As a cancer patient, I felt dismissed by doctors. As a doctor, I am desperate for the system to change

‘Patients should be elevated as teachers. They should be invited to lecture and teach students, as important as any professor of medicine.’ Photograph: REB Images/Getty Images/Image Source

The young patient sitting across from me is no longer calm. His left hand is clenched in a fist, his right one is shaking. Red blotches have broken out on his neck.

“Why am I sick?” he asks.