Honorary Clinical Clerk

A part of the work of an intern is to write clinical histories of patients attending the gynecological outpatient clinic. It is not very interesting, since most of the interns are not interested in the subject, and those who are d not get to examine those patients. So it becomes a mechanical job. I like writing histories, because I know that a diagnosis can often be reached from the history, and examination is required to confirm the diagnosis. Investigations are required in a small fraction of the total number of women attending the clinic. Sometimes I write histories when there are too many patients in the clinic and the interns and house officers do not seem to be able to cope. When one colleague mentioned that one particular honorary gynecologist in another hospital run by the corporation used to sit in the outpatient clinic and write down patients' histories, I thought the reason must be one of these two. “I used to feel quite awkward when he would sit there and write histories. I was quite junior to him. So I would offer to write the histories myself, and let him examine the patients. But he would not listen to me.” “Why did he write histories himself?” I asked. “He would write histories and then give the patients the address of his private clinic, so that they would go there.” Good grief! The fellow was stealing poor patients from a corporation hospital to flourish in his private practice. Then I recalled the stories that this same honorary used to write scientific papers over weekends using imaginary data, when he was an assistant professor in another hospital run by the corporation. I also recalled the time we were examiners together when one medical student who had refused to accept his private tuition for a fee had been given just passing marks by him as a punishment. I could not do anything about it, because I came to know about it later, and anyway there was no provision for changing anyone's marks given by another examiner.