I went to a local hospital this week to pick up some CD's containing recent diagnostic imagery. I duly reported in, and was directed to a small office, where someone would meet me with the CD's. After a few minutes, a very pleasant young lady came in, handed me a brown envelope, and assured me that everything I needed was inside.
Being a trusting sort (NOT!), I opened the envelope. pulled out the printed records, and glanced at the first line. One word jumped out at me. It read, "HYSTERECTOMY".
I blinked, and looked again. Sure enough, it hadn't changed. I looked up at the nice lady, patted my (over-ample) belly, and said, "I may look pregnant, but I assure you, I'm not - and I've never had this surgery!"
She blinked in her turn, glanced at the paper, and turned beetroot-red. "Oh! OH! I'm sorry! I must have picked up the wrong envelope! Wait just a moment!"
I waited, grinning. The envelope had not had any name on it, so I presume they'd simply filed them in roughly alphabetical order based on the printed records inside. In due course, she returned, still slightly pink, and handed me another envelope. This time, the right records were inside.
I asked, "Do we need to look at the CD, to make sure it doesn't have happy snaps of a hysterectomy instead of my spinal scans?"
Her blush deepened. "Er... I - I don't think so?"
I left it at that and departed, still grinning. When I got home and told my wife, she almost collapsed, she was laughing so hard. We're both looking forward to finding out what images another doctor might see on the CD when he reads it!
Ah, the joys of (mis)filing systems . . .
Peter
4 comments:
That's hysterical
I’m glad she had the intelligence to not argue about what sex you are, if only our Supreme Court Justices were that smart.
As expensive as "health care" is, I cannot fathom how incompetent they are from an administrative standpoint.
Not talking about medical errors, just about an inability to do the basics when it comes to recordkeeping and administrative tasks.
Even worse than the legal profession and that's saying something.
I'm still recovering from a hip replacement so I could give several very recent real world examples, but I'm sure we've all had them.
If I was as bad at finishing the paperwork and filing the reports related to my job as the administrative side of the medical profession is, I'd be living under a bridge somewhere.
At least the lady had the good grace to be embarrassed, instead of denying her error and insisting that the paperwork was correct.
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