A Doctor's Revelations

Hokitika Guardian, 1 March 1923, Page 4

A Doctor's Revelations

OPERATING THEATRE Sf'.t BETS. FBBOUS AVI) BI.UN DEI’S. r.",\|>oX. Jan. 9. many a healthy appendix has been re moved by enterprising s'.ti geonno patient . t *11 i the l tbe v. i-n • leg t ee (: .i: put‘ e;! i - I. lieu v>2 ’ a !.•> k:> e i, : i ; i '‘icmselves P tiled.re I operat i.m . It i . n.a o. ■ I hat surgeons arc ■■■ frank a < Harold Burrow-. I 8.E.. F.B.C -. a-sisteM -ui’o. oi at e Bo;, a I !\, is He. a ill I le- p. la I. who has wiill en ; book entitled “Mistakes end Acrid, nio i S u re:e y. ’' "Not inl'rcpmn i K a ea:bait i - hionghl to hospital with seine i», Julies to In tii legs, one of which requires ampmarion. Ii the surgeon ivet'y weary it is po-sliile Hail He M I’ong limb will I ; e :cmovi'il." 1 1 . tin- connect ion Dr Burrows quotes the story of how a certain celcbitaod surgeon having in error removed the wrong leg was then anxious to take oil' the other leg, which was the scat of a severe compound fracture. The patient protested, recovered, and was left with a sound leg. the leg which originally was going to he amputated. IGcn more common is the ease of the remove! of the wrong finger, "unless the iurgeott keeps himself wide awake." Whereas the patient only has two legs, he has ten fingers, which make it five times as easy to make a mistake. The mistake- des'Til’od are those of thi* other fellow, lull, says the author, "if anything that I say should hear the appearance of arrogance or conceit, lot me confess that this I onk has arisen from a sorrowful ooi templat ion of the many surge al errors which I have my.so!l com. mil I ed. ” . LOST APPARATUS.

After a certain operation, the symptoms convinced Dr Burrows that some foreign material had been left behind. A renewed exploration discovered the presence, of a swab. As the symptoms still continued, further exploration was made, and yet mini her sw:d was discovered. F.v-’u such -itbstan tin I things ; - rubber tithe • may la

allowed to enter unseen, and a case is quoted in which an X-ray photograph revealed the fact that two tubes had slip)- . int • the p: : vntt, '• <■> t

dell*:- '■ e ,; ten I ••.•II dm to in - iliar ending.. I f a 'urge m ihurriedlv stimmoiied to perform an argent operation, lie may fiml lie has left behind a tm . ’ important iustruliienr. making the performance of tinoperation itii]>< -s : t• . Or, again, ho ■ may use the wrong ins' rumciit. C'a es are tpiofetl in v l.ich delicti I e organs have been i • r.-; ara hly damaged by t ea- j son of t! laei that omu-u Units were | perfort; 1 with ursuftnl.'e instruments. Iu n; * : ten for tot ■ ils an old blade s Used tv! oh h | he.-n so

fretpirily '•barpoiicd Cal i had become Fin. ! I -liapp -d dr ■ dig Ftopera; mn. and the hi:, ie Icc re cm-: bedded F •• pa i ion I V t hroal . j AIIST AKKS OF 'N A FTIi KTTSTS. 1 As is i, :.oirkcd. t ere is a touch of j the Gram! Otii„m>: o; some of the , stories < i d w'tli aliaest beta s. : and it is . n!\ (heir larity which sa.-.e- j them from caid.v; undue alarm to • ii*• ; average t. ufer. ii ; Jillh-ulr, for { instance, t.. li. il-ai ; i- h a ■ ase . as is C|tiot"d : ,\ pr ■.rise.. •ol lie;.! j chloroform Ling ■f.l: iI I <-11 :o hull; in'e [ a patieni’s ;. a; ■■- i ■ mi: ■ o in '■ hi' | hest-regillal ■ ;n di : i ■ : -'es. Aftei I striving Itar.i 1 an Ik • r to r. u ' :• . his patient 1 ■ : mtest ho - ■ ist found ie ’ ir• ing euro j oxygen insto : uto • .ale « Tie had turn ■ Fa ■ cyliiid 'i I by m ist ale I The tm - •...«• ali. I which wtt ■ re -ttit of ;. iare ■.„ :.• . tion of to c. : dot:is. tel! few the ooi la- : tor was “gassed" by the decomposition s products ; ’ ■■■ :• < ,or ' ■ had con 1 ' a '

With al .1 operator stud the anaesthetist • o J unconscious to the fl: or. The burned on, the fumes increased. It j was only the action of a nurse who was so deeply affected that saved the ' situation. ci*n re.-bed te the window, opene ’ 1 t i e n.-tieut <v. ho was luckilv a child) and dropped it out of the window to the refreshing contact

of the open air. Happily no evil results ensued. INTELLIGENT GUESSWORK. It is not rare to find that either too much or too little of the tonsil lias been removed. Unless the operator is skilled he may also remove a small portien of the patient’s tongue. E--I peeially in the case of small children, is he liable to knock out their teeth. ; In the case of adenoids small tags of tissue may lie left behind, which, unless removed u ith great speed, will j Fail to the painfui death by suffocation . In fact, t lie commoner the malady the greater, it is said, has been the likelihood of mi-takes. No lower than 26 different diseases, with infinite I variations, are quoted a- being, ii’om | time to time, mistaken lor appendiei-j tis, and consequently improperly treat- i ed. The essential fact is that the diag-| nosis, as Dr Burrows himself admits, | is a matter of intelligent guesswork. |

The appendix can neither be seen nor handled. Anaesthetics .have been administered to persons without appendicitis, luit sufferin'; from another malady in which tie application of an anaesthetic was, in itself, fata!.