Patient Treated by Doctors with Love

A middle-aged man was sent to the emergency room at Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital on a Saturday afternoon. The condition of the man, a diabetic in his 50's, was quite bad as his feet had become putrefied, giving off a foul smell. His blood sugar was not under proper control. Besides diabetes, he had gout. His kidneys were not functioning well and his immunity against illness was poor. He was also beginning to show symptoms of septicemia. Yellow pus was oozing out of the thick gauze on his feet, producing an unpleasant stench. After he was diagnosed as having diabetes-induced foot putrefaction and septicemia, the patient was rushed to ICU for emergency treatment due to shock and a diminishing sign of life. His condition became stable after doctors gave him antibiotics and other medication to increase his body fluid and control his blood sugar levels. Surgeons earnestly advised the patient to have his foot amputated. He refused, despite the caring doctor trying to persuade him for nearly half an hour. The attending doctor also offered encouragement, telling him that he could walk again with artificial limbs. He explained to the patient that treatment of the wound alone could not resolve the problem and warned that the wound might produce massive bacteria if the operation was not conducted immediately. In that case, the condition might become uncontrollable, prolonging the pain of the patient and also bringing emotional pain to his family. The patient's daughter happens to work at the surgical bedroom ward. She also asked her father to undergo the operation. The patient appeared to have softened his attitude, and the doctors began making preparations for the operation. But not long after that, the nurses said that the patient had changed his mind and refused to sign the consent form for the operation. Having heard about the situation, Dr. Lee Wei-Che, another attending doctor at ICU who was not the patient's doctor, took the initiative to see if he could persuade the patient, telling the man that his father had a similar case and could move again on a wheelchair after undergoing amputation operation. It took almost one hour before the patient finally agreed to sign the letter of agreement. Our surgeons, who were waiting anxiously in the operation room, felt relieved after hearing the good news. After the amputation operation, the patient returned to ICU. On the following days, he had a lung infection because his immune system was down. Because the infection was not easy to control, the doctors performed a tracheostomy and put him on a respirator. Through the joint care of physicians from various departments, the patient's condition improved day by day. The joy that all of us on the medical team felt as we watched the progress of this patient is truly hard to describe. In this case, many doctors, when they came to know of the situation, helped to persuade the patient to undergo the operation despite the fact that the man was not their patient. I think all doctors must do so. They must put their heads together at the bedside to consider the best cure for the patient. When the doctors made their efforts to persuade the patient to receive the operation, the patient might not have been able to understand their good intentions at the time. But I believe he certainly felt the love rendered to him while he was recovering. This will also be very helpful to the patient during the process of rehabilitation. We have felt the power of such love during the process of treatment every time. When I was a medical student, I had no direct feeling about the power of joint efforts. But now I can feel the power of love emanating from the hearts of so many people. The joined power of love is able to accomplish a project of hope that is filled with love. This case occurred at Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital at the same time the ”human ball” incident occurred in Taipei. (In the ”human ball” incident, a four-year-old girl died after she was turned away by several Taipei hospitals. She suffered from severe head injuries inflicted by her drunken father. The girl was accepted later by a Taichung hospital and was eventually pronounced brain death on Jan. 23, 2005). After hearing of the ”human ball” incident, many people may become pessimistic about the relationship between doctors and patients as well as the whole medical system in Taiwan. But at a this ”human ball” incident comes to light, there is also a need to report more on the cases about doctors' kind moves to persuade the patients to receive better treatment. Such cases can be found at our hospital almost everyday.