February 26th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, True Stories
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“He gave me the look,” the patient said to my nurse as he walked out of the exam room.
My nurse laughed and said, “I had a feeling you’d get it today.”
What were they talking about? ”What look? I didn’t know I had a look!” I asked my nurse.
The patient tipped his chin down and looked at me over his glasses. My nurse laughed, pointing at the patient, “That one! Exactly! You give that look to me too!”
I was mystified. I don’t like lecturing people or acting like their parent. Patients do no harm to me when they gain weight, don’t take their medications, or eat a lot of Little Debbies. My job is not to get them to do everything I say, it is to give them enough information and motivation to do it for themself. I am the coach; they are the ones who have to go out on the field and play. I may be disappointed when they mess up, but it’s not my job to patronize them and wag my finger. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
February 21st, 2010 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
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Yesterday, the mail arrived. There were catalogs for clothes (mmmm, can’t wait until May!), letters from friends, the crappy bills that keep arriving even though we didn’t forward them to our new address, and oh yeah, that one bill from my mail order pharmacy.
For a thousand dollars.
Dated January 30, 2009.
So, being the rational and patient woman that I always am, I ripped up the envelope it came in, cursing under my breath like my temperamental buddy, Yosemite Sam. Punctuated each tear of the paper with “fricka-frakin’ insurance bill dagnabit …”
And then I called the mail order pharmacy company.
“Thank you for calling Byram Health Care. Your call is important to us.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
October 28th, 2009 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Opinion
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They say that breaking up is hard to do
Now I know, I know that it’s true
Don’t say that this is the end
Instead of breaking up I wish that we were making up again
There are times that relationships need to end. Usually something happens to undermine trust; it’s hard to build trust, but it’s very easy to destroy it.
I had a discussion today with the other physicians in my practice as to when patients should be “discharged” from our practice. I have always found it somewhat ironic that we use the term “discharge” when we are basically telling patients we don’t want them to be our patients anymore. Doctors deal with discharges of various sorts – most of which are not pleasant. Here is a dictionary definition of discharge: the emission of pus, mucus, or other liquid from an orifice or from diseased tissue. True, there are other definitions of discharge that don’t cary that connotation (we discharge patients from the hospital), but if I see an appointment on my schedule with the word discharge as part of the reason for visit, I am not excited. I am praying for a no-show. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
September 26th, 2009 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
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You know you’re a diabetic when … you see what appears to be this:
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*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
August 15th, 2009 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, True Stories
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Allegedly for “not writing a prescription”…
Dr. Paul Arnold turned his back for a moment on a patient who was upset because the doctor wouldn’t write him a prescription.
That’s when the patient, Gregory S. Powell, 45, of Fort Myers, allegedly attacked Arnold, 65, biting off part of one of the doctor’s fingers.
As my tipster says “…probably wasn’t about refusing an amoxicillin script…”.
In custody; no word on the doc, and best wishes.
Thanks to Glenn (a true homie) for the tip.
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*