Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Religion Trumps Medicine

Want to bet that if this guy has just been some drunken yahoo interrupting a hospital operation that security and maybe even the police would have been called to restrain and remove him?

A Belgian anesthetist has filed a complaint against a Muslim who blocked him from entering the operating theatre where his wife was to undergo emergency surgery.

In Belgium, it seems, religion transcends a Muslim woman's right to the same quality medical care as everyone else- since when did European hospitals allow men to tell doctors who could and couldn't treat their wives?

Doctor Philippe Becx from Bree, Belgium, was called to the hospital in the middle of the night because a woman had to undergo an emergency caesarean section.

However, her husband blocked the door and demanded a female anesthetist. The latter was unavailable.

After a two-hour discussion proved fruitless, an imam was summoned. The imam permitted the doctor to apply an epidural injection, but only if the woman was fully covered with only a small area of skin showing.

Ah, I see, they consulted with noted medical expert, the local imam- I wonder if they permit hospital chaplains to advise them on how to perform medical procedures too?

During the surgery itself, performed by a female gynecologist, the anesthetist was to remain in the hallway. Through a door that was slightly ajar, he shouted instructions to a nurse who was monitoring the anesthesia.

According the hospital’s directors, the doctor acted with ‘admirable understanding.’ He would have been in his right to have the man removed by police.

And he damn well should have- I'm no medical expert but do hospitals usually allow nurses to take the place of anaesthetists? I was under the impression that that was something of a medical specialisation requiring certain training and qualifications. But in a case where they allowed a man to block the operating room, asked an imam's permission to administer pain relief and then obeyed an injunction to stay out of the operating theatre itself, it's hardly surprising. Interesting that the woman's wishes during this difficult time were apparently not taken into account.

No comments: