When Bad News Surprises Us
It’s that part of the job that I’ve never gotten used to. I hope I never do.
I saw a man recently with an unexpected finding on his exam – a “lesion” that should not have been there. I was seeing him for his diabetes and blood pressure, and was doing my “ritual” physical exam, when the “lesion” blared into my vision.
I say “ritual” exam because the exam itself had little to do with his medical problems. It is just my practice to do a cursory exam of the head, neck, chest, and lungs of most everyone who comes to the office. I guess it’s the “laying on of hands” part of the practice of medicine that makes me do this; there is something about the human touch that makes a doctor’s visit different from a visit to the accountant. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
