There are different types of virtual illnesses. A virtual illness is one which does not actually exist, but is made to appear as if it does. It is a sort of make believe illness. People who want sympathy from others develop such illnesses. People who do not want to work also develop such illnesses. It is unfair to this person's co-workers, who have to do his work.
Another type of virtual illness is a psychosomatic illness. It is actually a psychological illness, which causes symptoms of an organic illness. Patients who do not know the symptoms of different illnesses accurately develop bizarre symptoms in this type of psychological illness. These symptoms range from muscular weakness or paralysis, blindness, difficulty in swallowing, pain anywhere ..(the list could be endless). When a doctor, paramedic, or a nurse develops such an illness, it often mimics an organic illness very accurately, unless that person had put a lot of stuff in option while studying for exams and passed somehow or anyhow.
One would not expect a doctor to develop a virtual illness of the first type to shirk work. Well, they are human beings too, and can have manifestations of that type of illness just like any other person, though perhaps less frequently. The Times has run stories of people who developed fractures which required prolonged rest away from work periodically. Since radiographs cannot be subjected to DNA testing, one radiograph with a fracture can be passed as anyone's radiograph. There have been stories of people who would develop a fracture just before or during a vacation, and the head of department would grant this person full vacation while others had to take half vacations as per rule. When it happened once, no one complained. But when this happened thrice in a row, co-workers started grumbling so much, that the whole vacation business was dropped. There have been stories of people who took abortion pills from the institute they worked in, had medical abortions, and claimed six weeks of abortion leave each for alleged spontaneous abortions. Then there was the story of a medical student. We have a famous saying in Marathi - मुलाचे पाय पाळण्यात दिसतात - which translated into English would be 'a person's traits are visible right from when he is in cradle'. This student would never come for classes on time. He would sleep until very late. When asked him what the matter was, he said, 'I suffer from narcolepsy'. Such a fellow would reach even greater heights if he found a job in a government or civic hospital.
Another type of virtual illness is a psychosomatic illness. It is actually a psychological illness, which causes symptoms of an organic illness. Patients who do not know the symptoms of different illnesses accurately develop bizarre symptoms in this type of psychological illness. These symptoms range from muscular weakness or paralysis, blindness, difficulty in swallowing, pain anywhere ..(the list could be endless). When a doctor, paramedic, or a nurse develops such an illness, it often mimics an organic illness very accurately, unless that person had put a lot of stuff in option while studying for exams and passed somehow or anyhow.
One would not expect a doctor to develop a virtual illness of the first type to shirk work. Well, they are human beings too, and can have manifestations of that type of illness just like any other person, though perhaps less frequently. The Times has run stories of people who developed fractures which required prolonged rest away from work periodically. Since radiographs cannot be subjected to DNA testing, one radiograph with a fracture can be passed as anyone's radiograph. There have been stories of people who would develop a fracture just before or during a vacation, and the head of department would grant this person full vacation while others had to take half vacations as per rule. When it happened once, no one complained. But when this happened thrice in a row, co-workers started grumbling so much, that the whole vacation business was dropped. There have been stories of people who took abortion pills from the institute they worked in, had medical abortions, and claimed six weeks of abortion leave each for alleged spontaneous abortions. Then there was the story of a medical student. We have a famous saying in Marathi - मुलाचे पाय पाळण्यात दिसतात - which translated into English would be 'a person's traits are visible right from when he is in cradle'. This student would never come for classes on time. He would sleep until very late. When asked him what the matter was, he said, 'I suffer from narcolepsy'. Such a fellow would reach even greater heights if he found a job in a government or civic hospital.
