I recently had the illuminating experience of being a hospital patient.

I’d been postponing surgery for a long-term umbilical hernia — until one day, complications arose.

Instead of heading to the airport for a family holiday as planned, I detoured via the private hospital ED with an acutely red, swollen and now very tender hernia.

There, an ED doctor in camouflage-style theatre scrubs with long hair casually tied back, a two-day growth and tattoos everywhere, tried to steadily reduce the troublesome hernia.