Pendoctor

Death is an inevitable natural phenomenon. Like birth, people die every day. Some circumstances of these deaths raise questions suggestive of probable homicide, missed diagnosis by the healthcare workers, and poor attention of the patient or their caregivers to diseases. Emotional assessments of illnesses have no place in medical practice. Once there is no objective proof of the likely cause(s) of someone’s death, autopsy or postmortem is the other option to ascertain why the person died. Autopsy is still an unpopular discussion in the general population of Nigeria due to ethno-religious and financial reasons. This piece tries to shed light on the importance of autopsy. All the cases cited below to address the relevant points are fictional. Should any appear similar to cases you know, it is a mere coincidence. 1. Mr A, a 52-year-old artisan, an unknown person in hospital B, was rushed there when he began to vomit blood copiously. Within twenty minutes of getting to the hospital, he ha...

Recently, we have some trending articles and videos of medical personnel who harvest organs of unsuspecting patients during surgery for other purposes. Most of the general public assume the personnel are doctors. The Nigerian Medical Association in the respective states ought to have started investigating them to know if they are doctors, and if they truly carried out the malpractice.  We should be reminded that the news may be false, hence, no need for panic yet.  If the news is correct, the personnel are most likely quacks (persons who practise what they have not been licensed to do) or medical doctors with criminal minds. It is difficult to identify medical doctors with criminal minds; it is, however, relatively easier to know quacks. For the sake of the general public, these three tips are helpful to identify quacks. The knowledge will safeguard your health. 1. All licensed health practitioners (nurses and doctors) display their licences in the reception or waiting area. ...