Informed Self-Diagnosis: Difference between revisions

Not so when the patient is a doctor, however. S/he will give a full account of their condition, [[Expospeak|with all the relevant jargon]], even if they're in the middle of collapsing. If they're already in hospital, they will probably be an [[Annoying Patient]], particularly if the other doctors disagree - it's well known that doctors make the worst patients.

 

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== [[Fanfic]] ==

* In a [[Bleach]] fanfiction "Dr. Granz Is In", the second chapter has everyone's favorite pink-haired Espada diagnose himself with apendicitis. He then enlists the help of Espadas 3 through 6 to perform the operation. Noitra leaves early, Grimmjow faints at the site of his organs, and Ulquiorra and Harribel do it all fairly well. Afterall, Ulquiorra was apparently a surgeon in his past life. (Notably, the symptoms and surgery [[Shown Their Work|are all realistically protrayed]], since the author is actually in medical school and had even just gotten over said disease.)

 

== [[Film]] ==

** Although it's not stated or shown in the film itself, there is some probable [[Fridge Logic]] behind this: Scully knew Mulder would call 911, but also knew she wouldn't be conscious by the time the EMTs arrived, so she was trusting in him to repeat everything she said to them.

** Scully also does this in the series with her cancer--the opening to "Memento Mori" had her examining her own X-rays and explaining to Mulder exactly what it was and that she wouldn't live very long.

 

== Literature ==

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* Dr Sheldon Hawkes of ''[[CSI: NY]]'', having just been rescued from a nasty underwater incident, tells a paramedic he has "a full range of motion - probably just a hairline fracture".

** During another episode where the entire crew is slowly vanishing and Beverly is the only one who notices, she performs a self diagnostic, mentioning rather tersely that "being the only doctor on board, I had to do it myself."

* In ''[[Firefly]]'' episode "Objects in Space", Simon is shot in the leg. Although he's the only medic on board, Zoe has some battlefield first aid experience. As a result, she has to perform surgery on Simon's leg while he stays conscious enough to talk her through the process.

* ''[[Scrubs]]'' played with this by having four older doctors all sharing a hospital room. JD is understandably intimidated, but they very kindly inform him of their condition and what's required. [[With Friends Like These...|Then prank him.]]

** Another episode features the "[[Annoying Patient]]" angle. Not only does the doctor in question diagnose himself, he brings along a lackey who automatically agrees with everything he says to try and legitimize his claims that the Sacred Heart doctors should just sign off on the drugs he's prescribed himself and let him go about his merrily arrogant way.

** In "Three Stories" House prints a graph from his heart monitor, calls a nurse and tells her she has twenty seconds to inject him before he goes into tachycardia. He then crashes ''immediately'', with a surprised "I was wrong..."

** In the Season 4 finale, {{spoiler|Amber gets some of her medical info from Wilson, but quickly puts it all together and figures out for herself that she's doomed.}}

* While he wasn't the first person to do so, there was an account of a Russian surgeon [http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/03/antarctica-1961-a-soviet-surgeon-has-to-remove-his-own-appendix/72445/ removing his own appendix] while he was stationed in Antarctica.

* This isn't necessarily limited to the medical profession, either. Professional IT helpdesk workers often have less trouble dealing with complete novices than with people just knowledgeable enough to have made some attempt to diagnose the fault themselves, as the helpdesk people usually have a checklist that they ''have'' to follow to the letter and can't simply take the user's word for it if they say they've already tried that, not least because the self-taught user's self-diagnosis isn't as informed as they'd like to think.

 

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