This post is about someone I don't know, who handled the outpatient case paper of one of my patients without letting her know about it. I had seen her some time ago. Besides her gynecological problem, she also had obesity. There was no reason for her obesity that could be found medically. The final diagnosis (besides the gynecological diagnosis) was overeating and not exercising. After prescribing her medication, I had advised her to reduce her weight by making adjustments in her diet and walking briskly for 30-45 minutes every day. An operation would be performed after she got investigated for fitness for receiving anesthesia. When she came back for follow-up, I looked at my previous notes. There was a word that I could not understand, though the handwriting was mine. It looked like this.
I just could not make out what had made me write the word 'BESITY'. After thinking about it for some time, it dawned on me that there was a sad face behind 'BESITY', which I had not drawn. A little more thinking showed that I had actually written the following word, and someone had modified it.
I must have been a little concerned about her obesity, anticipating wound breakdown after an abdominal surgery. So I had written that word in a rather large print. Someone had been tempted to modify that 'O'.
"Who wrote something on your case paper?" I asked her.
"No one" she said. "I had gone to my native place after seeing you, and seen a doctor there because I did not feel very well."
Tracking that doctor in her native place and pulling him up for being naughty was not an easy task. So I let it go. But I did wish that he had at least cured her if he had to mess up my clinical notes.
I just could not make out what had made me write the word 'BESITY'. After thinking about it for some time, it dawned on me that there was a sad face behind 'BESITY', which I had not drawn. A little more thinking showed that I had actually written the following word, and someone had modified it.
"Who wrote something on your case paper?" I asked her.
"No one" she said. "I had gone to my native place after seeing you, and seen a doctor there because I did not feel very well."
Tracking that doctor in her native place and pulling him up for being naughty was not an easy task. So I let it go. But I did wish that he had at least cured her if he had to mess up my clinical notes.
