81
NINE ONE ONE
September 2008
Death of a Medical Rep
Sarosh Ahmed Khan, MD, MAAFP
BA working for a top pharmaceutical company had pain in the neck for two days. He
went to a barber shop for a haircut. It was around 7 pm. The Rep talked to the barber
about his pain, so after the haircut he gave him a thorough massage. The barber then
twisted his neck briskly. The Rep felt giddy and fell down on the floor. He was rushed to
the SMHS hospital where he was seen by an intern on 3rd July 2008 and thought he had
nothing serious and advised discharge on Stemetil. However his wife insisted for
admission and was reluctantly admitted indoor. None of the senior doctors was present
there to evaluate him. He suffered in agony till early morning. He flinged his arms and
legs around to seek attention as he could not speak properly. He developed difficulty in
breathing and still nothing was done. Finally he collapsed and arrested in the general
ward, unattended.
An ENT specialist who happened to know him was present around and he intubated the
Rep. Patient was shifted to the ICU and was investigated. Surprisingly a CT scan of head
was done to rule out stroke. Obviously it was normal. The neck was hanging right from
the time of admission. Nobody thought of securing it to prevent spinal cord damage and
death. After twelve hours of admission in the ICU on a ventilator, he was declared dead.
Nobody owned responsibility. The worst part is the debate that started as to who should
intubate a patient. The top anesthetist in SMHS hospital even passed an order that no
one other than his department doctors are entitled to intubate!
Conflict of Interest: None
Author Information:
Sarosh Ahmed Khan, MD, MAAFP
Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine
Modern Hospital, Rajbagh
Srinagar, Kashmir, India
Pin: 190008
Email: [email protected]
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Physicians Academy September 2008 vol 2 no 9