I've been a guinea pig as well, although I'm not important enough to have been in any journals. (And I haven't yet had anything as scary - yikes!) They used to bring in visiting medical students and have them do knee exams on me. I'd sit there and give them pointers: "No, you're doing that 'drawer' thingie, right? Sit on my foot. No, I'm not kidding - park your butt on my foot and yank, not that wimpy tugging you're doing."

Had to kick a few medical students out of my office once. I was trying to interview someone who had a positive TB skin test. He said "yes" when I asked him about coughing up blood. Those students got all excited "Wow - he has TB!" - practically wetting themselves. The patient was Spanish, spoke little English and I spoke no Spanish. Turns out he'd occasionally spit a little blood when he brushed his teeth too hard. Oy. (Yes, I did politely explain they were interfering with communication. Found them later and explained what he'd said. Maybe they learned something about the importance of listening, maybe not.)

Kendall, I don't think it actually gets uglier on the inside, it's just an unfamiliar view for most of us.