CASE

“The patient had been verbally assaulted”

On my medical rotation there was a Black patient who was an IV drug user. The resident was exasperated about her failure to comply and lashed out at the woman by saying that her 13-year-old daughter should be searched when she came to see her mother because she was probably bringing in drugs. I was horrified and felt that the patient had been verbally assaulted, but I didn't know what to do about it.

CASE

“Stop bothering us”

As a student I was asked to work up an elderly man with all sorts of pains, including back pain. He had severe arthritis and had been in and out of the hospital many times. He was obviously somewhat depressed and feeling his pain terribly. As we spoke, he almost warned me, “No one believes me, I am in terrible pain.” I had just opened the door to his room to present as the resident came by, when the resident shouted out in a very loud offensive way, as though deliberately trying to make sure the patient heard, “Well, tell me, is this patient's pain legitimate or not?” I felt miserable because I knew the patient's pain from his own perspective was “legitimate.” But, of course, there was nothing the orthopedic surgeon was going to be able to do and therefore as far as he was concerned it wasn't “legitimate.”