A woman’s laborious search uncovered the probable cause of her searing abdominal pain. Getting a doctor to help was much harder.
Boodman SG. Washington Post. February 20, 2021.
Difficult diagnostic journeys are compounded by lack of clinician empathy, bias awareness, and critical thinking. This piece shares the story of a patient whose efforts to identify the cause of her pain were hampered by heuristics, premature closure, and poor patient relationship building.