"Doctor bed no 4 is calling u"...it was my 4th or maybe 5th call duty when i was being called by a nursing staff..i went there and saw a patient lying with slight bleeding from the recently operated wound...The attendents were a bit worried and called me to see the bleeding..i cleaned and dressed the wound, which was not a matter to worry for a new house officer...The bleeding was mild and was deep so nothing was very much appaerent on the surface..i called my consultant to tell him that the patient was bleeding and he asked me to clean and dress the wound which i already did...I thought it was all over..I did took care of the patient, took a look at the patient every 3-4 hours even if the attendents didn't asked me to, cuz my sixth sense was giving an alarm...The next day i again visited the patient,and after my duty was over, gave the history and other details to the next doctor incharge and went home..
I have to tell you that we have call duty every third day, so on my next call duty i came to check with the patient. The bleeding worsened and there was some vessel bleeding which lead to drop in the hemoglobin count...I took the summary of the past 3 days and i was shocked...The consultant had some meeting in Islamabad and he left 2 days back...as per protocol, if you are going somewhere and you will not be able to attend the patient, specially any critical patient, you pass the patients file to some other consultant who is available..But the doctor didnt do so..Let me tell you that the consultant i am telling about has a very bad name among us but he has an excellent councelling ability due to which he is able to gather patients...He is very poor in his surgical techniques and according to the record, he has KILLED 3 patients in the past 3 months...Anyhow he didnt passed the file to any other Consultant though we have some very good consultants of the city, rather the country in our list of Surgeons but he did not did so...I remembred in my duty i dressed him thrice and i called him(consultant) twice...The patient became critical in the afternoon but he ordered to delay the surgery till night as he was returning then...We waited and waited and atlast he arrived and the patient was rushed to the Operation theatre...Another operation was done and the patient was shifted to the ICU...The next day i visited the patient...he looked better then before but there was something wrong still...Blood was being transfused and he was all surrounded with tubes and wires....
Today when i went to the hospital in the morning i was told by a colleague of mine that he is on ventilator and CPR is being done on him...At the same time an exam was being conducted of our final year student...The consultant didnt bothered to go at first place...He went there only with another doctor after half an hour later when things worsened...The patient collapsed and died but he even then did not bother to tell the truth to the family..He told them to arrange blood and tell them not to worry...Then he came down,started taking the exam with a juice in his hand and a biscuit on the other...At that moment i wondered how insensitive a person can be...He did not declared the patient dead, the deceased's sons were running for blood in every corner of the City and that Guy was having juice and biscuit...I was told later that he never went back and the death was declared by another doctor 2 hours later, when he saw that the consultant was in no mood of declaring the death...
When i heard that i was taken back..It reminded me of his eldest son, who was pleging me to make his father healthy by doing anything,who came from another country for the sake of his father, his wife who used to weep when i went for the dressings and said "Beta meray shoher ko theek kar do" (make my husband better)...and all our colleagues tried their best..but everything was ruined by our head, the consultant who preferred not to lose a penny then losing a patient...
Today when he was declared dead we all were shocked...All i can say is that May Allah give them strength to pass this difficult time.
P.S: Always ask any reliable person before getting a treatment from the doctor..Whether the doctor is competent enough or not..Living in Ireland for 15 years is not a confirmation of him being a good surgeon/doctor
Why do we give license to doctors like this? Can you not report this incident and get him fired??? I am sure if all the colleagues testify something can be done. Please stand up and do something before more people are killed.
ReplyDeleteApparently this is more common then people know. Alot of doctors administer treatment and drugs without bothering to check side effects or the right dosage. The little girl Imani Malik was also killed because of over dosage. And no law will do anything. But you all can. If you all stand up against doctors like this I am sure something can be done. No?
Thats what i thought at first place..Unite and fight...but this is not possible here in our part of the world...they have all the administration on their side whereas we have no one on our side...So by raising my voice on this platform i was aiming to decrease the number of patients visiting him..and indirectly trying to oust him...
ReplyDeleteAnd one more thing..always try to know both sides of the story...In many cases we(doctors) are blamed to have given wrong injection to the patient leading to any mishap, which is not always true...The patient might have something he is not telling us leading to such mishap...