She Wants What? Volume II

Outrageous requests from patients continue to amaze me.  On the doctor’s web site I hang out on called “Sermo” we call this entitlement-iasis.  We physicians consider requests not related to the medical care that is currently being rendered to be patient’s entitlementiasis.

Here’s a recent example:

I have a young patient (for me, this is someone still attending the public school system) who I haven’t seen for more than 6 months.  Evidently, Lazy Mom has let Cramp Girl stay home from school more than the school system allows.  Lazy Mom is now in trouble.  She is being charged with truancy.  This may actually require a civil penalty through the court. 

Has Lazy Mom notified me at any time that Cramp Girl, who is in high school, has stayed home from school?  No, she has not.  She called the other day wanting notes for multiple dates over the last 4 months.  These dates were for the condition I was treating Cramp Girl for.  She did not tell me at any point that Cramp Girl was not well enough to go to school.  I would have seen her in the office and adjusted her medication.

Lazy Mom is also saying that Cramp Girl was out for a school trip, a day her sister couldn’t drive her to school, a day the electricity was off at her house, a day she had a stomach virus…..

I personally send my kids to school too much.  They tell me so frequently.  I figure that they don’t know they are sick at 6:30 in the morning.  If the school sends them home, then they are sick.  It works for me.  But education is a priority for me.  My kids are in the honor society, on the honor roll, etc. 

No note for Lazy Mom.  Cramp Girl needs to go to school.  How else is she going to get an education?  How else is she going to get a work ethic?  Oh, I forgot, Lazy Mom is on disability.  I guess that’s what she’s trying to teach Cramp Girl.