House: She's Dead, House
There are two things about this episode that you may think are odd:
House and his ducklings missed a simple but systemic staph infection looking for some grander disease, again favoring either an autoimmune flavor or cancer.
Staph, or its full name staphylococcus, comes in many forms, including infections in your skin, hair follicles and body. Some have names you know: boils, toxic shock syndrome, and impetigo.
Staph infections are caused by bacteria, and those with compromised immune systems are most at risk of death. Lupe, our patient this week, nicked her back with a bra hook and the sore got infected. It spread inside her body, attacked her organs, and she became very sick.
But it was the dose of radiation that really sealed her fate. Usually staph infections are treated with antibiotics, which work in conjunction with your body's immune system to beat the infection. Radiation suppresses white blood cell count, the soldiers in your body that fight sickness.
So if you kill your body's natural defense system, or suppress it, or if the disease is resistant to antibiotics that can help your immune system, you can die from a simple staph infection - especially if your doctor doesn't think its staff, but cancer, and gives you radiation.
Now, here is the second thing that may shock you: doctors don't always get training on how to tell folks they'e doing to die, well sooner than they expected.
Setting aside that maybe your actions hastened a patient's death, (because frankly I don't see how anyone could be prepared for such a situation) I personally was surprised to find out that interns don't take a course, or at least get a few lessons, in how to deliver such a devastating blow to someone they are caring for.
"In general, doctors aren't trained to deal with dying," says Dr. Brunilda Nazario, one of our medical editors. "Residency programs do not have this listed as part of the core curriculum. However, there are ongoing developmental courses that are taken to help communication skills to address end-of-life to patients and family members. These usually deal with death and dying, and deal with the psychological, social, cultural and religious issues."
Tell us your experiences in getting bad news from your docs. How did they handle it?
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: House, HouseMD, endoflife, staph
- people die from staph infections
- very few doctors get training in how to deliver bad news
House and his ducklings missed a simple but systemic staph infection looking for some grander disease, again favoring either an autoimmune flavor or cancer.
Staph, or its full name staphylococcus, comes in many forms, including infections in your skin, hair follicles and body. Some have names you know: boils, toxic shock syndrome, and impetigo.
Staph infections are caused by bacteria, and those with compromised immune systems are most at risk of death. Lupe, our patient this week, nicked her back with a bra hook and the sore got infected. It spread inside her body, attacked her organs, and she became very sick.
But it was the dose of radiation that really sealed her fate. Usually staph infections are treated with antibiotics, which work in conjunction with your body's immune system to beat the infection. Radiation suppresses white blood cell count, the soldiers in your body that fight sickness.
So if you kill your body's natural defense system, or suppress it, or if the disease is resistant to antibiotics that can help your immune system, you can die from a simple staph infection - especially if your doctor doesn't think its staff, but cancer, and gives you radiation.
Now, here is the second thing that may shock you: doctors don't always get training on how to tell folks they'e doing to die, well sooner than they expected.
Setting aside that maybe your actions hastened a patient's death, (because frankly I don't see how anyone could be prepared for such a situation) I personally was surprised to find out that interns don't take a course, or at least get a few lessons, in how to deliver such a devastating blow to someone they are caring for.
"In general, doctors aren't trained to deal with dying," says Dr. Brunilda Nazario, one of our medical editors. "Residency programs do not have this listed as part of the core curriculum. However, there are ongoing developmental courses that are taken to help communication skills to address end-of-life to patients and family members. These usually deal with death and dying, and deal with the psychological, social, cultural and religious issues."
Tell us your experiences in getting bad news from your docs. How did they handle it?
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: House, HouseMD, endoflife, staph
Labels: House
6 Comments:
When I had my miscarriage, the doctor who told me the news was absolutely horrific!
"Your baby is dead. Go home. There's nothing we can do." When I got up to leave she stopped me. I thought it was going to be a word of comfort or relaxation, but nope. "If your bleeding doesn't slow down in two or three days, we need to do a D&C. You know, an abortion."
Gee... thanks...
When my dad had pneumonia, his doctor told him it was cancer by looking at an xray. His doctor told him he needed to go on a respirator. My dad was wide awake, talking and breathing on his own but his doctor put him on a respirator. After seventeen days, they blew out his lung. The second doctor,(who was on call), said,"well, what do you want me to do about this? I can try to repair his lung, but the gangrene in his feet and legs is going to kill him anyway." Then he threw back the covers on dad's legs and showed me how black they were. I almost passed out at the site. Then he said, "we can unplug the respirator and he will finish dying in a few minutes. So, what do you want me to do?" He was so arrogant and unfeeling. I really hated him at that moment.
I'm writing for my husband. when he found out his ex wife was pregant they there were happy as any new coming parents would be. but at 19 weeks they found out that my husbands daughter had Anencephaly which ment that she'd die. the doctors didn't tell my husband the the ultrasound tech. turned to them and told them your daughter has Anencephaly so you might as well just aboard now because she'll die anyways in this really mean voice.
when my mom died after a 5 month battle with complications from a massive stroke, the doctor called from the hospital and told me, simply, "your mother has expired." I said, "what was she, a frickin' carton of milk? expired?" this was 10 days before my 21st birthday.....
When my father died, the doctor told me, "well He did it to himself!" like that would help the situation. When my sister's cancer came back the doctors at UC davis just came in her room and said "well, the cancer's back, I guess your going to die." And left the room. No," can I call someone?" Or "maybe you'd like to talk to a priest?" No one was there with her and the doctors acted like it's just another day at the office, even though it was their fault the cancer came back. (The surgeon who removed the cancer nicked her bladder.)Doctors are really special people,people give them too much credit.
When my father died, the doctor told me, "well He did it to himself!" like that would help the situation. When my sister's cancer came back the doctors at UC davis just came in her room and said "well, the cancer's back, I guess your going to die." And left the room. No," can I call someone?" Or "maybe you'd like to talk to a priest?" No one was there with her and the doctors acted like it's just another day at the office, even though it was their fault the cancer came back. (The surgeon who removed the cancer nicked her bladder.)Doctors are really special people,people give them too much credit.
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