Posted on 12/25/2015 3:39:57 PM PST by WhiskeyX
A patient undergoing a colonoscopy pressed “record†on his smartphone before being sedated, hoping to capture instructions from his physicians after the procedure. What he heard instead was shocking: “In addition to their vicious commentary, the doctors discussed avoiding the man after the colonoscopy, instructing an assistant to lie to him, and then placed a false diagnosis on his chart.â€
The incident cost his anesthesiologist $500,000 in the ensuing malpractice and defamation trial.
The recording has to be heard to be believed.
(Excerpt) Read more at kevinmd.com ...
The dirty secret of this procedure is how many people get hurt or eventually die from this. Perforated bowels is not an uncommon happening fromthis. Our family friend priest died from a perforated bowel from his colonoscopy. They really try to keep a lid on how many people get hurt from this.
And now consider they admit they cannot 100% clean/sterilize these scopes, impossible due to design flaws, and that it is possible to pass infectious diseases to other from this, repeatedly, and it’s even less appeali g. Thank God there are now noninvasive ways to check out your intestines.
“Umm do you live in Leavenworth Kansas?”
No.
Thanks, I’m sly.
They may have learned to ‘look’ before they do it.
I have a friend that the same thing recently happened to her. They missed the vein. By the time they realized she was awake they were almost done.
I’ve been totally out for both of mine.
I think you could smuggle a small smartphone into the room in your rectum. There’s no way they would find it.
All the minor surgeries I’ve had the last few years at surgery centers they’ve done that. It keeps all your stuff with you so no need for lockers, or handing it off to someone else.
That did make me laugh, but in truth, I see it a variety of ways:
Some people must have emotional support an need to fully like and believe in their physician/surgeon/provider.
At the other end of the spectrum are people who have absolutely zero interest in receiving any sympathy, empathy, or other human emotion from their physician/surgeon/provider.
And most people inhabit the space between those two extremes.
Myself, I have had a variety of procedures performed on me over the years, and it is true that I like a personable and trustworthy sounding physician in those situations.
But at the same time, I have had extremely businesslike and impersonal surgeons and I was perfectly fine with it, even if I personally knew other patients who were treated by him who disliked him greatly.
When I encountered him as a patient myself, this was my thought process:
DR COLDFISH (NO SMILE, NO BODY LANGUAGE, NOTHING, JUST BUSINESS): “Hi Mr. Jones. My name is Dr. Coldfish. I am going to fix the torn ACL in your left knee. Do you have any questions?”
ME: (THINKING SILENTLY TO MYSELF): “Okay. This guy is a cold fish it seems. Is he good? If he is direct and right to the point, proficient and business like as a surgeon who cares deeply about the quality of his work but not in putting his patient at ease, am I good with that? Is that just the way he needs to do his work?”
ME: (ALOUD): “No, Dr. Coldfish, let’s get it done, and you can tell me about recovery and rehab afterwards. Let’s go.”
DR COLDFISH: “Good. Nurse, blah blah blah...”
And that was it, and I felt fine. But not everyone can respond to that. And it isn’t a good way to give care in general, whether you are a knee surgeon or a telephone support person. I could respond to that, because I have known great people who are simply businesslike and cold, but if you do your job, they do theirs, and they respect you. And vice versa.
But some people MUST have a portion of human element, a hand on the shoulder, an emotional reassurance, a glance, a squeeze, something that makes them feel like that surgeon has taken a personal stake in their health...as the surgeons indeed do whether they know or acknowledge it or not.
The great care providers innately know the best approach for a given patient. They read the patient in advance, and based on the initial interaction, go the way that is going to work best for the patient. My encounter could have gone like this instead, and I would have been equally satisfied:
DR GOODHANDS (WITH SOME INTRODUCTORY WARMTH, GRAVE TO POSITIVE COUNTENANCE AND TONE): “Hi Mr. Jones. My name is Dr. Goodhands. I am an Orthopedic surgeon at Physician’ Hospital and have been here for 5 years. I am doing the surgery today on your left knee. The team has the operating room ready for you, and we are ready to go in shortly. Before we do, though, let me explain it to , and then if you have any questions or needs, we’ll talk about them. Is that okay?
ME: (THINKING SILENTLY TO MYSELF): “The guy is making the effort to speak to me as a person and put me at ease. Making the patient comfortable in in the right frame of mind counts to him. That is a good thing. But is he good at what he does? Let’s see how he tells me about the procedure...”
ME: (ALOUD): “Sure, Dr. GOODHANDS, but can I ask a few questions first...how long does it take?
