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If it Wasn't Written, it Wasn't Written

Paul S. Koch, M.D.

I have never kept a diary, nor have I kept a journal. I have never jotted down the numerous mundane activities that make up my day. One day I will be gone and I will have left behind very little for my biographers to use as source material. That is, of course, if anyone wishes to chronicle a life that did not happen. For you see, having not written down my life, it didn't happen.

How stubborn the old man was, my kids will say. We thought he was here with us, and took us sailing and taught us to splice, and yet perhaps he wasn't. He didn't write it down, and if it wasn't written, it wasn't done.

Today I think I saw many patients, but where? I have notes concerning my findings, but nowhere in the notes does it say I took them into an examining room. I must have examined them in the parking lot, because if I didn't write that I took them into a room, I guess I didn't.

My wife called today to see if I could go for a quiet lunch at our favorite restaurant. I said I would go and perhaps she's waiting for me, but I didn't write down the conversation, so I guess she didn't call me after all. I hope she's not there, steaming, but if I didn't write down the phone call, it didn't happen.

I did operate today, because there are operative reports. I did get a speeding ticket yesterday because it is still sitting on my desk. My son got into college last week. I know because I saw the letter. I know these things, because they were written, so they must have happened.

"If it wasn't written, it wasn't done" was a phrase initially suggested to remind us that if we wanted to bill for services, there had to be documentation. But it has evolved into a perverse excuse for accusation. Whenever someone wants to sneer that someone didn't do something, they inappropriately pull out that phrase again. "If it wasn't written, it wasn't done."

Not Everything Should be Written

Well, "It wasn't written" means it wasn't written. It doesn't mean it wasn't done, just not written down. If it was written, most likely it was done, but if it wasn't written, it still might have been done, just not written. I don't write down lots of stuff, but I still have a life that includes lots of stuff I would never, ever, want anyone to write down. That stuff will never be written, but it most certainly was done, and you would love to be able to read it, but you can't.