Medical Mispronunciations
Was speaking with a colleague about my patient who I was introducing. As I provided the history, I mentioned that he had undergone a "BKA". My patient asked, "what's a BKA, doc?". "A below-knee amputation", I replied. His mood seemed to suddenly sour as he replied to me, "it may be just baloney to you, but it was my dog-gone leg!"
Couple of months back, on behalf of an attorney colleague, I saw a woman who had been involved in a negligence suit. On reading her history form, I noted that she had undergone, "tubal litigation". I made certain to cross my t's and dot my I's with her.
I should keep a log..
Those are good, Doc. I've heard a lot throughout the years - one that stands out in my mind was when a patient bragged about how knowledgeable his daughter was with medical things. He went on & on stating "My daughter knows all about medicine. She's sure this pain I'm having down the back of my leg is from my exotic nerve."
http://countryplans.com/smf/Smileys/...rolleyes-1.gif He meant sciatic nerve - I didn't have the heart to correct him
lol.Exotic nerve. that's one I hadn't heard, Sassy. . Down in Florida, it was common to hear of patients complain of fireballs causing pelvic pain. Clearly, they meant fibroids.
During a risk management workshop, I was shown correspondence between a family doc and a fertility specialist. It read, "...woman and her husband having difficulty conceiving.. between the two of us, we should be able to get her pregnant". Sounds awful!
Wish I had a dime for every patient that was 'disorientated' or had 'prostrate' troubles. Had to learn the street medical terminology--'Peanut Butter Balls' (Phenobarbitol) 'Done fell out' (experienced a grand mal seizure) 'Chicken breath' (She can't breathe)