We May Forget the Whole Case, But at lest Don’t Forget This…!!!

This is one incident I came across last month:

A poor man, aged 50, a case of lumbo-sacral pain consulted me. Initially, he had consulted one general practitioner, and latter referred to an orthopedic surgeon. His pain was getting worse day by day, even after taking the medicines given by the ortho. The patient again visited the ortho.

Patient: “doctor, my pain is getting worse day by day even after several visits”

Orhto: “Don’t worry, we will take an MRI today”

Patient: “Doctor, I have already done MRI last week, and you said that my disc is in trouble!!!”

Ortho: “Ohh… sorry…sorry… I forgot that!”

Patient left his treatment even without taking medicines.

He came to me, but with no investigation reports. But he had the above story to tell!

We doctors may forget MRI and other things, but the patients can’t forget the huge amount they had paid for the same.

Now, tell me, how can I ask that poor man to do the MRI again? How can I accept a risky case without proper idea about the case and diagnosis? We often come across such cases in our day to day practice. Patients leaving our treatment may also face the same when they go to other physicians (means we also do that mistake)!

My dear friends, we must give some value to money, especially while dealing with poor patients. We can do any bogus things with the rich (kidding) :)

My humble suggestions to all my friends:
1. Do the necessary test only when indicated. If indicated, we must do it.
2. Once you do the test, make a note on the impression in our case paper. Now a days, case paper contains only prescriptions, not even symptoms. The situation is worse in Government sector! In some institutions, there is no case paper at all. The prescription paper is the case paper for them!
3. Also keep the copy of investigation report in the file.
4. For God sake, please give the copy of investigation report to the patients, so that they can use the same when they go to another physicians (we are not God to cure each case we get!).
5. The patient has the right to have the reports for which he had paid from his pocket. So, please discourage those hospitals that forcefully keep the lab reports with them, even without giving the Xerox copy.

Image courtesy: howtostayhealthy.blogspot.in

Dr Muhammed Rafeeque
FamilyHomoeopathy.com