So, I have started House Job 3

Mary Idowu
3 min readMay 5, 2022

Ooops, You could have avoided that.

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

Yesterday, I met a young man. He was 23 years old and his family killed him.

He presented to the accident and emergency of the hospital about a month before, in shock. He had lost a lot of blood after he was involved in a road traffic accident where he sustained fracture to both femurs (the bone of his thighs). He was resuscitated and had an X-ray done which revealed the fractures. When his relatives saw that he was ‘out of the woods’ following the resuscitation, they called on a traditional bone setter to consult on the patient while he was still at the A&E. The audacity! Why did they not call him to resuscitate the patient? He disagreed with the doctor’s assessment of an urgent surgery to save the limbs and life. He stated confidently that the doctor was exaggerating and that he could do a better job.

The patient’s relative made their choice and despite counselling on the risks attached to discharging the patient, they did and he was taken to the traditional bone setter for ‘expert management’.

He was brought back to the same accident and emergency a month later in severe respiratory distress. His lips were bluish and his feet were swollen. He could barely talk and still couldn’t walk. I guess the experts weren’t really experts after all. We started resuscitating him and called on other teams to consult and join in immediately. At the last time I saw him he was being transfused and he was still alive.

This morning, I heard that he died at about 1:35am. What/whom do you think is responsible for his death?

This is one of the many avoidable deaths I have seen in my time as an House Officer.

When I was in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, I met a woman after she had passed away. It was her first pregnancy and it was booked at our facility. She attended antenatal classes and clinics, but when she was in labor, her mother-in-law decided that it was better she delivered at home. The labor process was difficult and she bled a lot. When it got out of hand, they visited a community maternity center for help, but very little could be done. It was then they suddenly remembered the hospital. She was brought in dead.

We have a poor health seeking behavior in this country. My question is why? Why do people have so little faith in the orthodox medicine in Nigeria? As a student, I saw patients tend to chronic ulcers in their homes for months and present to the hospital hoping for a quick fix. All other remedies would have been applied before the doctor is remembered, which in most cases worsens the condition. Some spend a lot of money at these other facilities such that when they present at the hospital, they do so with little or nothing expecting miracles.

There is no doubt that we live in a low resource country and that our healthcare is substandard. However, we cannot just excuse away the problems of the Nigerian health sector on the government or on systemic issues. Patients must also take responsibility for their lives. They must present to the hospital earlier and trust their doctors better.

I would really love to read your thoughts on this topic and measures that can be taken to reduce these oopsie moments.

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Mary Idowu

Medical Doctor| Writer| SRHR Advocate| Art Enthusiast| A baby Girl | Dr. Golden Fingers | White Poet |