h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello:
You say that you are a doctor & a smoker well its good to see a doctor who is actually human, I do hope though that you dont patronise any of your patients when they come to you with smoking related diseeses. Are you also honest to your patients & admit that you are a smoker aswell

I used to work in the cancer unit at Barts hospital. Many of my patients were dying of tobacco realted cancers, so there was no need to tell them not to smoke. I didn't let on that I smoked to most of them as they would have very disappointed in me. A couple of patients who I'd looked after for over a year knew about my smoking and used to lend me fags if I was on call and couldn't get to the shop.
Before then I used to work in the respiratory medicine dept at the Royal London hospital. Many of the patients there had tobacco related illnesses too, though not of the malignant kind. Some still smoked despite being very unwell, and I'd try and persuade them to stop as it really would dramatically improve their lives. Some knew that I smoked, but many didn't, and I made a conscious decision to hide it from them, as it would have lessened the impact of the advice I was trying to give, which wouldn't have helped them at all.

So yes, and no. I never lied to them, and if asked I would say that I did smoke.