Medicine: A Child's View of Doctors

TO keep children occupied in doctors' waiting rooms at its 30 medical centers, the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York this summer sponsored a drawing contest. The response was massive—and revealing. Crayon portraits of "My Doctor" were submitted by 1,500 youngsters. Among the 200 prize-winning drawings, which H.I.P. is putting on display at its centers, there were many that vividly illustrate the universal apprehension of patients —children and adults alike. Doctors were sometimes depicted as formidable, if not menacing figures, and a disproportionately large number were shown holding the dreaded vaccination needle. In one drawing by an eight-year-old, a doctor viewing spaghetti-like intestines on a fluoroscope screen tells his patient, "Thier is something very wrong going on inside of you." Other drawings submitted by the contestants, whose ages ranged from six to ten, included several artistically eloquent tributes to the harried H.I.P. pediatricians. One child portrayed her doctor as a benevolent and obviously wise owl. Another lovingly sketched the figure of a dignified doctor capped with a rakish halo.