Dorothy: Â You probably donât remember me, but you told me I wasnât sick. Â Do you remember? Â You told me I was just getting old.
Dr. Budd: Â Iâm sorry, I really donâtâ
Dorothy: Â Remember. Â Maybe youâre getting old. Â Thatâs a little joke. Â Well, I tell you, Dr. Budd, I really am sick. Â I have chronic fatigue syndrome. Â That is a real illness. Â You can check with the Center for Disease Control.
Dr. Budd: Â Huh. Â Well, Iâm sorry about that.
Dorothy: Â Well, Iâm glad! Â At least I know I have something.
Dr. Budd: Â Iâm sure. Â Well, nice seeing you.
Dorothy: Â Not so fast. Â There are some things I have to say. Â There are a lot of things that I have to say. Â Words canât express what I have to say. Â [tearing up] Â What I went through, what you put me throughâI canât do this in a restaurant.
Dr. Buddâs date: Â Louis, who is this person?
Dr. Budd: Â Look, Missâ
Dorothy:  Sit.  I sat for you long enough.  Dr. Budd, I came to you sickâsick and scaredâand you dismissed me.  You didnât have the answer, and instead of saying âIâm sorry, I donât know whatâs wrong with you,â you made me feel crazy, like I had made it all up.  You dismissed me!  You made me feel like a child, a fool, a neurotic who was wasting your precious time.  Is that your caring profession?  Is that healing?  No one deserves that kind of treatment, Dr. Budd, no one.  I suspect had I been a man, I might have been taken a bit more seriously, and not told to go to a hairdresser.
Dr. Budd: Â Look, I am not going to sit here anymoreâ
Dr. Buddâs date: Â Shut up, Louis.
Dorothy: Â I donât know where you doctors lose your humanity, but you lose it. Â You know, if all of you, at the beginning of your careers, could get very sick and very scared for a while, youâd probably learn more from that than anything else. Â Youâd better start listening to your patients. Â They need to be heard. Â They need caring. Â They need compassion. Â They need attending to. Â You know, someday, Dr. Budd, youâre gonna be on the other side of the table, and as angry as I am, and as angry as I always will be, I still wish you a better doctor than you were to me.