Friday 16 September 2005

That's funny. I could have sworn it said 'vasectomy'...

I had an appointment in a hospital yesterday. I was seen by a very assured, confidence-inspiring doctor who briskly examined me, reassured me nothing serious was wrong, and referred me on to someone else. The whole thing took about six minutes, and I left feeling braced and relieved.

Until I looked at the form he'd given me for the referral, and noticed he'd copied my middle name as my first name.

Now, I'm sure that for a doctor, this form wasn't very important, and my name was the least important thing on it. I'm confident that had he been transcribing my allergies, the dosage of my drug, or whether it was my right or left leg he planned to amputate, he would have taken more care.

Still, I wish he hadn't done it...

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was married to a Michael Alfred W---. for about 10 years and then one day discovered his birth certificate and was shocked to learn that I had been sleeping with Alfred Michael W---.
Shaken, I confronted him with the discovery. He answered: "My fathers' name was Alfred, and so they called me by my middle name until we forgot it wasn't my first name."
I said, "Why couldn't they call you Al?" He drew himself up to his full height and said condescendingly, "Do I LOOK like an Al?!" He was right. I would never have married an Al. I have adjusted to life with an Alfred, though often I nostalgically call him Mike.