A
guest dropped an ice bucket on her toe. Pain was excruciating, and blood poured
out. Holding the toe under the tap didn’t help.
Over
the phone, I explained that running water won’t stop bleeding. She should apply
pressure over the wound and add ice to dull the pain. When I called an hour
later, she was having dinner in the hotel restaurant.
A
man had developed a slight cough, in his opinion a prelude to full-blown
bronchitis. He wanted something to knock it out. I explained that,
in a healthy person, viruses cause almost all coughs. I could come, but I
couldn’t promise an antibiotic. The man said he would get a second opinion.
A
teenager bumped his head on a bedpost and developed a lump the size of an
egg. The parents asked that I check him for brain injury. That requires a CT
scan, I explained. He would certainly get one if he went to an emergency room, but
the injury didn’t seem serious enough for that. It was OK to wait. He did fine.
A
guest had missed his flight because of an upset stomach. He was well now but
needed a doctor’s note to avoid an expensive ticket-exchange fee. These
requests arrive now and then, and they put me in a difficult position. I can’t
write “The guest was unable to travel because of an upset stomach” because I
don’t know if that’s true (sometimes the patient admits that it isn’t). So I
offer to write the truth: “The guest states that he suffered an upset stomach
and could not travel.” I sweeten the pot by offering to fax it to the hotel at
no charge.
Guests
usually accept. To date, no one has complained, so the note may work.