Status Check

   The technician, chart in hand, entered the waiting room and called my name.  I had already registered  at the desk, and submitted all the usual pertinent information.  The wait had not been very long. A number of people had been there  ahead of me, but all seemed to go in order, right up to when my name was called.  
    We walk down the hall and turn a corner.  The tech asks me if I'd ever had a PET test before.  I say no, I'm here for an ultrasound, to track kidney stones or any other stones that are hanging around.  She says, well, the PET is combined with the ultrasound.  Then she asks if I was told that the procedure  would take 2 hours. I immediately stop walking.  "No, I can't be here for 2 hours," I tell her. "Are you sure that's for me?"
     She looks at the chart she's holding, but turns it away from  me.  "Yes," she says.  "It's written right here."  I peek over at her chart anyway, where she is focused on the script for the type of procedure. I look at the top: the name says Mary Christian.  I tell her  that is the wrong chart, it's not my name.  She looks a little flustered and states that she did call my first name.  I say yes. ( Mic drop)
    We go back to the waiting room, where Mary Christian is sitting. I tell her I'm glad I'm not to be here for 2 hours.  She seems a little amused as she follows her chart down the hall.
    It turns out that "my" technician had called her also, but stopped short when the birthday didn't match her chart.  But it seems the technician just returned her to the waiting room. I had walked quite a ways down the hall, almost to the designated testing area, and no one came after us to say there'd been a mixup.  My technician told me about it, seeming pleased that she'd caught the wrong name, but apparently had made no attempt to contact anyone else to try to rectify the situation.  I suppose the first tech was negligent because she had not asked my birthdate.  But apparently there is no one who takes any responsibility for the complete process.  Each person does his specific job in a vacuum of isolation from the reason why.  Let the patient beware.