I sat at the computer this morning to review labs. And I don't know why, but the moment I saw that RD had a blood culture that was growing a gram negative organism, I knew he was dead. I can't explain why or how I knew. I just knew that the minute I saw his culture results. I knew I need not even bother walking to the ward. His bed would be empty.
I'm quite pissed about the whole event. And you can bet I am censoring my post. I know where I place the blame. I know to whom I would point my finger. And I know where in the system I point the blame. All I can say is that if you watch the Al Jazeera documentary, you'll get an insight into what goes on when a medical system cannot cope.
But of course, I needed to know for sure. So I walked to ward 16, praying that the antibiotics that we desperately recommended yesterday would have been started in time to give him a fighting chance to fight the sepsis that had started DAYS earlier. And as I was about to enter the ward, I met the person I would point a finger at, who informed me that he had died late in the evening. It sucks to be right sometimes.
I'm seeing big disparities between medicine and pediatrics. I'm glad we're in clinic for the next 3 days.
PS: if you're a fan of Abraham Verghese, he has a new book coming out and a book tour as well. Not that I've heard him speak, but I bet it would be an inspiring event.
Keeping Silent...
