RT Journal
A1 Rosenbaum JT
T1 IN defense of phobias
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 2008
FD May 28
VO 299
IS 20
SP 2368
OP 2368
DO 10.1001/jama.299.20.2368
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.299.20.2368
AB 
Growing up in a family filled with physicians, I was often tested with the following question: What do you call a Jewish boy who does not like the sight of blood? The answer: a lawyer. While I hope that I have not been too adversely impacted by both the gender and ethnic stereotypes that the joke relies on, like many jokes it touches on a sensitive topic: phobias and medical care. Poking needles into body cavities and threading tubing up or down or into a body part: these are not “normal” behaviors. And they carry with them attendant risks. Why shouldn't they be accompanied by some degree of fear, for both the “perpetrator” and the recipient?