Crow mouth....
After years of
practice, most of the physician would have some instinct/experience guessing diagnosis with
only a small piece of history of findings. Most of the time you would be happy
that you have gotten the correct diagnosis….
K was sitting with
me at the desk and a 10 years old girl had sent to his side by the local rescue
service. The complaint was right thigh deformity after fall during a basket
ball game.
While the patient
being sent for imaging, I had chatted with K and told him that most probably it would be cancer(osteosarcoma most probably) as the impact during a basket ball
game is not strong enough to break a 10 years child’s femur.
Well, I regretted what I had said instantly and loaded the film once it showed
up at the imaging list… Crow mouth I had…
K notified the
orthopedic surgeon and after reviewing the image, the surgeon had told K to refer
the patient as she would need to be managed by a multidiscipline team in a
tertiary medical facility.
No one wanted to break
the bad news, K had to tell the mother that the fracture is complicated and
need to be managed by orthopedic surgeon who is specialized in that field.
I had regretted
sharing my spot diagnosis….10 years old girl with a total hip amputation and a
long course of chemotherapy waiting for her; even with such aggressive treatment
she is still facing a 30% 5 years survival rate….
The incident had haunted me and I had paid my price during the level 3 IDPA competition 2 days later....
Source:
Crow mouth....
