#surface-symbol

[cranquis]

dyouknowhatimean replied to your post: TSK: I have the utmost respect for your idiocy.

Dr Cranquis, I’m hoping these names aren’t the actual names of the patient. Doesn’t that go against doctor and patient confidentiality? If something is shared, shouldn’t they be left anonymous or something? Something like that? Love your blog & you.

Thanks for your concern -- I always change the names, but I guess this name was too "real-sounding" for you? See my old posts about HIPAA -- I don't violate it.

birdyoga replied to your post: TSK: I have the utmost respect for your idiocy.

is c. diff common in kids that age?

C. Diff (clostridium difficile) can happen at any age, but I'm not as concerned about that in this kid -- usually, C. Diff diarrhea has red blood and mucus. Still, something to consider given the (pointless) antibiotics used a couple weeks prior. 

sixteennine replied to your post: TSK: I have the utmost respect for your idiocy.

Parents can be cruel to us, but most of the time, multiple explanations works for me (other times, they just accuse me for being a sadist). so, what did you do then?

I gave them a calm but stern speech about "What to do if she gets worse, and what 'getting worse' could mean", gave them discharge instructions, and sent them on their way.

rairahrah replied to your post: TSK: I have the utmost respect for your idiocy.

If there’s any way to let us know what happened, please do so! :(

So far, nothing much. I haven't seen any stool labs show up yet, but those take a couple days, so we'll see. The child hasn't been to the ER since the visit here, from what I could find in the electronic chart.

surface-symbol replied to your post: TSK: I have the utmost respect for your idiocy.

I wonder if the patients can sense your seething distaste and annoyance….

I doubt it -- I have an almost-pathological "split personality" between my In Real Life "Mr. Nice Doctor" and my online backstabbing Cranquis self. This blog really helps me decompress, and has probably saved me from a number of unfortunate IRL incidents with stupid patients/families. :) 

[itsokaytobesmart]

"And how those codes are mixed, turned on, turned off, selected and mutated is literally the basis for all of consciousness, reproduction, emotion, humanity, life … it’s all in there, " I disagree with that one part. Humanity (the metaphysical meaning) isn't genetic, barring sociopaths and the like. By humanity, I interpret you meant it to be synonymous with morality. And morality/humanity is more environmental than genetic, dontcha think?

I actually don't mean for it to be synonymous with morality. 

It's perfectly acceptable to assign metaphysical meaning to something like "humanity". I mean, we clearly possess cognitive and social complexities not found in any other species. 

But I am also a firm believer that we are nothing more than the expression of many, many genes in a large body over the course of many years, and how our gene-body interacts with our environment and molds our nerve-bundle we call a brain? That's behavior, and that's humanity.

By definition we are nothing more than our biology. It just takes some very interesting forms.