacts stronger than most. At the same time, you do not want to leave a patient in pain, especially not before removing an embedded object! So there is a degree of uncertainty with that kind of thing.
Then there's a strong possibility that some of that tension is professional jealousy. It was probably okay when Rodney sucked at the being a person thing, but now that he's becoming a person who cares and stuff, it's getting harder to take. Probable Reason 1) Rodney's being nicer to other people, but he's still being an ungrateful prick of a patient to Carson despite the fact that carson has patched him up over and over. Possible Reason 2) It's hard not to be jealous of someone like Rodney. He's fucking brilliant. But it's easier to accept the brilliance along with the ego because hey, they gives you a reason that you have an edge on them. But Rodney's becoming more fully rounded, and that probably makes the jealousy harder to deal with, but Carson is losing that edge he has over him. Carson is a brilliant research scientist, but he's not a Silver Bullet the way Rodney is.
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