To the Editor: I recently consulted a physician for a problem that has turned out to be rather serious. After a perfunctory examination and a couple of this physician's “bread-and-butter” tests, a diagnosis was announced and symptomatic treatment prescribed. As I was preparing to leave, the physician commented that my condition is sometimes associated with diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, and a few other systemic diseases. He then said, “You really should” have a fasting blood sugar, lipid profile, and assorted other blood chemistry tests performed — the assumption being, I suppose, that as an academic neonatologist I could present myself to the. © 1983, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.
