Wednesday, March 03, 2004

shaken parent syndrome

You would be shocked (SHOCKED) to find out how often I have this exact conversation:


PARENT OF PATIENT
Yeah, he be taking some medicine at home.

MICHELLE
What medicine, exactly?

PARENT OF PATIENT
I don't know.

MICHELLE
OK. What is the medicine for?

PARENT OF PATIENT
I don't know. They just give it to me.

MICHELLE
Who's "they?"

PARENT OF PATIENT
(Vaguely)
The people at the place.

MICHELLE
Ah. Them. How many times a day are you giving it?

PARENT OF PATIENT
I don't know. It says on the bottle.

MICHELLE
Do you have the bottle with you?

PARENT OF PATIENT
No.

MICHELLE
And you don't remember, even though you've been giving him the medication yourself.

PARENT OF PATIENT
(A little annoyed)
No.

MICHELLE
What does the medicine look like? Is it a pink liquid? Clear? What color is the bottle? The cap?

PARENT OF PATIENT
I don't know. I don't look at it..

MICHELLE
OK. Let me just sum this up. You're at home, giving a medication to your child that you don't know the name of, don't know what symptoms its treating, how often you're giving it, don't know who gave it to you or what the actual medication looks like.

PARENT OF PATIENT
Yeah.

(Silence.)

I ran out of the medicine, though, could you write me for a refill?

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