Daughter shocked by note her mother received
Posts photo on social media: 'I'm so upset'
A patient information handout from a hospital is stirring controversy after it was found to contain a demeaning description of the patient.
A social media user identified only as A recently posted on Threads about her shock upon seeing a handout her mother had brought home from a pain clinic.
A photo shared alongside the post shows small text printed at the top of the page reading: "The patient doesn't seem very intelligent and does manual labor, so make an explanation sheet that's easy to understand." The text appears to be an AI prompt that was accidentally printed on the document.
Below that, the handout continues with a detailed guide under the heading "Hand and arm stiffness and blood tests."
A said she believed the doctor had typed the phrase as a command to an AI tool and it was printed out as-is. "My blood is boiling and I'm so upset by the fact that a patient who came in for treatment was being demeaned and categorized behind their back," she wrote.
Online commenters piled criticism on the medical staff, with reactions including: "This reeks of a superiority complex," "I hope her mother didn't see that line," and "It makes you wonder what kind of thoughts this person has on a daily basis."
One commenter said that even if the intent was the same, phrasing it differently — such as "write this so a person in their 70s can easily understand" — would not have been a problem. "It makes you question what kind of mindset this doctor has," the commenter added.
jshan@heraldcorp.com
