I have a database with the following table:

PATIENT (PATIENT_ID*, MEDICAL_EXAMINATIONS)

where the field MEDICAL_EXAMINATIONS contains a free-text description of the exams undertaken by the patient.

Recently, it was decided that medical examination can be reported EITHER as free-text (as always) OR in a structured way (divided in exam name, date, results, and so on).

So I thought to change the schema as follow (fields marked with an asterisk compose the key):

PATIENT (PATIENT_ID*, MEDICAL_EXAMINATIONS)
MEDICAL_EXAMINATION (PATIENT_ID*, NUMBER*, NAME, DATE, RESULT)

but I found this solution a little disturbing, because I have the SAME information (the medical examinations) stored in TWO tables. In this case, the result of the query "select all medical examinations undertaken by a patient" is not so "elegant".

I don't really know how to express my question, but this situation seems STRANGE to me. I wonder if the problem originates intrinsecally from the specifications (that I can't change) or if there is a better method to model the "two versions" of data.