I read with interest the Yu et al.¹ commentary on sharing office visit notes with patients. I often read aloud the last office visit notes to my patient at the time of the follow-up visit. I begin this by saying “this is what I documented when I last saw you. Please correct me if I got anything wrong in your history.” I have found this helpful in 2 ways. One, it helps to refresh the history, assessment, and plan in my own mind; and second, it helps engage the patient and accompanying caregiver in his or her care. My experience with this exercise has been a mixed bag. Some patients compliment me for documenting a comprehensive history, while others berate me for getting their hand dominance wrong, or documenting their alcohol intake or use of illicit drugs. Medicine is a science and you call a spade a spade. Alcoholism is not synonymous with social drinking and I fear that physicians would have to water down their notes just to avoid offending the patient. A physician's office notes should be an accurate, objective, and nonjudgmental documentation of the patient rather than a politically correct one. Finally, a physician should never forget that the office note is a medico-legal document, one that can be produced in court and at times used against him or her.

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