A Woman in Shock and an Active Subscription to the New England Journal of Medicine

When Dr. Szema asked me to talk to a psychiatric patient, I was nervous and shocked. I was afraid of being uncomfortable while staying with her. How do I to talk to her? How do I to start the conversation? What if she stared at me without saying a word? We were asked to see the patient because of recurrent septic shock, and the patient had already been admitted to the hospital three times before we saw her. Although she got a lot of fluid, her blood pressure was still low. As a result, the intensive care unit team was worried that she may be immunocompromised. Nevertheless, based on her medical records, behaviors, and information we gathered from her surrounding people in the hospital, Dr. Szema believed she had Munchausen’s syndrome. I researched scientific articles in preparation. I left Dr. Szema’s office and anxiously checked my watch for the rest of the day (Fig. 7.1).