More.
Sigh it is things like these that turn me off clinical practice.Thought all were going to be fine already... my mum had booked tickets to go back to relieve my sister of her duty, and everything seems under control.
My aunt was wheeled again into the operating theatre yesterday evening. Intestinal perforation.
According to the story my sister gave me:
> She was supposed to be scheduled for laparoscopic hysterectomy. You would say - simple operation isn't it. We thought so too.
> However, during the operation, the surgeon discovered adhesion of the intestines; initially I do not know what kind of adhesion that is (to the peritoneum, etc.) but now I know - at least part of it is the adhesion of the uterus to the descending colon. This made the laparoscopic procedure impossible, so the surgeon switched to total abdominal hysterectomy.
> Post-op she experienced intense pain and bloatedness in her abdomen after ingesting some random pills (unknown origin) and liquid food. So they took her off food, introduced a drainage NG tube, and put her back on IV saline/glucose.
> Black drainage from the NG tube.
> CT scan showed air and/or fluid in abdominal cavity.
> No one suspected anything.
> Yesterday they tried giving her food again - this time I don't know what is the clinical manifestation. They discovered problems during one of the routine tests from various discharges and suspected perforation.
> She underwent surgery again - this time the gastroenterologist found a small cut in her descending colon, possibly due to the previous surgery, and (local?) inflammation of the area. So he has to excise a small segment of her large intestine.
> I don't yet know the outcome.
According to my sister, there doesn't seem to be signs of peritonitis. Thank God.
Hopefully by the time I get this written, she would be well on her way to recovery... I have been praying...
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Sigh these are human errors that can be avoided. In the first place, laparoscopic hysterectomy can't be done easily on her - even if possible. She had a previous non-invasive procedure aborted before, because they can't locate anything properly using MRI.
I don't like bashing doctors... Though one thing obvious is that, when the surgeon is too confident and when he has multiple procedures to do everyday, if we were to ask for top quality healthcare, that is seriously expecting a bit too much?
I have not had problems with the healthcare system personally, because I have never had serious problems myself and every time I went to see a doctor I was more curious about everything than expecting quality healthcare. And I used to work with doctors so I can understand their point of view.
Now I am placed in a position where I am the close relative of a patient who suffered because she didn't receive the care she deserved. What am I supposed to say?
Don't we have things like this in the news all the time too? Sigh I rather just do research. Although I won't save anyone directly but I also won't cause suffering unnecessarily. Yes I love the science, so? I need everything for my research anyway.
I am a biomedical scientist, my sister is a physiotherapist, I have an aunt who is a nurse, I have also a not-that-distant cousin who is a radiotherapist, and if I were to continue (unlikely), I can be a historian of medicine. No one (yet) in my family is a doctor. So:
Doctors and future doctors, please... Do your patient no harm, even if you mean well. Know your limits, don't take unnecessary risk (my aunt can live a perfectly fine life without the operation), don't use your patients as subjects to test/show your skills, when you participate in trials put your patient's interest at top priority, and treat every patient as your first patient humbly and with utmost care even if you are going to be late for your most important Valentine's Day date. I promise I won't doubt your professionalism if you can do that, I promise I won't make you break these rules because of my own professional interest, and if I am that most important Valentine's Day date I would feel more happy if your patients are more important than me - if you know me well enough you will know that I really mean it.
Labels: Life
