Forget Me Not

"Hello Doctor? It's been three weeks and I still haven't heard back about my x-rays. I still get the headaches, and they seem to get worse when I walk through low doorways."

The family doctor I had known since my junior high school days retired in 2001, and even though I am no longer a patient of his he is still a client of mine. He recently phoned me with a question about his security system that I handled in my usual highly efficient and professional manner.

The sad thing about it all was that, hearing his voice, and mindful of how far down the road to ruin we've gone in this country, the first thing I thought was, "Great! He finally got the results back on those tests!"

We all know the scenario. You go to your doctor for some reason and they schedule blood work, x- ray, you name it. Some sort of diagnostic test. As they pass you the requisition, they speak some version of, "If the tests come back negative, we won't call you."

Speaking as one with a not insignificant amount of training and experience in the field of emergency communications, I have a hard time accepting a situation in which it becomes impossible to tell the difference between "all clear" and "oh shit, I forgot". At what point did the simple concept of closure leave the profession of medicine?

My late father was of the mind that, if the doctor didn't tell you you had a problem, then you were good to go. Don't feel you're being rude by following up on your own health. We all respect the fact that a doctor's office is a busy place staffed by overworked and harried people, but all that pales in comparison with the possibly life changing consequences of an illness being left to advance untreated or, worse yet, the unmitigated inconvenience of being dead, all due to an administrative oversight.

Self reliance is a virtue. Don't play "Mother may I?" with your health or that of those you love. Curiosity may have allegedly killed the cat, but we're still waiting on the results of the study that identifies the health risks of excessive politeness and blind deference to authority.