We were taking a round of the postnatal ward, when I saw a young intern with a sack on his back and a sheaf of papers in his hand moving slowly along a row of patients under care of another unit head. He would ask something of each patient and hand over a sheet of paper to her.
"What do you think he is distributing?" I asked my resident doctors.
"Discharge summaries" they said.
"He reminds me of a courier. He looks similar, has a sack on his back, and he is distributing paper stuff. The only difference is that he does not take acknowledgements." They could not find any fault with what I said. "What if he gives a discharge summary of one patient to another patient?" They did not think it was likely.
"Anyway the nurse will check the names before discharging the patients" my Assistant Professor said.
"Listen to a true story and perhaps you will think differently" I said. "A few days ago we received a request from the police for stating the true facts of a case under police investigation. It was about a patient treated in this hospital. It was a woman seen on outpatient basis by another unit in Gynecology. They had advised her a vaginal hysterectomy with repair, which was never performed. Yet she had a discharge summary stating this operation had been done. The indoor number on that summary was that of a male surgical patient, photocopies of whose papers were attached. There was a photocopy of an under-treatment certificate of a male patient, who was himself a professor and head of a medical specialty. Can you explain how a woman treated as an outpatient got a discharge summary stating she had undergone a major operation, got an indoor number of a male surgical patient, and under-treatment certificate of a male medical patient who himself was a professor and head of a medical specialty?"
They could not explain it. I wonder if the police have managed to explain it all.
"What do you think he is distributing?" I asked my resident doctors.
"Discharge summaries" they said.
"He reminds me of a courier. He looks similar, has a sack on his back, and he is distributing paper stuff. The only difference is that he does not take acknowledgements." They could not find any fault with what I said. "What if he gives a discharge summary of one patient to another patient?" They did not think it was likely.
"Anyway the nurse will check the names before discharging the patients" my Assistant Professor said.
"Listen to a true story and perhaps you will think differently" I said. "A few days ago we received a request from the police for stating the true facts of a case under police investigation. It was about a patient treated in this hospital. It was a woman seen on outpatient basis by another unit in Gynecology. They had advised her a vaginal hysterectomy with repair, which was never performed. Yet she had a discharge summary stating this operation had been done. The indoor number on that summary was that of a male surgical patient, photocopies of whose papers were attached. There was a photocopy of an under-treatment certificate of a male patient, who was himself a professor and head of a medical specialty. Can you explain how a woman treated as an outpatient got a discharge summary stating she had undergone a major operation, got an indoor number of a male surgical patient, and under-treatment certificate of a male medical patient who himself was a professor and head of a medical specialty?"
They could not explain it. I wonder if the police have managed to explain it all.
