Questions - Do You Have
Questions?
Dear Viewers,
Do you have questions? Of course you do. Put yourself now in this place.
You are in the emergency department with a child or elderly parent – sister, brother, spouse.
What tests will be done? Why? Can I stay with the patient? If not, why not?
Will she/he be sedated? If so, with what? What are the side effects? How will you be monitoring her/him to be sure that the patient is safe?
The doctor states surgery is necessary. You ask, “Is there any other less invasive option? Is it possible to wait until tomorrow or is it life threatening to wait? Why?"
Have you got experience in doing this surgery? Are there other places in the area with greater experience? (Some local – especially community hospitals – don’t have full service resources for all surgeries and treatments. I know that where I live, our local community hospital does now have the equipment and physicians to do cardiac catheterization making it more convenient for a heart patient to not have to travel to the state capitol for this procedure. However, perhaps you do not realize that although this procedure (aka “the balloon procedure”, “angiogram”) is very common now, it is no less life-threatening. (see web MD for a description of the details of this procedure). A surgeon passes a tiny plastic tube with a fiber optic camera from the groin through the major arteries up to the major coronary arteries (usually ka RCA, Circumflex, RDA, etc). While this is quite easily done under sterile conditions with a physician known as an “interventionalist”, it is no longer a new procedure and has been in use in this country for about 20 years, it is still not perfect and is still life threatening. If the catheter should puncture the artery wall, the patient will bleed out and die within five minutes. In most settings, this procedure is done only when an operating room and full cardiac surgical team 'on call' are ready to bolt into action immediately to prevent heart attack or other complications.
There are many hospitals and doctors who might perform this or other procedures without that safety guard in place. You need to know such things. For yourself and your loved ones, you have a right and a responsibility to be informed. If the procedure can wait, do so until you talk it over with your own private specialist or Primary Physician or look it up on the Internet.
Some of us were raised in an era when questioning the doctor was simply unacceptable. In this age of technological advances and complicated procedures, we must ask. It is not appropriate to challenge the doctor. Your responsibility is to question him in a way that will lead you to a comfort zone with what is going on or will prompt you to seek help elsewhere. If your doctor is reluctant to answer such questions, you probably need to seek the help of another.
A word of caution however, depending upon the complexity of the situation, many doctors simply will not accept a new patient who is seriously compromised as it becomes both an ethical and a legal issue.
These are guidelines of a particular situation but there will soon be more to further reiterate how to best carry on with the healthcare of both your loved ones and yourself. Additionally I will provide more and more forms that you can quickly fill out and keep on hand for that all-important visit to the doctor, clinic or emergency room.
HomePage
| Medical Plans
| Nursing Forms & How-To
| Get Med Help