Any doctors here? Secret code? Flattery?

[AyDeeAitchDee]

Hi all.

So I've had various medical appointments lately.

And get copied in to the letters from various doctors back to my GP.

And they all LOVE me the letters all start like:

"I saw this delightful woman today"

"I had the pleasure of meeting with this lovely lady today"

Etc etc.

Now I'm polite and all. But don't warrant this sort of flattery.

So I'm guessing it's some sort of code?

Would love to be filled in please. Or just hear theories.

Am I the only one that thinks this inappropriate. Not the doctor's place to make a judgement on someone's personality. Neither here nor there how lovely someone is for medical records or treatment. Throwback to the 1950s.

It’s entirely appropriate. It’s a little bit of humanity.

I’m a clinician and apparently it’s inappropriate to so much as pat somebody on the arm if they are feeling unwell. It goes with the word ‘patient’ being hijacked by the soulless ‘service user.’ Bollocks to that, too.

Part of being a clinician involves dealing with humans in a human way. If you want wokery, you’ll presumably enjoy robots replacing doctors.

But they aren't making a judgment. They are using pleasantries and personalising letters to show they were listening to and are considering this specific patient.

What has it got to do with the 1950s?

I agree but in reality it's not a judgement nostaples, it's completely generic. You could be a saint or a horrid person who beat up the receptionist, the letter would start with the same thing. They just choose a phrase at random from a small selection.

Its just a convention, like when you sign an email "regards", whether or not you actually hold that person in regard.

I once got referred to as a down to earth psychologist.

Being pedantic but saying I had the pleasure of meeting is only commenting on my own thoughts and feelings.

I’m a retired doctor. 40 years ago, newly qualified, I was horrified to see a discharge letter to the GP from my eccentric consultant (later Professor) which opened with: “This mentally challenged patient from the rough end of A-ville presented to my clinic...”
It turned out that the patient was his colleague, friend and neighbour! He was noted for his dodgy sense of humour.

It’s an indication of what the next clinician can expect. In the good old days, we could write candid letters, now we have to speak in code because patients can request their notes.

Tbh there are pros and cons

I’ve had ‘I met and her clearly concerned mother today’

I suppose there are three types of words:

1. Pleasantries that are likely to be generic "lovely man" or "pleasant lady" (though maybe these sometimes tip into category 2)
2. Words intended to convey something non-clinical, but perhaps relevant to the next clinician, e.g. "Hardworking" "concerned" "knowledgeable"
3. Word that show the patient that the doctors was listening to that specific patient, e.g. The fact that her dog was a daschund!

Damn, I get those too. I thought I was special, now you have spoilt my day @AyDeeAitchDee

Although, perhaps there is space in the world for two special people

Thanks all for the feedback.

For me I really like the extra human touch. Medical appointments can be overwhelming, so to read that after helps a little with the process.

Not often I get compliments from strangers. I'll take it where I can get it.

Best medical care I ever received was human touch. A midwife who stayed beyond her shift, an obstetrician who gave a personal opinion when asked, a nurse who patted me when I felt sick.

I feel sorry for the generations after us who won’t benefit from this ‘inappropriate’ approach.

Don’t let others rain on your parade OP. People here always seem to want to bring people down. If this is on 95% of consultant’s letters then my family who have seen various consultants over the years must be the 5% because it’s never been on any of ours. It is generally on our daughter’s reports because she really is delightful and chatty. It also would mean that the numbers of difficult patients HCPs report seeing must be over exaggerated because if you were a shitty patient they wouldn’t write you are delightful.

I do wonder how many male patients are described as delightful though.

I also disagree that all reports include some variant of this. Any we’ve had other than our DD’s are perfunctory “mrs x presented with xxx and we recommended xxx” etc.

I’ve used terms like delightful for male patients, MintyMabel. I was an equal opportunities patroniser of patients, if that’s how people see it!
In my defence, I used such language as a means of humanising the clinical encounter. We doctors are perilously inclined to talk about the hernia in bay 3, or the gall bladder on tomorrow’s op list - by starting a letter with reference to the patient in descriptive human terms, we help to offset that. Otherwise we are glorified mechanics, discussing fixing a faulty appliance.

Better than them saying: "Saw this miserable old bag today..."

I would love to know why, every time I see a doctor, they ask my profession. Is that standard?

It's standard practice, no secret here at all.

My theory on it is two parts politeness, one part trying to smooth you over in case you weren't entirely happy, one part forging a relationship with the patient and one part you being a nice patient to deal with.

I saw one from the 1970s that began 'Thank you for sending me this absolute whale of a child'. Hopefully that doctor's bedside manner was better than his correspondence

@iklboo wow, does that mean a fun child, like a whale of a time?

@Realitea

I would love to know why, every time I see a doctor, they ask my profession. Is that standard?

I think its pretty standard, yes. Sometimes it might be because your profession has a bearing on your illness, like I have a relative who developed a lung condition having worked with asbestos in the past, or it might be because your medical condition has a bearing on your job. For example, I would imagine that an arthritic knee is likely to be a far bigger problem for someone whose work involves them being on their feet a lot compared to someone who works at a desk. I've certainly been asked every time I have been in hospital, and indeed when any of my children have been. In that situation I've always assumed they are trying to build up a picture of the family, to get an idea of what life is like for the child.

Yes it’s code. Our GP admitted as much but wouldn’t offer an explanation

I had treatment for something in my mid teens which caused me a great deal of embarrassment, distress and trauma (including discovering I was infertile) and was described in one letter from the consultant as "morose".

When I was a med sec, my consultant used a variations of

"Today I saw this very pleasant lady / this pleasant lady / this lady
/ this patient............" depending on how awkward they were!

@Howlooseisyourgoose - unfortunately the doctor was being very cruel about the child's weight.