Why Didn’t You Ever Call Me?

Abstract

“Dr. George!” my patient yelled across the sidewalk as we all filed out of our office building as the fire alarm blared in the background. She came hurtling at me, as fast as she could move her 400 pounds of body. “Why didn’t you ever call me?” I could see heads turn and stare. Tears were streaming down her face as I focused all of my energy on keeping an even tone and calm voice while secretly wishing I could melt into the crowd and have a security backup. I gently informed her that I did indeed get the encounter from the nurses saying she’d called, but it had only been a couple hours, and I had been seeing other patients that day. I sat her down and we talked about what was going on. She still had a headache, something that had been persistent for some time that started after her last boyfriend had hit her. She was on her way to the emergency room (ER) to get checked out again, and I couldn’t convince her otherwise.