Comments on: On the front page http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2004/09/on-front-page.html Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:14:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Anonymoushttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2004/09/on-front-page.html#comment-51671 Anonymous Sat, 25 Sep 2004 23:22:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2004/09/on-the-front-page.html#comment-51671 Kevin,<br /><br />I agree with you that the media far more often than not distorts the truth about the problems medicine. That's because sensational news sells better among people always willing to believe the worst of others.<br /><br />The comment you got seems to highlight this tendency.<br /><br />However I disagree with your take on this story.<br /><br />This sounds like a failure of triage. The patient was in DKA. You should not have to wait five hours to be treated for DKA. The triage nurse screwed up. Kevin,

I agree with you that the media far more often than not distorts the truth about the problems medicine. That’s because sensational news sells better among people always willing to believe the worst of others.

The comment you got seems to highlight this tendency.

However I disagree with your take on this story.

This sounds like a failure of triage. The patient was in DKA. You should not have to wait five hours to be treated for DKA. The triage nurse screwed up.

]]> By: Anonymoushttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2004/09/on-front-page.html#comment-51668 Anonymous Sat, 25 Sep 2004 02:37:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2004/09/on-the-front-page.html#comment-51668 These stories do sound shocking. Not surprising is that most healthcare workers always side with the hospital. Why is that? What if that had been your family member that had been refused treatment and ended on a vent at a different hospital? Would your loyalties still be with the hospital? Blaming the victims is not the way to a solution and actually it causes much discord between patients and physicians. <br /><br />I do wonder if the medical profession is completely removed from the realities that make it easier for them to come to the conclusions that they always seem to come to? Would your family member be treated the same at an ER as what the general public is? Or, would they be rushed back and treated just because you are a part of that community? Would that make it impossible for you to see the problem in the same sense as a layperson? These stories do sound shocking. Not surprising is that most healthcare workers always side with the hospital. Why is that? What if that had been your family member that had been refused treatment and ended on a vent at a different hospital? Would your loyalties still be with the hospital? Blaming the victims is not the way to a solution and actually it causes much discord between patients and physicians.

I do wonder if the medical profession is completely removed from the realities that make it easier for them to come to the conclusions that they always seem to come to? Would your family member be treated the same at an ER as what the general public is? Or, would they be rushed back and treated just because you are a part of that community? Would that make it impossible for you to see the problem in the same sense as a layperson?

]]>