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I Can't Be Bothered
When I get a telephone call from a patient, it always begins with the same words: “I hate to bother you, but … .”
A student calls me: “I know how busy you are, and I hate to bother you, but I'm really in trouble and need to talk to you … .”
I discover on my early morning rounds that a patient, for whom I am the attending on the general medicine teaching service at my academic hospital, died several hours ago. The death was expected, but I had emphasized to the housestaff and nurses that I wanted to be notified of any significant changes (and I think death is very significant) in any of my patients. I ask both the nurse on shift and the night-float covering resident why they hadn't called me, and their answer is the same: “It was late last night. I didn't want to bother you.”
A secretary in my division of general medicine staggered into my academic office about 1 year ago complaining of faintness and headache. I had her lie down on the couch and took her blood pressure. It was 210/160. I got her to our emergency department and under immediate therapy for hypertensive …
