A Luxembourg ear, nose, and throat specialist has garnered worldwide fame and admiration from colleagues after having broken the world record for the greatest number of patients seen in under an hour.
Last Friday between the hours of 3 and 4 p.m., Dr. Marc Lautner examined 193 patients, none of whom were aware they were participating in a record-breaking feat and who later marvelled at how quickly their appointments ended.
“We greeted each other in the waiting room, and I started to tell him about an earache that was bothering me, but before I finished my sentence he gave me a prescription for some drops and pushed me to his secretary, who presented me with an invoice for 73 euros,” said Aleksi Makkara, an interpreter at the European Commission. “I guess I should be happy to be a part of history being made.”
Sandrine Gibbons, a stay-at-home mother who brought her son Gareth to see Dr. Lautner for a persistent nosebleed, says that they had not even entered the building when the appointment concluded.
“As we were walking up to the door, Dr. Lautner saw me pinching my son’s nose, so through the window he shouted, ‘get a humidifier for his bedroom and for God’s sake, tell him to stop picking his nose all the time,’” she said. “At first I was annoyed, but he was right. I got a bill in the post the next day.”
This is not the first time a Luxembourg physician has held the title for the world’s fastest doctor. In 2006, a Luxembourg pediatrician known to peers as Dr. Speedy McSchumacher examined 155 children in just under 57 minutes. Sources say nearly a third of the patients hadn’t even been unbuckled from their carseats when the doctor offered his diagnosis to the parents through the car window.
