The doctor turned back to me and said, “It’s too early to discuss potty chairs anyway. We need to have you wear diapers until your continence is established.”

He turned to the head nurse and said, “Do you think there’ll be any problem with him using a bedpan?”

“None whatsoever, doctor,” the head nurse said primly, “I’ll call Central Supply and have one sent down immediately. He can use the nurse call to ask his nurse to bring him the bedpan whenever he needs it.”

“Excellent!”, the doctor said with a smile as he put his stamp of approval on the idea, “I’ll write it into my orders.” The doctor was tired of having his orders contradicted by a nurse. Even if she was right, it was unseemly to have his authority over the patient’s care questioned. The entire case was proving more difficult than he liked and he was in a hurry to get to his other patients. Then he could get back to the safety of his office where his rule was law.

The doctor turned to me and said as took the chart from the nurse’s hands and made the entry about the bedpan, “I’ll be back to see you later today. If you need anything, just call your nurse. We’ll try to have you out of here in a few days.”

The head nurse took my chart from the doctor and put it on the chair so she could raise the side of the crib. He decamped the room while her back was turned and retreated to look in on his other patients. I didn’t see him until two days later. When I asked my nurse later about when he was coming to see me, she told me that he had come in while I had been sleeping and I would see him when he made his rounds. I suspected he was deliberately coming in when he was sure I was asleep. I think he had been embarrassed and was avoiding me.