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The medical scientist claimed to have the answers to the problems
of the people. But the bright new medico/religion generated in the 40's
& 50's with antibiotics and the dramatic rise of "Interventionist "
medicine that said " we know what is best for you . We know better than
the millions of years of evolution. We can compel nature to obey our command
". The idea that Humanity is above and outside of nature is bankrupt. We
are a symbiotic part of nature and must learn to live within the laws that
she lays down - or pay the price that is now being charged to a large part
of our species. Part of that price is now revealed as bacteria and virus
- (older than humanity ) fight for survival - by any means that they can.
We have created by the careless use of antibiotics, such aggressive organisms
as Methycillin resistant staphylococcus aureus -MRSA- , first noted in
Australia in the 70's and in Essex hospitals in 1981. Dr. J. Bradley ,
chairman of a working party in the N.E. Thames region said "It has caused
deaths in people who were basically well before they came into hospital.
They have had an operation and died from infection." In Aug. 92 Guys Hospital
closed two wards after the discovery of an antibiotic resistant strain
of the bacteria Klebsilela which was implicated in the death of two 3 month
old babies and severe illness in 9 other babies. Dr. K. Harvey , Director
of Microbiology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital said " We may look back
on the antibiotic era as an era where the bugs proved smarter than the
scientist. BROAD SPECTRUM ANTIBIOTICS ARE THE REFUGE OF THE DIAGNOSTICALLY
DESTITUTE." Candida (thrush) has been shown to take up seven different
configurations when challenged by various antibiotics-it may be effectively
'antibiotic-proof'. Tuberculosis (which has been shown to affect dinosaur
bones ) is returning in new and more dangerous forms. In fact all the sciences
that promised such a bright future in the 40's and 50's have now been shown
- at dreadful cost - to exploit one facet of nature to the impoverishment
of another. There is no such thing as a free lunch in Nature - someone
always pays. Medical science has brought us to the point where it impinges
on the realm of Economics. There are now ways in which people can be saved
from dying - but at a cost. Medical Science is no longer at the point where
it can obey the imperative - that if any life can be saved it must be saved.
If that principle were followed then we could devote our entire Gross National
Product to Medical Science and still not be able to save everyone. At this
point Medical Science tiptoes into the precarious realm of morals and ethics.
On a monetary basis ,who do you select to live, and who to die.
The record of orthodox (allopathic) medicine is unsavoury in this area . Various reports of the annual National Enquiry into Perioperative Deaths , since 1985 show a bleak picture. In the 91/92 issue some 1,400 deaths were reported as largely due to "Too many emergency operations at night on very old and very sick patients ,by doctors in beginning grades without supervision and by anaesthetists working alone. A senior registrar , operating on an 80 yr old woman with a perforated duodenal ulcer , found a womb problem and performed a hysterectomy. The patient later died of a heart attack." The report states "There was no justification for the hysterectomy." In another case a Registrar took 6 hours to remove tumour in the windpipe of a 63 yr old anaemic, malnourished woman, who later died of a bleeding disorder. The report states that "Given the complexity , this case was not suitable for a trainee surgeon ". In a "Report on Maternal Deaths in the UK." it was stated that in nine cases of death during Caesarean section" Inappropriate delegation to junior staff was identified - holding senior staff at fault." In Scotland's Lothian Regional Surgical Audit one surgeon was persuaded to cease operating due to his poor record. It was also shown that there had been a mortality rate of 80% for patients operated on by general surgeons for ruptured abdominal vessels. The Audit Commission in 1996 showed little change. " One in ten junior doctors carry out operations which are beyond their competence at least once a week. In some cases the junior doctors derive little or no training benefit".
81 yr old Mrs. Margaret Wigley who had a bowel operation was entered
in a clinical trial to test a new drug. She was not asked to participate
or told of the trial. She died when her bone marrow became irreversibly
depressed due to the drug administration. A leading surgeon, Mr. R Winston,
head of an infertility clinic carried out a study of 108 patients with
tubal damage. 79 had previous pelvic surgery which "in some cases was not
necessary". He also stated that "the most intractable problem remains IAGROGENIC
(disease caused by doctors). 65% have had previous surgery and this is
now a major cause of avoidable damage. Half of these women have such damage
that further surgery is pointless". On the 13th July 1995 surgeon Nicholas
Siddle, consultant at UCH, was found guilty by the GMC on 7 charges of
injuring women patients, 5 by 'keyhole' 2 by normal surgery- "inflicting
damage variously to bowels, ureters & bladders." In early July 1995
Surgeon John Studd , Council Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians
& Gynaecologists, paid 32,500 pounds to Mrs. J Bartley. He had removed
her ovaries without authorisation and increased the likelihood of an early
menopause. When questioned Mr. Studd asserted that endometriosis was present.
But examination of tissue showed that assertion to be incorrect. In July
1995 it was revealed that "At least 11 deaths have been caused by intravenous
syringe pumps which have overdosed patients with the drugs they had been
prescribed." Two doctors were convicted of manslaughter when a 16 yr old
was given a spinal injection of the wrong drug and died. Drs M. Prentice
and B. Sullman were 25 & 27. A motor cycle crash victim was left paraplegic
after a misdiagnosed spinal injury was taken as a mild head injury, the
doctor tried to "cover up" by altering medical notes. The claimant was
awarded 435,000 pounds. In Sept. 1995 a woman sued Salford Hope Hospital
when surgeons operated on her mouth when they should have been attending
to her knee. In Sept. 1996 a surgeon M. Muldoon, was reported to the GMC
following the deaths of 3 patients. One died when her womb was ruptured
during an operation - the legal case was settled out of court. Dr. H. Jacobs
, chairman of the Society of Clinical Psychiatrists , said an average of
5 consultants were suspended for malpractice each year at running cost
of 3 million pounds. Myodil is a Glaxo dye used in spinal x-rays. It has
caused crippling back pain in some 700 people who are claiming 150,000,000
pounds for permanent arachnoiditis. An annual report of the GMC said that
in the previous 10 yrs about 250 doctors were referred because of health
problems , including drink, drug addiction and mental illness that put
their patients at risk. Among the things the above facts show is that our
frail and elderly are being slaughtered to provide practice for trainee
surgeons. Does this accord with the Hippocratic Oath. Should we return
to the Code of Hammurabi - the ancient Egyptian law that ensured that a
physician who harmed his patient suffered a penalty - such as an amputated
hand or foot, and if the patient died from other than natural causes so
did the physician.
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