Thursday, January 08, 2026
an inmate's treatment
One of the patients on my floor, posed difficulties for the serving staff. In particular a weird tendence to eat his soup with a fork. There was a barrage if pleading for him to use a spoon, but the whole process did not advance very much.
His english is limited, and his eyes, badly damaged woth misallignment, are way from being parallel.
I observed that there was some sort of difference between his left and right side, and conjectured that he was having some sort of difficulty with the right side. I suggested that the staff should serve the food from the left, rather than the 'mandatory' right, even though the plate would end up largely in the same spot.
The staff seem to have chosen to put him at the last seating position at the end of the table, making it now easier to serve him from his left side.
He is now eating soup with a soup spoon in his left hand, and doing it quite well.
Now it is not totally clear what the reasons for the improvement are, and we may never know. But I am overjoyed that staff seem to be respecting his capability now.
M
