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In this paper we aim at reconsidering the challenges posed and the difficulties experienced by patients and physicians during clinical meetings, especially when the patient tells the doctor the history of his/er illness, i.e. anamnesis. Our approach is informed by Narrative Medicine and concepts imported from narratology and linguistics, namely Meir Sternberg’s notion of ‘exposition’, Mikhail Bakhtin’s ‘double-voiced discourse’, and Émile Benveniste’s conception of language as discourse, subjectively charged. The time sequence in the patient’s report, in/voluntary omissions, unperceived misunderstandings, the unsaid and the implied meanings may interfere disastrously in the doctor/patient’s dialogue and delay or jeopardize diagnosis. By addressing their interchange through the lenses of narratology and linguistics, we hope to contribute to enlarge the scope and the potentialities of narrative medicine to doctors / carers in health care scenarios.