"Drowning can be a difficult diagnosis," he said.
Later that morning, Chen asked Dr. Brian Rifkin, the kidney specialist on call, for help with this difficult diagnosis.
"It gives them an outlet if they're going through a difficult diagnosis or a new therapy," she said.
But it's an emotionally difficult diagnosis for a pediatrician to contemplate, especially when it concerns a family you feel you know well.
What was an easy diagnosis of a large piece of tissue becomes a very difficult diagnosis on a small piece of tissue".
Sometimes a difficult diagnosis is made, not by performing a large number of lab tests or by a logical analysis of what the patient presents, but by a fortunate association in the physician's mind.
I have heard many conversations among physicians about incidences like this one -- often with the doctors expressing frustration that yet another family seemed unwilling to accept a difficult diagnosis.
How does making a correct but difficult diagnosis compare with painting a great canvas?" The absurdity of the questions reveals just how far we have to go in appreciating the value of not just art, but life.
Pancreatic cancer is a notoriously difficult diagnosis and can present with just malaise, loss of appetite, new onset diabetes or back pain, all of which we see on a daily basis in general practice.
What, if anything, could the medical world have done better to support her and Steve through the early months and years with Beth? "They say there's no right way to give a difficult diagnosis, but there's certainly a wrong way," she says.
Perhaps that is just because autism is such a difficult diagnosis to grasp, Glasberg says — after all, it is poorly understood even by adults — but whatever the reason, children who lack a clear concept of their sibling's disorder could well experience anxiety as a result.
