The Blame Game: How we let ourselves off the hook at the patient’s expense

Today’s post is a bit more philosophical. Being a doctor is hard. It’s even harder when things go wrong. Most of the time, the things that go wrong aren’t our fault. They usually aren’t the patient’s fault, either, even if they are a direct result of the patient’s actions. How is that possible, you ask? If a patient comes in

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“I had an ultrasound yesterday…”

I have been spending a lot of time in the clinic lately, which means one thing: lots of patient calls. The latest trend goes something like this: Patient sees me in clinic. I order an ultrasound (or other test) for a non-urgent concern (mostly for heavy or irregular periods). I schedule a follow-up visit for a few days to a

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Boundaries

On a more philosophical note today, I recently had a very uncomfortable experience with the mother of a young patient. The patient was 16 and presented to my office complaining of heavy and painful periods. She was missing school because she leaked through her pads in class and was afraid it would happen again. Her mother kept her home 2-3 days

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“I can see that you’re busy – I’ll come back later.”

I had a very interesting interaction with a patient today. I was down on the postpartum floor consenting a patient for a postpartum tubal ligation, when a different patient’s nurse flagged me down. The patient had just been brought down from labor and delivery after delivering twins vaginally. She asked her nurse for narcotic pain medication, which I do not

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Perspective

During my internal medicine rotation, I took care of a gentleman with end-stage heart failure. He was young (early 50s) and personable, and I saw him every morning for a month. I followed him on a journey, we went through the ups and downs together, and I spent at least an hour in his room every day explaining his test results, answering his

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Saying goodbye

My patient was transferred to a rehab facility today, and I didn’t say goodbye. He was admitted over a week ago, 19 years old, sick, and terrified. I saw the fear in his eyes when the resident told him that we would need to perform a lumbar puncture, that we would need to place a large needle in his spinal canal

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