Doctors Have to Explain Joke Chart Notations on Witness Stand

The BBC’s Web site reports that many doctors are being more cautious about the notes they write in their patients’ medical records. Why is that? Because the doctors are starting to realize that someday, on the witness stand, they might have to explain their abbreviations and slang. Here’s a sampling:

• CTD: Circling the Drain [i.e., the patient is not expected to live long]
• DBI: Dirt Bag Index
• LOBNH: Lights On But Nobody Home
• TTFO: Told To [Go Away] — see the BBC story to read the “save” by the quick-thinking doctor who was asked about that one in court.

Sorta makes me glad my writing isn’t funny.