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“Before the end of the day,” a staff radiologist placed a gentle but firm hand placed on my shoulder a few months into my first year in residency, “we should talk about your report.” I felt a dull tugging in my stomach, worried that something had gone seriously wrong – an incorrect diagnosis, a poorly phrased finding, an embarrassing lapse in voice recognition leaving out the “no” in front of “evidence of cancer.” Maybe I was completely off-base, having seen a finding that did not exist and perhaps called it “highly suspicious.” Maybe the ordering physician called my attending on her personal cell phone to complain.
Maybe it was the patient who called.