Date Posted: 3/18/2018 12:58:18 AM
Posted By: ROZA Membership Level: Silver Total Points: 961
Surgery is one of the most feared experiences all over the world. Truth be told there are many who have gone through it but never made it, they simply lost the battle on the operation table. We have heard of people who have been operated wrongly and they ended up with more problems that they never had before surgery. And although this is a risky experience, sometimes we cannot do without it, it has saved many lives. When going through a surgery, the following steps are taken:The patient has to agree with the doctor that surgery is the only option to deal with his health problem. This is called verbal consent. Here the doctor explains to the patient what is to be done during surgery, the side effects and what they aim to achieve by doing that surgery.A written consent is now signed by the patient, because even if the patient has agreed verbally, a signature will be needed to confirm the verbal one. But here there is an exception in that there are those who are taken to the theater unconscious, or those that don’t have a sober mind. In this case a family member has to sign the consent but if they are not available and the case is urgent, the surgery has to done to save his life.Everything is prepared including blood and surgical equipments. This is the job of the nurses.The patient is taken to the theater and every one introduces themselves and their rank. The whole team includes, a consultant, the trainee doctor, anesthesiologists and his trainee, nurses. A trainee doctor is the one who has already become a doctor and worked for about a year or two and now wants to specialize in surgery. So he has to be guided by the consultant on what to do.The nurse now reads the file of the patient and the surgeon confirms that they are doing the right surgery on the right patient. Then all the personnel in the surgery room verify the patients consent and whether it has been signed.After every thing is found to be in order, the surgery is done, and remember that all the personnel works as a team.After the surgery is complete, and all is well, all the equipments are counted and recounted by two nurses, before the patient is stitched up just to make sure that no equipment or foreign material was left in the body. Then there is a check list that confirms that all the equipments are there and the whole team confirms it.The patient is then stitched up and he is now given the drugs to make him conscious again.If the above steps are not well followed, or negligence is involved, the whole team is taken responsible. In such a case the complaint is taken to a certain board made of medical registrar, doctor trainers, and other doctors and evidence is given. The board then weighs the case and makes the necessary inquiries. After hearing the case, and according to their findings if they find substance in the case, it is then taken to a full board tribunal which is now like a real court, it is a doctor’s court. The next course of action is taken here, but the problem with this doctors court is that the doctor is punished but the patient is not compensated. It is also lenient in that maybe the doctor is suspended for some months and the patient is still suffering or he is already dead. But there is another option of going directly to court, although here the problem is that it is quite expensive because of lawyers’ fees.In conclusion, it is good to remember that our constitution states that every body has a right to the highest level of medical care. So even after signing the patients consent, the doctor is still responsible to give his patient a proper medical care. And although there have been surgeries which have gone wrong, millions of them have succeeded, so we don’t have to fear them.
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