POLICY ON DOCTOR'S NOTES

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In order to be excused from an exam or assignment for a medical reason, 
you must provide a doctor's note.  This note must clearly state that the doctor
is certain that you were medically unable to function on the date(s) in question.
The majority of notes that I've received over the years have not met this requirement
and as a result, many such notes were not accepted.  Here are a few common examples
of unacceptable notes:

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<li> A note written on Thursday says that the student was sick on Wednesday.  Usually,
the doctor has no way of knowing whether the student was sick on Wednesday.  So this note only
certifies that  the student ***told the doctor*** that s/he was sick on Wednesday.  I don't
need a note to certify this fact - I believe that the student told the doctor this, because
the student told me the same thing.  What I need is something that certifies that the
student was not lying to me and to his/her doctor.  

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A more helpful note (but much less common)
is one where the doctor says that the student is sick on Thursday and that the student
is clearly so sick that s/he must have been sick on Wednesday too.  But usually
the doctor is unable to honestly write this.

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So the best principle is - always see the doctor on the day that you are claiming to
be too sick to work.  I know this is difficult, for obvious reasons. But unfortunately,
it is necessary.

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<li> A note indicating that the student claims to be sick, but is not visibly sick.
For example, the student tells the doctor that s/he is nauseous, has a headache, etc.
but there was no detectable symptoms (such as inflammed throat, mucus, blood tests, etc.)
As in the previous example, such a note only certifies that the student ***told the 
doctor*** that s/he was sick.

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<li> A note simply saying the student "is sick".  I need more information - 
in particular, I need the doctor to explain his level of certainty that the
student was sick.

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<li> A note saying that the student "is excused from his/her schoolwork on Wednesday".
That's not up to the doctor to decide.



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If a note is questionable (eg if it is one of the
types listed above), then I usually call the doctor to get more information.
When obtaining your note, it will speed things up if you 
give the doctor permission to discuss your case with me.
(Of course, this isn't mandatory.)