ABSTRACT
I walked into Mrs. Bernard's room and introduced myself. I was on morning rounds at the hospital, and had just learned that this patient, admitted with a hip fracture four weeks ago, would be discharged later in the day. I was scheduled to see her next week, so I decided to stop by and check on her before she went home. Mrs. Bernard had endured a complicated and stormy hospital stay over the past month. When referring the case to me, her surgeon told me that Mrs. Bernard had lost her only son in a tragic car accident six months previously. Only five weeks ago her husband had died suddenly from a stroke, leaving her alone in a large metropolitan city. A week after that, while attending his funeral, she slipped on the ice and fractured her hip. While recovering from the hip fracture, she developed a bad infection in her lungs, which required a prolonged stay in the hospital. The surgeon, concerned about how she was handling all this, suggested I see her before she was discharged.
