I was asked by an Industrial Services firm to provide a medical report on the
state of health of an employee (a bus driver of another firm) who had been off
work for several months. She was not my patient. I was asked to answer
questions such as her current health and whether she was likely to return to
work at any stage in the future.
As you can imagine, she was pretty hostile as I was working for "their"
interests and not hers. She said she banged her toe on a kerb some three and a
half months previously and it was still painful. Examination revealed a very
tender toe with the possibility of non- (or is it mal-) union. However she
appeared to smell of alcohol and smelt, without wishing to be unnecessarily
judgemental, in the way that chronic alcoholics smell as opposed to the person
who has had a single binge. Furthermore she had a very dishevelled appearance
and was unclean and apparently rather malnourished (as well as smelling of
smoke). She, in addition, had a employment record punctuated by several spells
of abesence for minimal reasons.
I felt that she was an alcoholic and that this was the cause of her injury
(oft repeated, hence the non- [or is it mal-, union] ) and her repeated
absences. I did not tell her my thoughts and did not inquire as to her alcohol
intake mainly because I wouldn't have believed her if she said she didn't
drink much and because she was already hostile to me. However, I had her
written consent to divulge info to the medical adviser of the Industrial
Services company and therefore, as there was a risk to the public (she is a
bus driver), phoned him to state my suspicions and later put it in writing. He
is now going to get info from her own doctor and possible ask me to perform
blood tests (yep, I'm sure she will love that!).
Have I transgressed any boundaries? Is it proper to make assumptions about a
person without concrete facts? Indeed, did the info I gleaned (as above)
amount to enough to arouse suspicion? Should I have told her that I was going
to tell the other doctor about my suspicions?
Views wanted. Thanks all.
Mark Clayson
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