The Reader went to a clinic and registered with the doctor on duty. The doctor was supposed to complete a form needed to issue a death certificate. The Reader’s mother had died at home, and the woman was dealing with the formalities connected with the funeral.
The doctor refused to complete the form on the basis of the certificate brought by the woman, which had been issued by a paramedic, and sent the Reader to get documents bearing photographs of herself and her deceased mother. The Reader was surprised by the doctor’s explanation that she had to see a photograph of the deceased in order to recognize her. Any doctor could complete the form, and this doctor had never treated the Reader’s mother. Even though there was no sense in the doctor looking at a photograph of the deceased woman, the Reader gave in to the pressure of the procedures and went to get the documents.
When she returned some time later with the documents and entered the office again, having been directed to the doctor by the nurse at reception, the doctor told her that she now had to leave because the mayor, who had an appointment, was waiting in the waiting room. And indeed, she passed Deputy Mayor Kornel Filipowicz in the doorway. The Reader meekly left while the coughing deputy mayor entered.
As she waited politely for her turn, scenes from the film "Miś" came back to her. She thought that absurdities straight out of the Polish People’s Republic had just happened to her.
This is how people develop the belief that “the emperor has a great life” and that when you hold the right position, doctors treat you differently at the clinic. Not like a patient-citizen, but like… the mayor!