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Is this the best doctor in the world?

Jonathan Duane
Jonathan Duane

04:43 13 Apr 2018


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A gift or a curse?!

There's a doctor who can feel his patient's pain.

Dr Joel Salinas, an American neurologist, has a rare condition called mirror-touch synaesthesia.

Synaesthesia is a condition in which one or more of your senses is merged with another rather than experienced separately.

Some people perceive taste when they hear music while others experience colours when they look at letters and numbers.

It's found in roughly 1.6 to 2.5 per cent of the general population.

Dr Joel can feel what other people around him feel, which makes him a better doctor, but has caused him to go through some unpleasant experiences.

Speaking to the New York Post, he admitted that he felt an overwhelming sensation of suffocating when treating a nonverbal woman with cerebral palsy. He ordered a series of tests on her and it turned out she had blood clots on her lungs.

In a separate incident, a patient suffered cardiac arrest in front of him. Dr Joel said he could feel the sensation of the chest compressions and when the person was pronounced dead, he felt an "eerie silence" in his body.

The 33 year old says that he's had to put steps in place to ensure he doesn't get overwhelmed by a person's physical feelings.

"I don't see it as a blessing or a curse as it can be both. I couldn't imagine my life without synaesthesia. I wouldn't be who I am now without it."


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