Of brains and saliva...

Been travelling around to request doctors to aid me in my saliva collection for my research... Getting rejected is part of the process, with all kinds of explanation i.e. no patients, busy and etc which i fully understand though the whole saliva collection takes less than 1 minute...

But what happened just made me shook my head in despair... The doctor that i spoke to said that going up to private clinics is unethical... And he wanted me to reflect whether if it really is appropriate to do so as he is from the dental association...

I brought in all the legal documents and the proposal went through ethical committee and my supervisor signed and read the letter that i was about to give to him... In what way is that unethical??? I have an explanation sheet on my research written in 2 languages alongside with a consent form also in 2 languages... And with that, my supervisor's name is on it!!! Talk about afraid of being sued by your patients, if i do use those saliva for unethical reasons, my supervisor and I will be in big trouble, not to mention my uni's long-built reputation, and all you can think of is your own clinic and your license...

Saying that we might be future colleagues meaning we will handle patients' lives together and yet you can't even trust me with the patients' saliva is just a big joke... Either you didn't mean that i'll really be your future colleague or you just do not want to help me, can you please give a more reasonable excuse other than saying that it's unethical??? Why did i even include a consent form then???

Asking me whether just going on the streets and collecting saliva from patients is ethical, i don't see any problems with that now... As long as the patient has consented and you have FULLY explained to the patient what is to come and what institution you belong to...

Besides, i as a medical student am doing you, dentist, a favour by trying to HELP YOU discover biomarkers for TMD, and i'm giving you an opportunity to participate in this research... Whether it works or not, at least i would be able to tell you that my method cannot be used to discover biomarkers for TMD or something... And now, not only you want to be a stumbling block to this discovery, you are also jeopardizing my grades...

It just makes me wonder what kind of people are we really producing... Robots who only have specific skills or people who can look at bigger pictures??? Personally, i love being a robot... Perhaps this is part of the reason why we are still quite far behind from other countries, or maybe i'm wrong...

Oh well... This is just some rants from me... I feel ashamed when compared to the humiliation and crucifixion Jesus faced and yet He prayed to God the Father saying that they know not what they're doing...

Sovereign LORD please help me to continually remind myself that you have planned this to happen and not make me make much of these petty issues... And also, please help us to use our brains more often...