Baloney!
I've been trying to control my fingers not to blog and whinge about what is happening to my father and the the way he is being managed by a "team" of doctors in the hospital. I know from day 1 that I do not have any right to question his doctors' management as a doctor, firstly because I am not a recognised medical practitioner here in Australia and secondly I am not in any way connected with the hospital or any hospital here in Sydney for that matter. But I reckon I have all the bloody right to question his doctors as a son who just happened to finish med school, residency training and who worked as a consultant before. I know I travelled oceans and hundreds of kilometres away from home but that doesn't mean I left my medical knowledge in Manila.
Last night, my father had an episode of severe difficulty of breathing and cyanosis of his lips. He was struggling to breathe and was gasping for air. They summoned a "PACE" call and medical registrars arrived to assess him. ABG's was done and chest x-ray was ordered as well. The registrar on duty was thinking of 3 things... a possible pulmonary embolism, lung congestion or a possible chest infection. Luckily he was started on antibiotics, again and was given diuretics to address the congestion. They can't give blood thinners fearing he might bleed. Good on them, at least they did something.
What's making me revolt like this is that his "team" of doctors who from the very start do not have any plans for him except to "palliate" him like a terminally ill cancer patient, do their rounds everyday and assure my sister that "he's OK" , "he's OK." How can a 76 year old patient, breathing in the upper 20's per minute, who has intercostal, subcostal, supraclavicular indrawings, fine crackles all over his lungs, occasional wheezes, be OK? Even a wardsman can eyeball that a patient breathing like that is NOT OK and mind you my father has been like that for three days before anything was done.
If this is the kind of medical practise here, I say it's crap! Baloney! I am not sour graping because I am not a doctor here. I am just venting out my frustrations as a son of a medically mismanaged father. My prayer is just for him to survive all of this and prove to a "team" of doctors that they should not falter easily, consider every aspect and treat the patient as a whole and not treat and manage laboratory results.
Enough of this ranting!
Last night, my father had an episode of severe difficulty of breathing and cyanosis of his lips. He was struggling to breathe and was gasping for air. They summoned a "PACE" call and medical registrars arrived to assess him. ABG's was done and chest x-ray was ordered as well. The registrar on duty was thinking of 3 things... a possible pulmonary embolism, lung congestion or a possible chest infection. Luckily he was started on antibiotics, again and was given diuretics to address the congestion. They can't give blood thinners fearing he might bleed. Good on them, at least they did something.
What's making me revolt like this is that his "team" of doctors who from the very start do not have any plans for him except to "palliate" him like a terminally ill cancer patient, do their rounds everyday and assure my sister that "he's OK" , "he's OK." How can a 76 year old patient, breathing in the upper 20's per minute, who has intercostal, subcostal, supraclavicular indrawings, fine crackles all over his lungs, occasional wheezes, be OK? Even a wardsman can eyeball that a patient breathing like that is NOT OK and mind you my father has been like that for three days before anything was done.
If this is the kind of medical practise here, I say it's crap! Baloney! I am not sour graping because I am not a doctor here. I am just venting out my frustrations as a son of a medically mismanaged father. My prayer is just for him to survive all of this and prove to a "team" of doctors that they should not falter easily, consider every aspect and treat the patient as a whole and not treat and manage laboratory results.
Enough of this ranting!
posted by Abner M. Hornedo, M.D. at 12:54 PM
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