A lesson to be learnt: Parenting is not on the medical curriculum

BMJ 1998;316:1838 ( 13 June )

Filler

A lesson to be learnt

Parenting is not on the medical curriculum

Simon Atkins, senior house officer in psychiatry, Bristol.
The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Soon after my son was born my brother in law told me that Harry was fortunate to have a doctor for a father. But I soon discoveredthat my medical training was poor preparation for the task ofparenting.

Initially it certainly helped, and when in the first fortnight Harry developed breast milk jaundice I felt reassured by theknowledge that this was benign and temporary and that he wouldsoon be all right. However, he soon developed a peculiar symptomthat left me totally baffled. He began sweating profusely on oneside of his body.

I began a frantic search of my bookshelf for answers but found no mention in any of my student paediatric textbooks of disorderscausing unilateral perspiration. Could it perhaps be a rare defectof the autonomic nervous system, or perhaps a previously unknowncomplication of forceps deliveries? Was the jaundice responsible,or was it . . . [Full text of this article]