4 ms·
5 years ago my uncle was hospitalized with a knot in the gastrointestinal tract which usually gets treated within days. He never left the hospital and died 3 we
by sakopov 10y ago
5 years ago my uncle was hospitalized with a knot in the gastrointestinal tract which usually gets treated within days. He never left the hospital and died 3 weeks later after every single organ in his body started failing post-treatment. The man has always been healthy and never had any serious illnesses. His daughter witnessed (and on a few occasions so did i) plain stupidity and negligence of the medical staff who insisted to take him off life-support after putting him on it. We eventually ended up moving him to another hospital where he showed signs of improvement but eventually died when his kidney and then lungs gave out. She and her mother are convinced that he died because of numerous medical errors. I watched him suffer for 3 weeks and have since developed a phobia of hospitals. I basically lose my shit over any hospital visits these days.
- siculars 10y agoThere's an old joke inside hospitals. Hospitals are where people go to die. Unfortunately, it's not a joke. Hospitals are the definition of asymmetric information warfare. You know nothing and they think they know everything. Absolutely have someone on your side who knows what's what. Family/friend who is a doctor, nurse, PA, NP, etc. Hospitals are so wedged that some actually have "patient advocates" who work there and whos sole job is to be that advocate for the patient and patients family.
- albertTJames 10y agoI am sorry to hear about your uncle and your feeling that the medical system failed him. In my experience a small bowel obstruction is not such a benign condition as you might think, it is a mortal condition if left untreated and has mortality rate between 10 and 25% if surgery is needed. For example if the cause was an entanglement, it could lead to occlusion of the bowel's nourishing arteries and cause irreversible necrosis. In those cases a septic surgery is necessary, the dead tissue is cut out below and above the lesion and the bowel has to be sowed back together. Sometimes the tissue seems ok but is in fact weakened, and rupture in the days following surgery. Sometimes it has already ruptured or cannot be sowed back immediately... It is in my opinion a very serious condition.