Indexing Title: BCDEVEZA’s Medical Anecdotal Report [ 06 – 2 ]
MAR Title: Be Careful in Everything You Say and Do
Date of Medical Observation: Feb. 2006
Narration
It was another day of duty in the hospital. My team admitted a 69-year-old female who has diabetic foot on the left. She came from another hospital with the advise that she undergo below the knee amputation. The patient’s children would like to have a second opinion that’s why they decided to transfer their mother to our institution. I did a physical examination on the patient’s affected extremity and it seems that she really needs to undergo the operation. I told this to her children and they agreed.
In one of our rounds, I was able to talk to the eldest son. He narrated their experience from the hospital where they first brought their mother. At the middle of our conversation, he became a little emotional. At that time, he was telling me the plans of the doctor and quoted some of the things he said. As I was listening to him, he brought out his cellular phone from his pocket. At first, I did not mind this. As we went on, I could sense that he really got upset with the doctor. He then told me,” Idedemanda ko tong doktor na to. Akala niya siguro maiisahan niya kami. Sandali doktor, para maniwala ka sa mga sinabi ko, may paparinig ako sa iyo.” With his cellular phone on his hand, he let me listen to the conversation he had with the doctor. He recorded everything. He said that he will use this when he files his complaint.
At present, the patient’s foot is doing well. With daily wound care, it improved and does not need to be amputated
Insights (Physical, Psychosocial, Ethical) (Discovery, Stimulus, Reinforcements):
As doctors, we tell our patients their condition and the plans we have how we can help them. It may take some time to talk to them and their relatives before they can fully understand the things we are going to do. What is important is that we are able to explain it WELL. We should be able to make them understand of what we are going to do.
Now a days, people are smarter than we think. They would not just take easily the things that we say. They would even question our credibility.
I guess everything boils down to one thing….we have to be wary of the things we say and do to our patients.
We have to BE CAREFUL!
After all, we never know what’s going on in a person’s mind.