It's midnight and your baby is miserable. She's running a fever, pulling on her ear and screaming. You recognize the signs of an ear infection, so you pick up the phone to call the pediatrician. After explaining your child's symptoms to the employee at the answering service, you try to comfort your baby while you wait for the doctor on duty to call you back.

Finally the phone rings, but the pediatrician who calls has never seen your child. "I'll call in a prescription for an antibiotic," he says. "Is your child allergic to any medications?"

"When she had her last ear infection, there was an antibiotic that gave her horrible diarrhea and a rash," you reply, struggling to hear the doctor over your baby's cries. "Which antibiotic was that?" the doctor asks.

Your brain is still fuzzy from being awakened, and you can't think with your sick baby screaming in your ear. The name of the antibiotic won't come to you. "I don't remember," you say.

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