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Tuesday, December 07, 2010

conveying the truth

one of the most difficult part of being a doctor ,
is telling the bad prognosis to the patient or to their relative

i really hate that part where u have to tell the family member :-
" we did the best we could  , but he's not responding well... and there's nothing more we could do ...."

i hated the part when the patient only come to the hospital during the terminal stage of the illness
it's sort of malay culture , they will seek treatment from bomoh ...
until the bomoh said ..." this is beyond my magic power ... the other side black magic is stronger "
then they will turn up at the emergency department - unconcious

by the time they decided to see the doctor ,
they usually came with multi organ failure,
then the doctor also has nothing much to offer ....

2 comments:

~Ati_Hime~ said...

lepas tu salahkan hospital,doktor n semua org yg terlibat..haih..

twayblade said...

am not a doctor, but a daughter of a 2-time stroke patient. 2 times i had to face doctors telling me that my father wont survived/little chance of recovery/dying slowly/his organs are shutting down one by one. 2 times i had to hear the news that nobody wants to hear. but alhamdulillah my father is still alive till today despite all that.

you see, i understand that it's part of doctors' job to give the description in worst case scenario. but the least you could do is inform gently and with most courteous to the family members who are grieving. dont just shoot the rifle and be done with it. and please, dont break the news in front of the patient. it's like giving death sentence upfront.

please dont do what i have described above, to any of your patients' family members.

i've gone through it twice, i do not ever want to go through it again. tq.