RT Book, Section
A1 Murtagh, John
SR Print(0)
ID 1124557204
T1 Lessons in communication
T2 Cautionary Tales: Authentic Case Histories from Medical Practice, 2e
YR 2016
FD 2016
PB The McGraw-Hill companies
PP Sydney, Australia
SN 9780070285408
LK murtagh.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1124557204
RD 2024/04/20
AB I  met  Evelyn,  a  43-year-old  obstetric  patient,  when  I  was  a  medical  student.  Two  of  us  were  asked  to  conduct  a  full  history  and  examination  with  the  perennial  student  attraction  being  ‘an  interesting  patient  with  a  hole  in  the  heart’.  She  was  great  and  talked  about  the  straightforward  birth  of  her  seventh  child  and  how  well  her  heart  continued  to  cope.  Of  course  we  examined  her  cardiovascular  system  and  assessed  her  condition  as  an  atrial  septal  defect.  When  asked  about  how  her  husband  felt  about  having  yet  another  child  she  replied  that  she  wasn’t  married  but  that  Terry  was  the  father  of  all  her  children.  She  could  sense  that  we  looked  bemused  and  added  ‘when  I  was  very  young  my  doctor  said  that  with  your  heart  you  should  not  get  married—and  I  have  followed  his  advice  to  this  day’.