With more than 40 years of experience, Pedro Rodríguez was one of the most renowned Urology specialists in Spain. His death occurred at the age of 75. After leaving his position at the University Hospital of the Canary Islands (HUC) and as a teacher at the University of La Laguna (ULL), when he turned 65, he maintained his private practice – a classic in Santa Cruz Serrano Street – two times a week. He confessed, in an interview granted to DIARIO DE AVISOS, that he did not lose the urge to continue learning, as long as his health allowed. And so he did, participating in different forums, symposiums and other meetings to increase his knowledge and continue training in this specialty of medicine, until his health left him.
In the interview, held in his office, he confessed his disagreement with the measure that forced him to abandon medicine in the Canarian public system and teaching when he turned 65 and was forced to retire. “It is the age of greatest professional lucidity,” he affirmed. His opinion regarding these retirements was clear: “You lose a part of medicine that is not learned without participating with experienced professionals who provide background and knowledge,” he said then, and even ironic when indicating that new doctors have to learn those veterans’ methodologies “through internet videos, a sad paradox”.
Rodríguez was very clear that with this situation the affected are the patients. “I am in favor that, if someone wants to continue following the age of 65, they should be allowed, always meeting certain requirements, since I think there is room for everyone,” he asserted. “The one who benefits is the patient, first and foremost, and then the doctor also benefits, since leaving can sometimes be traumatic,” he added.
About his future (he was 70 years old at the time) he was clear: “I’m still sane in this profession, although in recent times I’ve reduced the number of days a week I spend in consultation,” he explained. As an anecdote, he recounted that, on occasions, he came to advance the time of the consultation if a patient asked him to do so in order to attend to him. In fact, the day of this interview was like this. “I do what I think I should do from the patient’s point of view,” he summed up.
