by Kenneson 15 Replies latest watchtower medical
Diego Zaldivar suffered from severe epilepsy caused by a virus transmitted through a mosquito bite. An operation called a hemispherectomy was performed without blood because of the objections of his J.W. parents. He survived and is on the road to recovery. See "Halved, now whole. Radical brain surgery may give boy a new chance at life" by Cheryl Clark at
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20030430-9999_mz1c30halved.html
The Zaldivars were asked to sign surgical consent forms and, just in case, the transfusion consent form as well. "I'll do everything in my power not to transfuse, but if his hematocrit (red blood cell level) gets dangerously low, we will have to," said anesthesiologist Karen VanderWall. "If that's not acceptable, I can't proceed." Rather than have the child die, the hospital would get a court order to give blood, she told the Zaldivars. But Diego's father was adamant. As the surgical team stood anxiously by, he signed the surgical form but refused to sign the transfusion consent. "I'm not worried," Levy said reassuringly. "It won't be an issue. We can lose almost 600 cubic centimeters of blood before we would have to transfuse." "We have faith in Jehovah that everything will go well," Henry Zaldivar said. He and Mirna held their son one last time and started to cry.
It seems if the child lost more than the 600 cubic centimeters of blood, then they would have gotten a court order to transfuse the child(?)
The surgeon was confident and skilled, and it didn't come to that.
I'm glad the little guy came through it okay.
Interesting.
But Nilfin, I'm sorry I have to object to one of your comments. "The surgeon was confident and skilled, and it didn't come to that." I really hate hearing whether the use of blood or not reflects on a surgeon's skills. That's what jws spew. JW's are uneducated about the medical profession and don't realize that anything could happen that is not the result of "skill". Sorry, just my 2 cents.
j2bf
That is why I like this place. I get to hear many different opinions/viewpoints about things.
I've had the bad experience in my life of almost losing a person I love very much directly because the doc was a bad one. Because of his lack of concern and skill his patient almost bled to death.
I also realize that many things can go wrong on the operating table even with best of sugeons. That's why I noticed that in this case, even with a skilled surgeon, it appears that they were prepared to get a court order for a blood transfusion if it had become necessary.
I certainly was not trying to say that only unskilled surgeons require blood as a back up for sloppy work. I apologize if that is what my comments appeared to be saying.
I was just glad they had a person who was skilled in this type of surgery working on their child. And I'm glad the child is okay.
I didn't mean to sound uneducated. Sorry.
Nilfun.....don't feel like you have to apologise, you didn't come across to me as uneducated at all. I know what you're saying. I work as a ward manager on a busy acute surgical unit and we have 10 surgical consultants operating, at any one time. I hate to say it, but there are more skilled consultants than others, Some of the "older school ones" use blood transfusions all the time, and are very scornful in their attitude of the newer and younger consultants coming into the field, who adopt "bloodless surgery" into their workloads, along with other newer initiatives (ie shorter post op starving of patients following abdominal surgery). I've seen JW patients refused surgery on the grounds of their stand on blood by some of these consultants who've been around for a while, only to have their cases taken on by newer consultants prepared to operate without blood. I think some degree of skill by these newer consultants is evident here. Healthcare and treatment options are constantly moving forward, and I think this is a good thing.
Glad the little kiddie came out ok too.
((Nilfin))
I hope I didn't apply the "uneducated" comment to you, just JW's in general.
There are plenty of bad docs out there. (Remember half graduate in the bottom half of their class!) And unfortunately, the docs willing to take on the silliness of JW's are <cough> imho,.....questionable at times by the medical community. And I'm not talking about the opinion of the Hospital Liason Commity!
I'm sorry to hear about a situation you had to go through with a loved one. Very scary.
I recently loss my father to a rupture of his aorta. BUT, had he not been a JW refusing blood, and had the ER nurse not put the foley catheter in his prostate and cause him to hemmorrhage from his bladder, he would have had surgery when he first went into the hospital and not have been delayed, causing his aorta to rupture. For 3 days, while he was in Surigal Intesive Care Unit I had to listen to the local dubs spout about only a good surgeon would operate without blood. <sheesh> He had the best heart surgeon in his area, who agreed to operate, but firmly stated the risks of "no blood". How arrogant and haughty the dubs sounded to me. I knew that his doctor did the best he could with the circumstances that were handed to him.
So I'm sorry I'm a little sensitive about "judging" the medical profession, but I know its just me.
Hugs to Nilfin,
j2bf
(((Scoob & J2Bfree)))
Maybe I came across as judgemental because of all the negative experiences my family has had with the medical profession(?) Sometimes my own "junk" will sneak into my posts without me even noticing it. I'm working on it, honest!
I don't think badly of the medical profession; I know they save lives.
Even with all the bad experiences, it's the good stuff I like to remember, like the skillful hands and gentle way of the midwife who helped me through my first pregnancy. She had a heart of gold.
I'm okay with your objection, Joy2Bfree, because it forced me to clarify what I was trying to say.
Hugs back atcha...
( & sorry to the originator of this thread if I went a bit off-topic)
Sorry, I just had to reply to this Nilfin: "Even with all the bad experiences, it's the good stuff I like to remember, like the skillful hands and gentle way of the midwife who helped me through my first pregnancy. She had a heart of gold. "
Ahhh, that's sweet.
j2bf, CNM (Certified Nurse-Midwife)
Thats good to hear Nilfun.....
Scooby. aka Charge Nurse/ Ward Manager. RN.Dip.H.E (don't call me Sister!!)
Well, the kid isnt going to need his brain too much in the borg..but I am glad he made it through without blood...the guilt could have been very hard for him.
when I had my second child, I lost a pretty good amount of blood and was told that needing blood was a possibility. It did not come to that, but it was the first time in my life I had to seriously think about it. I thought....damn my kids need me..I will take it!
I just would not tell my JW family hahaah
