MISDIAGNOSIS

• I saw a homeless man with Cardiomyopathy & heart failure when I worked at the A&E. He had symptoms of breathlessness & generalised body swelling. A good samaritan had brought him to the hospital. On questioning, I found out that he had actually just been discharged a few days back from the Male Medical Ward. The patient then showed me his discharge document from the ward. The diagnosis was written as “Vagabond”.

• Dr. PN, a local Sarawakian doctor who used to work at the A&E, is well-known for his good looks. It was not surprising that some young female patients actually flirted with him (& vice versa?). One particular day, he had seen a young lady for a certain complaint. At the end of a relatively long consultation, he had written down “Manja-litis” as the diagnosis.

• I was on shift duty at the A&E on a particular Sunday afternoon when a young lady was brought in to the Yellow Zone by her boyfriend for breathing difficulties. The boyfriend told us it was asthma. As a doctor, I could tell it wasn’t asthma by just looking at the patient. She was hyperventilating! Just before they came to the hospital, the boyfriend had scolded her for something & she got upset, thus triggering the hyperventilation. A plastic bag was given to her for re-breathing by my Staff Nurse, who then asked me what else should be done with the patient. At that moment, the boyfriend was seated on the patient’s bed & was holding her hand & carressing her face to comfort her. Annoyed that I had to attend to such a case on a Sunday afternoon & influenced by DR. PN’s previous “diagnosis”, I told my Staff Nurse, “The patient has manja-loma & she needs an urgent manja-lectomy.”