DR GOODHANDS: “Ah. I figure it will be about 45 minutes once we get you in the room. We are going to give you something...”
This approach is the one I think we should strive for, but the key is taking the patient directly into account for the major direction of the depth and human element of the interaction.
The same surgeon should be able to talk to a patient, discern they aren’t the least interested in the niceties, and take the businesslike approach, but with another patient, pull up a chair, get face-to-face level, hold a hand, and comfort the patient.
I don’t believe those two approaches are incompatible from the same person but to different people, either intellectually or emotionally, but the key thing, is...what is going to produce the best outcome for that given patient is the approach you take with them. And I think the truly great nurses and physicians use that type of approach.
Most hospitals have default do not record w/o all party consent policies. Our facility has patient sign written notice of the policy. Open lines can lead to HIPPA violations or this type of thing.
Hubby hadn’t had a colonoscopy in forever. Doc finally scheduled one for him. He had so many large pre cancerous polyps that they wound up doing surgery and taking 18 inches off his colon. He’s glad he finally did it.
I had my colonoscopy done this summer - for looking up my ass, my doctor charged the princely sum of $33,000. Which was paid by the state. I paid a $5 co-payment.
I was given a clean bill of health - my intestines and colon was spanking healthy. I slept through the ordeal.
Now that is funny!
The article said his phone was in his pants pocket and the pants were underneath the table he was on.
I find that many younger doctors lack empathy. In my experience, I have had more trouble with younger female doctors, with some very notable exceptions. One of the best doctors I have know is a young woman because she is empathetic and thorough. However, it seems that the “me generation” doesn’t turn out as many exceptional doctors.
There's no cutting, just a deep probe.
I've had one done with anesthesia and one without. It's not a big deal and well worth the knowledge that you don't have life-threatening problems.
“I really want to hear a recording of a colonoscopy.”
I suspect it sounds a lot the noise a plunger makes when you unstop a plugged up toilet. However, I wouldn’t know for sure since I’m always unconscious during the procedure.
Versed is the major part of the ‘twilight’ sleep cocktail, it is a MIND WIPE drug. By itself it is not that effective. It is what they use for cataract surgery too.
The audio would be bad enough without thinking about the video.
I know Jack Daniels. Jack Daniels is a friend of mind. We went to separate schools together, I had the tall skinny teacher, he had the short fat one. Jack Daniels would tell me... stories..... /s (end of sarcasm).. ;-)
Actually, you DON’T know if they’ll find anything. That’s the point of having it done. Polyps are asymptomatic depending on where they are located, and some polyps turn into bowel cancer. Bowel cancer is asymptomatic when it first starts, but once it gets going, can be difficult to impossible to contain, treat, cure..and can be hellish.
I’ve had two done, and depending on the prep, some preps are worse than others. I NEVER had to drink anything chalkish. I think that would be for a barium test.
I did have to take meds to make me “go” a bunch, and then follow that up with a gallon of electrolyte tasting stuff to flush what might be left..and to clean the innards.
Something was found the first time..non cancerous..and all was well the second time which gave me great peace of mind. I now know what I look like from the inside, out. Sometimes they take pix, sometimes they don’t. I think if they find something, they photograph it.
I know a young man who was in his mid twenties who had a colonoscopy done, a good thing he did, too. There was a history of bowel cancer in his family, and he’d had his appendix removed recently, but wasn’t healing well. They found stuff, and was able to fix it. Otherwise, he’d of had cancer by the time he hit 40.
It’s really worth it to have the doc take a look up there and deal with any issues early on, and this is one of those issues that truly is worth taking the time for, especially when you compare cancer treatment for bowel cancer to a colonoscopy.
I might be wrong about this, but I’m thinking that a colonoscopy is even more important for women, because ovarian cancer tends to hit the bowel hard, and ovarian cancer isn’t exactly easy to find.
A friend of mine died of ovarian cancer she never knew she even had. It wasn’t until her bowels went totally crazy with pain that she was found to have the cancer, and it was already in her bowel.
Early detection of any cancer is a huge key to survival and quality of life during treatment. If there are programs out there that pay for those detection tests, then money is NO excuse! Go get the test, and at least have some peace of mind.
Thinking you might have cancer is NOT a fun thing to contend with, and life throws enough at a person as it is.
I feel for the man who heard the indecent conversation of the hospital staff during his procedure. It’s NOT the first time I’ve seen (personally) or heard second hand the kinds of things that shouldn’t be said. You never know what a person can hear when you think they may not be conscious.
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