Showing posts with label Doctor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doctor. Show all posts

26 February 2012

I Question the Medical Judgement

When my cousin brother was diagnosed with tuberculosis about twenty years ago, his parents didn't give a second thought and started the long treatment. About five months into the treatment they discovered that the little boy wasn't suffering from tuberculosis. His parents were only thankful that it wasn't TB. Five months of heavy dose didn't matter to them. As years went by the ill effect of heavy doses of wrong drugs showed on his physical features and his mental efficiency.
That was a long time ago and everything was forgiven and forgotten even though my brother is still paying the price each day for error in medical judgement some people made. Over the time everything changed and technology came into hospitals to reduce human errors. But machines are just tools and its the human at the end who has to pass the judgement.
Over the years I was shocked at the number of rumors I heard of people being wrongly diagnosed with TB, and some paying the price with their lives. Advancement of human resources and technology seemed to have made no difference to Bhutan. May be all the rumors I heard are wrong, therefore I may be wrong too if not for what happened early this month.
Photo from  fabulousnurses.com, edited by author   
My nine year old sister was diagnosed with TB from Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital. She had some swelling below her chin after a long toothache and after series of checkup it was confirmed that it's lymph node tuberculosis called Scrofula. My mother was asking me if they could begin her treatment. I am not a doctor, I am but a loving brother, I don't want to risk my sister. I rushed to Thimphu and found out that all the test reports were negative including the biopsy, which I found from Google as a crucial test. Wikipedia tells me that she should have symptoms such as feverchillsmalaise and weight loss. As the lesion progresses, skin becomes adhered to the mass and may rupture, forming a sinus and an open wound." but she has none of these except the medical judgement of doctor. I trust the big hospital, I trust the big doctor, but on what basis should I trust this judgement?
I brought my little sister with me and took her to Wangdue Hospital, where I explained my fear and showed the reports to the renowned medical specialist. He checked her neck thoroughly, studied all the reports, took a fresh x-ray and declared that it's NOT tuberculosis. He prescribed her antibiotic for five days after which the swelling subsided.
Now I question the Judgement of that doctor who wanted to fill my sister's stomach with loads of drugs. I even fear that all the rumors I ever heard are true but they all landed nowhere because we Bhutanese are so forgiving. No doctor was ever taken to court for their mistake because we forgive, and because we forgive they take for granted.

29 April 2011

Rabies Story- Don't Trust Doctors

If you are bitten by a dog, you should rush to hospital. But don't think TT injection will take care of everything. You must ask for ARV- Anti Rabies Vaccine. That's when your doctor will ask you to observe the dog for next ten days, because they don't want to waste the expensive vaccine if the dog is not infected.
 However, it's your life at stake. You must insist on having yourselves vaccinated, because recent cases in Phuntsholing and Gelephug proved medical theory of wait-for-ten-days wrong. The boy in Phuntsholing dies a week after he was bitten -are you going to wait for ten days now?, and the lady in Gelephug observed the dog for ten days, nothing happened. Three months later she died. Can you trust the theory anymore?
I had my experience a few weeks ago. I came home relaxed having received TT injection and blogged about it. Thanks to my blog, some comments there worried my wife and she insisted me to go back and start ARV, which saved my life, perhaps.
P:S: It's not just dogs, any animal bite must be treated the same. Man in Trongsa died of Rabies because he was bitten by his horse.