This is the sort of thing that scares the hell out of me. I’m not saying this is vibe-coded, but it’s the sort of “did you stop to think this through at all?” that just exemplifies a lot of lazy software lately.
This is the registration for a doctor’s office. I was able to have a whole surgery (scheduled, not emergency) WITHOUT filling out this form, but now because I’m going in to have a few stitches removed, I have to run this gauntlet.
It wants to know about my allergies. It’s never heard of some of them (I promise you, they’re not exotic), and there’s no “fill in the blank” option.
It wants to know about my immediate family’s medical history. I start typing “cancer,” and the auto-fill thing has ZERO idea what I could be talking about. And again, no “fill in the blank” option.
But in the demographic section, there’s this gem:
This is it asking my “preferred language.” This is a HUGE list. In addition to the sensible option of “English”, and many sensible other options, there are non-sensible options all over the place.
“Esperanto” is actually an interesting option. I realize there are people who speak it, but my understanding is that it’s not anybody’s first language. I’m wondering how many people prefer it to their native language, enough so that it’s relevant on a medical form?
Elsewhere, “Latin” is an option. A dead language, but somebody who’s been to medical (or law) school has at least encountered a tiny bit of it.
But it gets better. I can specify that I actually only speak “old English” (which it helpfully notes is from a pretty solid 1000-ish years ago). Which is a completely different language from modern English, of course.
You’ll note in the screenshot I can tell it that I actually only speak “ancient Egyptian.” Depending on what I mean by “ancient,” that could be a language nobody has spoken for a couple thousand years.
If I look elsewhere, “Sumerian” is an option on the table. I can’t tell you how tempted I was to pick “Sumerian,” because I want to know what a doctor’s office in the Midwest is going to do when somebody walks in that only speaks a 2000 year old dead language. A language, from my understanding, where even the academics who study it aren’t 100% sure how it should sound when spoken out loud.
My wife, hearing that I was considering this, told me I should - and I quote - “be nice.” ![]()
But as thoughtful as it is to accommodate the many (so many they are - I assure you - uncountable) speakers of ancient Sumerian that live in Wisconsin, shouldn’t the first requirement of medical check-in software be able to record things actually relevant to my medical condition?

