A guest dropped an ice bucket on her
toe. Pain was excruciating, and blood oozed 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 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 toddler bumped his head against a
bedpost and developed a lump the size of an egg. He felt fine, but 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.
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 put me in a difficult position. I
can’t write “The patient 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 patient 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 it’s possible that the note works.
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