Basman: Left to Die of Infection
My friend, Besman, was sitting on his sofa watching a football match when he felt like using the toilet. He rushed up the stairs to avoid missing much of the match. As he ran back down, he slipped and fell from the top of the stairs. A fall from the top to the bottom of a staircase is problematic for anyone — such a fall could lead to serious injuries. But what made Besman’s fall worse was his massive tumour the size of two footballs under his arm.
Besman had terminal lung cancer. The tumour had metastasised (spread) and formed a boulder under his right arm. With the fall, the tumour burst open. Blood, flesh, and green, slimy liquid were all over the stairs and sitting room. His wife, hearing the loud sound from the kitchen, rushed to see what had happened and called the emergency services. While the ambulance was on its way, the operator gave her instructions on keeping him alive until they arrived.
She was to avoid trying to lift him to prevent further injury, to continuously check his airway to ensure he was breathing, and to lay him in a comfortable position. Besman kept slipping in and out of consciousness, but she kept speaking to him, assuring him help was on the way. When the ambulance arrived, even the battle- hardened paramedics were shocked at what they saw. They tiptoed through the sea of blood and flesh to get to him and went to work.
They placed an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth to stabilise his breathing. Then they removed his shirt and cleaned away the excess blood to locate the active bleeding. They placed chemical- impregnated gauze onto the wound to promote coagulation. Finally, they put pressure on the spot to hold the gauze in place and stop blood loss. When the bleeding was contained, a bandage was applied to the area to aid easy transportation. He was immediately placed in an ambulance and rushed to the hospital.
At the hospital, doctors checked him and sought to stabilise him further. Once they were convinced, he was out of danger, he was moved onto a ward. A surgical drain was placed under his arm to drain the fluid that continuously leaked from the hole. Then the doctors ignored him! The accident occurred on Sunday. He was stabilised and taken to the ward that same night. He did not receive a visit from any doctor or consultant all day Monday. Tuesday came and went — no doctor or consultant visited.
During Wednesday afternoon’s visit, we inquired from a nurse as to who his consultant was and why no one had informed us of the next steps. The nurse left and returned with the news that he would be discharged that evening. Stunned, we asked why he was being discharged so soon. She replied that she was simply relaying the information she had been given.
His wounds were still wide open, yet they wanted to send him home. Even if they expected him to die within a few months, was he not entitled to be treated with care and compassion? What doctor felt it was okay to send someone home with an open wound the size of two footballs? When we protested and demanded to see the consultant, we were told he was at a seminar.
When we hinted that we would sue if he was sent home and died of an infection, his consultant teleported himself from the seminar as if by magic. He informed us that nothing could be done for him, so they felt it was in his best interest to send him home to spend his final days with his family.
We asked him what was humane about sending someone out of the hospital with a massive hole under their arm. The doctor responded that as medical professionals, it was their duty to act in the patient’s best interests. I asked him if it was one of his loved ones, would he think it in his best interest to be sent home with a massive hole under his arm, knowing he might die of an infection.
He admonished me not to make it personal, repeating the point that he was doing what was in the interest of the patient. We alerted him to the fact that euthanasia is illegal in the UK and that what he was attempting was involuntary euthanasia. We threatened to sue him and the hospital if Besman’s discharge resulted in death from infection.
Noticing our seriousness, he informed us that he would refer the matter to another consultant. A few hours later, a second consultant came to examine Besman. Afterwards, he asked us what we wanted him to do even though he should know as a medical professional. We kept our calm and answered him.
We told him all we wanted was for the flesh hanging from his arm to be removed, the surface cleaned, and treatment applied to allow him to heal. The consultant told us the necessary surgery was high risk and that Besman might lose his arm. We said we were okay with such an outcome — having one arm was better than dying from an infection.
We explained that Besman was a family man with two children and was prepared to fight for his life — even if he had already accepted his fate. To be condemned to die from infection was inhumane; it is not the British way. He listened to our pleas and decided to perform the surgery to remove the dead and cancerous flesh. But he warned us that his wound might never heal because of his cancer. The surgery went well, and Besman’s wound healed completely within a few weeks, contrary to the doctor’s predictions.
After the above incident, I developed a great hatred for the first consultant who intended to discharge Besman with the hole under his arm. I realise hate may seem extreme or unreasonable, but that was how I felt at the time. Medicine is supposed to be a vocation that people use to help save lives. How has it gotten to the point that a medical doctor was prepared to do something so inhumane and barbaric? It was something I struggled to comprehend.
