Intended for healthcare professionals

Fillers A memorable patient

The price of presumption

BMJ 2004; 328 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7430.21 (Published 01 January 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;328:21
  1. Alan Byron, retired locum general practitioner
  1. Ryde, Isle of Wight

    Assembling on the surgical ward for our first ward round, we were like snowmen on parade, with freshly starched white coats and stethoscopes shyly peeping from pockets. I was to clerk a young man, take a full history, and make an examination.

    As I sat at the patient's bed his fear was almost tangible. Being psychiatrically inclined, I inquired of the source of his anxiety. He told me that he had dived …

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