In this case the observation and interpretation of the wife’s need to protect her husband and others helped in the management of the infertile situation that the couple found themselves in.
Mrs F. marched into the clinic well ahead of her husband. She immediately launched into the story of how she was the most interesting case of polycystic ovaries that her GP had seen in years. Eventually the doctor managed to bring Mr F. into the discussion and made a comment about how important it was to hear both sides of the story. A short while later he felt able to reveal, for the first time ever to anyone, that he had undescended testes. He had read about it, and knew what the probable outcome would be, and now he wanted to be examined without his wife present. The anger that she felt was overwhelming, too much for the doctor to do other than acknowledge. Whether it was due to the sudden realization of ensuing childlessness with this man, fury at the secret he had kept or the fact that he was now the one with the interesting medical condition, the doctor was not sure. What was certain was that she had kept him out of the consultation, ignoring him in the room, and in the same way had kept him out of all investigations by the normally very efficient GP. After several more visits they decided not to return.
*120/197/1*
