I just got a message from a colleague..it read: Uncle K died...at 5am this morning...his tracheostomy tube was blocked...and no one noticed...not the caretaker, not the nurse, not the houseman on call...so i was right...if the same thing happened twice, it'd bound to happen the 3rd time..only this time, uncle K wasn't so fortunate...no one came to his rescue...and for once, i wish i hadn't dream of a dream that came true...
May God bless uncle K's soul...
I wouldn't label it as murder. This is the result of working under extreme conditions which are not fit to handle ventilated patients. Ventilating patients in less than ideal conditions is not ethical. If conditions are not met for handling ventilated patients (eg one to one nursing, trained staff in ICU care, proper ventilator among others) then patients should not be ventilated. This may sound cruel but we are not doing justice in putting patients in complete vulnerability without the ability to care for them properly, even with the noble aim of saving them. What that'll do is to kill them faster. Equitable health distribution is a myth. You don't expect patients to be ventilated in Klinik Kesihatan Pitas for example. It is easier to point fingers and say what went wrong rather to rectify the fact that the whole system is inadequate to handle ventilated patients outside ICU (I presume). It's just unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand think about the many other patients who have been saved despite the inadequate conditions.
If I had lived in Timbaktu knowing that healthcare is inadequate to care for me should I get very ill, then I must accept that this is the risk of living there.
This is the result of an wholly inadequate system.
Btw the majority of us including housemans and nurses are not trained to handle ventilated patients. Most of us learned through experience with very little formal training. And this comes with a price...
Just my 2 cents. You don't have to publish this.
thanks for your 2 cents jerome...but the thing was, uncle K wasn't ventilated...he was on tracheostomy with trachy mask..his tube got blocked but the houseman didn't even manually bag the patient...i fully agree that most housemen and nurses are not trained to handle ventilated patients..but not doing the basic ABCs? i think that's just not forgiveable is it?
ReplyDeleteas requested, i've deleted your follow-up comment...but i do have many answers to your many questions..but i'll let them pass...i posted this not to point finger at anyone...i only blame myself for sending him out because he was the only patient stable enough to be sent out..anyway, we can make many excuses for everyone..but at the end of the day, it doesn't change the fact that a life has been taken from a man and and that the death was avoidable...
ReplyDeleteok, i deleted your comment again..and shall proceed on with my blog monologue...your analogue about the architect...i personally think it doesn't fit into the context.. you can't really compare human lives with buildings...i think it's more akin to a sociopath..if he kills a person but then he pleads his cause..telling his sob stories of how he was never given a chance to fit into the society, bla bla bla...does the law then let him off and blame it on the 'system'? there'll be an outrage if that happens..blaming on the system is just blaming on ourselves..because we make up the system..the system is not an entity which is all-knowing and all-solving that we can say it's all the system's fault if somebody dies or get killed..
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