“I like you, that’s why I come here. You talk nicely.”
She flatters me, but my patient’s warm words are cold comfort.
This is her 14th hospital visit in a month that has yet to end. Not to mention the dozen visits over the last few months and many before that.
The presentations are identical. She wakes up, gets dressed, eats and gets a lift to emergency, where she reports dizziness, headaches, odd sensations or similar vague symptoms.
The emergency doctors find no discernible emergency and refer her to the physicians, who take a detailed history and examine her all over again and conclude the same.
Her medical record is littered with a concerning number of normal blood tests and scans. If the copious documentation from social worker to specialist doctor were on paper, she would need her own storage shed.
On this visit, it is my turn to meet the elegant elderly widow who laments that no one takes her seriously. When patients insist on the same symptoms, doctors owe them an open mind lest they miss a rare diagnosis through assumption, or worse, arrogance. But the diligent professionals before me have not missed a beat.
Her diagnosis is loneliness.
I probe gently. Does she have friends? She grumbles that her children could do more. Would she consider resuming her antidepressant? No. Could she join a community group? She doesn’t drive. Would she consider a retirement village? Absolutely not.
Indignantly, she says she recently tried her luck at a private hospital. They did nothing and charged her $500 for........