Did the team of medical staff who opened the brain of the wrong patient follow due procedure before conducting the surgery?
That is the question that every Kenyan wants to be answered after the fateful
procedure on
February 19.
On Friday, doctors blamed nurses for the act accusing them of wrongfully labelling the patient.
Preoperative procedure
According to Peterson
Wachira from the Clinical officers union, when
a patient is admitted to a hospital, his/her details are taken at the time of admission.
A file is opened and the patient is given a tag bearing his name and ID number.
Before going for surgery, he/she will first be reviewed by the nurse and clinicians before meeting a qualified doctor.
If it is established that the patient needs to undergo surgery the patient will meet a qualified doctor who
will recommend the surgery.
However before the patient is operated on, the surgeon and anaesthetist must also review the patient and brief him/her about the surgical procedure that will be done.
But in this case, did the neurosurgeon actually meet the patient before the operation or did he meet him for the first time when he was wheeled in the theatre on March 19?
The KNH neurosurgeon registrar has been backed up by his colleagues who argue that he ought not to have been suspended.
But even as the public tries to find questions to the patients whose rights were violated, who is to
blame for this malpractice? Is it the neurosurgeon, the nurses or the entire team?
Also read;