When we go to our routine visits to the Children's Hospital, we are usually seen first by a doctor doing a residency/fellowship rotation, and then we are seen by Dr. T. On one particular visit, one of the doctors doing his rotation came into the examination room with a medical student. As we sat there, he talked to the med student about this "case". He told the student that this patient had Coats' disease. And that this patient's pupil "was blown". He stood there and talked to the med student as if we, the parents of this case study, were not sitting there listening. He talked as if it didn't even cross his mind that maybe our entire lives revolved around this interesting case study.
When Dr. T came in, Craig asked him to explain a "blown pupil" . Dr. T looked a little confused. We then told him about the other doctor's comments. He said that this doctor should not have used that terminology because it was not accurate. I guess what the other doctor was referring to was the fact that Joey's pupil had been dilated for six months. Dr. T told us that it might or might not go back to normal. When they had done the laser surgery, much of the damage was close to the nerves of the pupil, so it was difficult to determine exactly when the pupil would work the same again. He said it wouldn't hurt his eyes, but that it might make him sensitive to light. All we could do was wait and see.
I really hope that this doctor was informed about the fact that we were offended by how insensitive he was. I think that ESPECIALLY at a Children's Hospital, a doctor needs to be more sensitive to people's feelings. That's not just a manila folder with an interesting case study. That's information about my precious little boy.
That evening, Joey's pupil suddenly started working again. Weird timing, huh?
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I remember being treated in precisely this way when I was seen by residents. I was much older than your son at the time these insensitive comments were made, and I got really angry about it. I think I may have been a sophomore in HS at the time. I remember writing an outraged paper for one of my English classes, and my teacher suggested that I send it on to the administration of the hospital where I'd been treated, which I did. I got letters of apology from the residents and from the attending doc. It's exactly as you say--I remember feeling like an anonymous piece of meat, not like a human being. Still makes me mad just to think about it.
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