Medical Porn and Good IntentionsOne of the bathrooms in my office has a small poster on the wall next to the toilet. The poster, courtesy of Unnamed Drug Company (which manufactures a certain antibiotic used for treating urinary tract infections), contains instructions for both men and women for collecting urine specimens without contamination. The instructions are accompanied by explicit black-and-white line drawings - this benefits those who aren't fluent in English and those who have trouble reading fine print.
Or so I thought until recently.
A patient of mine presented for an appointment complaining of UTI symptoms and accompanied by her daughter, a very cute six-year-old. She went to the bathroom to produce a specimen, taking her daughter with her. I thought nothing of it until later as I was writing her prescription. She said hesitantly, "Uh, you know that poster in the bathroom?"
"Yes..." it suddenly hit me what she was driving at. "Oh. Yes, yes I do."
"Well, my daughter saw it. It was right at her eye level."
"Oh dear. Well, you know it's there to show people how to, um, collect urine for testing, that's all. I hope it didn't upset her."
The mother looked as though she were about to laugh. "She said it was gross."
I glanced at the daughter who wrinkled her nose in corroboration. I suddenly had to bite my lip really hard to keep from bursting into giggles.
So now I'm corrupting six-year-olds. What next?
posted by Dr. Alice at #
