This is what triggered the idea- All the little incidents together made me start thinking-
He refuses to write his charts- and seems to struggle with it when he does
Quickly abandons charts given the first chance to go do something else, as if chart writing itself made him uncomfortable
Misread the medicine bottle (digoxin vs whatever)
Compensated by using verbal technology to complete his charts
His girlfriend’s daughter asked him if he wanted her to help him study, as if this was something they often did
He listened to the material on tape- again auditory/verbal.
All together it seemed like these were compensation behaviors, if not for complete illiteracy (which I agree is probably too far fetched) then for weak literacy or learning disability. I’ve worked with enough students with learning disabilities that it triggered something familiar in me.
If he doeasn’t have literacy issues then I’m curious why the chart issue has been a repeating theme- they have showed lots of other ways that he is a talented maverick- I just suspect there is something else going on.
Sorry for the double post, but I just thought of one more-
During rounds when Gates was answering all the questions spot on, Pratt asked why he did so poorly on his subclinical test if he knew everything so well- Gates says, casually, that he must be a bad test taker-
Since I’ve never heard the issue of that test come up before with other interns, I feel like it is a special point with Gates’ story line.
I’m right there with ya, Ivory Tower Denizen. The only thing I thought might be evidence against it was just that it seemed like they were hitting us over the head with it as a red herring - but from the other responses in the thread, I guess maybe not.
I’ve got a friend who is a very recently literate nurse. She was absolutely illiterate 7-8 years ago, and “McDonald’s Menu” literate 5 years ago. She got a bit better through nursing school, but she still can’t read, say, Lord of the Rings. She did a lot of “study groups” (so she could listen to the other students and get the knowledge verbally) and bluffing. Thanks to computerized charting, she can memorize the charts, click on the right responses (and she can read well enough to figure the system out) and doesn’t have to even type a whole lot, much less write with a pen.
So how do we feel about this girlfriend’s daughter character? I like her, but it makes me wonder if the writers have been lurking on fan sites and are trying to compensate for the horrid recasting of Sam’s kid. Once again we have a wisecracking smart alec kid in a pseudo-equal relationship to a should-be-authority figure. If we’re right about the subliterate thing, it should be interesting to see how far she’ll go to protect him.
Did they recast Abby’s baby? I thought it looked smaller, more like I’d expect a baby of that age to look. I’d hate to be the casting director who has to fire a baby, “You’re too old and fat! You’re fired”
The blonde hottie in Bend It Like Beckham was Keira Knightley; she’s got enough star power and name recognition that, if they had managed to convince her to guest, I imagine they would have mentioned it in the previews (and she probably would have been the main character of a Very Special Episode, like next week’s.)
I believe the blonde in question played the science teacher on Joan of Arcadia, but I don’t know her name. She’s one of those “Isn’t that the chick from…?” actors in our house.
Failing eyesight- ooh that’s a good one!
Although he is still doing well with clinincal skills, so superficially he seems to be seeing well…
I did suppose a learning disability in one of my later posts- I think that is a good bet as well.
