Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. OSCAR WILDE
What if a misdiagnosis could stop a wedding? Could your patient with chronic fatigue actually have Addison disease? Would you have recognised musculoskeletal pain as a manifestation of anxiety about penis size?
These scenarios and many others feature in this much anticipated collection of cautionary tales by the world-renowned authority on general practice, Professor John Murtagh. Learn and laugh as Professor Murtagh and colleagues recount their war stories from the front line. These tales remind us that sometimes things are not as they seem, and it always pays to remain alert to the subtleties of the human condition. In this third edition of Cautionary Tales, Professor Murtagh is joined by Dr Sara Bird, who provides authoritative commentary on relevant medico-legal advice and pitfalls, using the case histories as a platform.
After all, in the words of Professor Murtagh, To practise medicine is a privilege, to practise it well is a difficult challenge, but not to learn from ones mistakes is unforgivable.
Chapter 1 Embarrassing moments
Chapter 2 Great mimics
Chapter 3 Masquerades and pitfalls
Chapter 4 Endocrine tales
Chapter 5 Sinister, deadly and not to be missed
Chapter 6 See a doctor, support a lawyer
Chapter 7 Red faces
Chapter 8 Crisis and death
Chapter 9 The concealment syndrome
Chapter 10 Families in conflict
Chapter 11 Tales of the unexpected
Chapter 12 Sacked and rejected
Chapter 13 Musculoskeletal twists and turns
Chapter 14 Special senses
Chapter 15 Sexual twists and capers
Chapter 16 Feverish problems
Chapter 17 Neurological dilemmas
Chapter 18 Children and brain-teasers
Chapter 19 Growing old
Chapter 20 Mysteries of the mind
Chapter 21 Emergencies, home and roadside visits
Chapter 22 Lessons in communication
Chapter 23 Professionalism pitfalls
Chapter 24 Cautionary methods: towards a safe diagnostic strategy
John Murtagh, AM, is Executive Director, Education at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and Adjunct Professor of General Practice at the Department of Community Medicine and General Practice , Monash University, Victoria, Australia. He is one of Australia's leading GPs and community educators. A Professor in General Practice in the School of Primary Health Care at Monash University in Melbourne, Professorial Fellow in the Department of General Practice at the University of Melbourne and Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle.
