Two medical students, David and Ben, examine a patient's abdomen. Ben performs the examination incorrectly and doesn’t find any abnormalities. David performs the examination correctly and finds an abnormality. How appropriate is each response by David?
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Tell the patient that Ben performed the check incorrectly and apologise for Ben's error - "A very inappropriate thing to do"
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Ask a senior doctor on the ward to conduct the examination to identify whether or not there is an abnormality - "A very appropriate thing to do"
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Ask the patient if he minds if he and Ben re-examine his abdomen, and then show Ben where he thinks the abnormality lies - "A very appropriate thing to do"
AK