How to calculate age

It is difficult to always depend upon our ears to hear out the age as dictated by the doctors.  The 50s and 60s always sound same except for those doctors who are very very clear.  To avoid this confusion, it is better to always cross check with the date of birth.  This is how I do it....suppose the patient's date of birth is July 4, 1980.  Current date or date of dictation is May 10, 2011.  To calculate the age of this patient, just subtract 1980 from 2010.  If the patient is born on a day before date of dictation or current date, for eg say March 4, 1980, then subtract 1980 from 2011.  So a patient who was born on July 4, 1980 would be (2010-1980) 30 years old today, whereas patient who was born on March 4, 1980, would be (2011-1980) 31 years old.