Morris tribune., 1895-04-03
PLAYING TRICKS ON PATIENTS.

PLAYING TRICKS ON PATIENTS.
Sick Persons Sometimes Tell whoppers to
Their Physicians.
Zone meets with many odd freaks
of human nature in my profession, y
said a physician. Perhaps the most
common is the weakness Of lying to
the doctor. When a person goes to
a medical man to be treated, the sem
sible thing is obviously to help him
to judge of the case by giving all de-
tails as to pains and other symptoms
with as much accuracy as possible.
That anybody should try to deceive
the physician to whom he or she is
applying for advice seems the height
of absurdity. Yet I do assure you
that it is done so constantly that we
have always to be on our guard
Women are much more given to that
sort of folly than men are. I have
a lady on my list of patients who is
truthful enough, I doubt not, in all
other affairs, but she does not hesi.
tate to mislead me as far as she can
by false statements respecting her
own maladies, though she is ex.
tremely anxious to get well. con-
fess that it is a psychological puzzle.
Besides the people who deliber.
ately and willfully tell lies to the
doctor there are others who are mis-
led to an astonishing extent by their
own imagination. I will cite a case
in point. A lady came to see me pro-
fessionally for the first time. She
told me that her vision was very
bad. Her eyes looked all right, and
I tried her sight by means of a card
with printed letters of various sizes
From across the room she was una
BILE to read even the biggest of the
letters. | put pair of glasses in
front of her eyes, and she at once
exclaimed:
".Oh, doctor, that is wonderful.
I can see ever so much better now.
In fact. she was able to read all
of the letters down to the very
smallest, exhibiting a power Of vi
sion quite up to the normal.
This is certainly very surpris-
ing, madam, said. The spectacles
which have helped your sight SO
much are nothing more nor less than
common window glass. &
Naturally she was very much as
tonished and would not believe me
at first. But I convinced her at
length that her trouble was entirely
imaginary, and she went away in a
decidedly pleased state of mind.
'It does not always do, however,
to be so frank with victims of such
hallucinations. A lady who is reg
ular patient of mine called upon me.
She was, as usual, in a state of in
tense nervous excitement. Another
new symptom had appeared in her
case. She was convinced that some
thing was the matter with her brain
because her head was tender on one
side. By chance / happened to no.
tice that her hair was arranged in a
way different from her customary
fashion, and doubtless that was the
reason for the soreness. Most wom-
en- have noticed that to part the hair
in fresh place is apt to make the
scalp sore for a time. It is simply
because the hairs are turned in
new direction.
II said nothing about that to my
patient, save to suggest that she
should wear her hair in the old fash
ion. I gave her prescription for
something harmless. Nothing more
was needed, because the woman is
in first rate health, and there is
nothing at all the matter with her
physically. But it would never do
for me to tell her that her maladies
are purely imaginary. If I did so,
she would not believe me, and she
would seek another physician.
SIN cases like this the conscien-
tious medical practitioner finds moth.
ing better to do than to humor the
patient, "-Washington Star.