Purpose of Jeff Gremmels’ ‘The Clinic’

Purpose of Jeff Gremmels’ ‘The Clinic’

Jeff Gremmels’ The Clinic offers an eye-opening experience to most medical students. The setting of the story in the essay is a clinic shift. Jeff Gremmels conducts a medical examination of a young male complaining of stomachaches.  As a medical professional, the author finds it hard to get the patient to open up about the possible cause of his illness. There are marking all over young man's body hence forcing him to recall medical lectures for a solution. The Clinic essay can be interpreted differently according to reader's views, but its purpose is simplified. 

            In the story, Gremmels intend to show that though he had many lectures during his medical school years, he found it hard to comprehend the disease his patient was suffering from. This implies that any amount of theoretical medical knowledge is hardly useful in real-life. Ultimately, the story aids in broadening Gremmels’ point of view especially towards what can actually occur to an individual from a non-medical mindset.

            Most readers consider The Clinic as a medical detective essay. This is because it involves figuring out the why the young boy seems unwell (Thomas 23). In fact, no one was aware of his sickness and its cause. The whole essay revolves around the doctor trying to figure out reasons for young man’s poor condition.

            The Clinic’s last sentence adds emotion and depth to the story as it expresses the seriousness of boy's situation. He reiterates that not all illness cause sickness. Gremmels' essay helps a reader to realize that for some people, the world is a difficult place to live. In addition, there is a feeling of personal sadness in the story.

            This essay should be viewed as a mystery because a solution of one problem leads to the other. To a medic, a patient presents everyday challenges that prompt finding causes and sourcing for solutions.

Work Cited

Thomas, Ronald R. Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science. Vol. 26. Cambridge University Press, 2003: 1-72. Pr