MEDICAL BLUNDERS

• My friend’s colleague was doing his Orthopedic rotation as a house officer when he was asked by his specialist to take consent from a patient for a below knee amputation. The Orthopedic surgeon later had a surprise when he saw (on the consent form) “Balloni amputation” as the procedure to be performed.

• A similar incident also happened to one of my colleagues when he was a houseman in the Orthopedic Department. He was jotting down the management plan for a patient during an early morning ward round. The patient was supposed to have surgery later that day and intra-operative imaging (I.I.) was to be performed. The rest of the team had a good laugh when they realized what was written on the patient’s case note: “Patient for eye-eye.”

• My ex-roommate and colleague once told me about a houseman in the Orthopedic Ward, who is either colour blind or was seeing colours when he was on-call one night. He was clerking in a patient who was involved in a road traffic accident (RTA). In the patient’s case note, he had documented down how the incident took place: “RTA happened when patient could not stop in time when the traffic light turned blue.”

• After assisting in a bowel surgery as a house officer, my friend LJ was responsible for filling in the forms and taking the specimens (which included part of the small bowel and a piece of the large bowel) to the lab for urgent examination and reporting by the pathologist. When the report came back, it was stated that the small bowel specimen had gone missing. Only the large bowel was examined. LJ went searching high and low for the lost item, but to no avail. Furious, LJ had written this down on the patient’s case note: “COULD NOT FIND SMALL BOWEL. NOT IN OPERATING THEATRE. NOT IN LAB. MAYBE SOMEONE STOLE IT TO MAKE KUEH CHAP.”

• When LJ was a house officer in the Gynae Ward, a patient with infected Bartholin’s cyst was admitted for treatment in the form of marsupialisation. In the patient’s discharge summary, LJ had drawn a diagram to show where the cyst was situated. Our ward Sister was horrified to see the completed summary. In an attempt to make the diagram look ‘more real’, LJ had added on some pubic hair!

• A thirty something year old lady was admitted to the Gynae Ward for a diagnostic laparoscopy when I was a house officer there. She was married for 5 years but had no children. During rounds, my specialist Dr. NSE had informed the patient that the laparoscopy and earlier investigations did not show any abnormality on her part. Dr. NSE inquired if the husband could come to hospital to have his seminal fluid tested. She asked in Malay, “Suami kamu boleh datang untuk check air manis?” At that point, I heard my colleagues and some of the nurses giggling at the back. One of them whispered, “How does she know it’s sweet?”

• When we first joined the Labour Ward as house officers, we were warned by our seniors and the midwives not to stand too near to a woman in labour to avoid “mandi liquor”. One of our colleagues JS, a Punjabi, had a ‘hands-on experience’ of “mandi liquor” when he stood at the wrong place at the wrong time. He had to go back to change as he was drenched from his turban down to his feet!

• My colleague CGS is one of the most blunt person I know. Once when I was working with him in the Female Surgical Ward as House Officers, a patient was admitted for acute appendicitis. She was a fairly plump woman in her late twenties. CGS had assisted our Medical Officer in the appendicectomy. The next day during ward round, he had told the patient, “Wah, kamu banyak gemuk lah. Susah oh operation. Kami kena pakai cangkul untuk cari kamu punya appendix.”

• CGS also has the most unique way of asking questions. When another patient was admitted to the Female Surgical Ward for suspected acute appendicitis, he was responsible to clerk the patient in. In female patients presenting with acute abdomen, it is harder to make a diagnosis (as compared to men) as the problem could be arising from the reproductive organs. Gynaecological causes such as ectopic pregnancy or twisted ovarian cyst need to be ruled out. CGS was trying to find out whether the patient was sexually active or not. A staff nurse who was nearby could not believe her ears when she heard him ask the patient, “Ada ular pernah masuk tak?”

• A 14 year old boy was admitted to the Male Surgical Ward for perforated appendicitis when we were House Officers there. He underwent emergency appendicectomy. Post-operatively, he was kept NPO (nil per oral) & given Normal Saline & Dextrose drip. The following day, he requested for his drip to be changed to “Soya Bean” like the patient at the next bed. We had a good laugh when we realised what he meant was actually parenteral nutrition.