Caden has been admitted to the hospital for the third time in as many months. This time for dehydration. All but one person who has been in our home in the past four days has come down with some form of a nasty stomach bug that lasted 12-24 hours. JJ, Riley and I had nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. Nana, Grandma, and Mommy had some combination of the same since Friday. Caden’s symptoms came late week and have never left. His diarrhea came after JJ’s and he experienced extreme discomfort in his stomach on Saturday much like my own. No one in the family including Caden showed any signs of fever more than a very short low grade. Caden was not given anything abnormal via g-tube.
So what’s up with the post title you ask? Lawyer medicine, what is that? It is what I suspect when a doctor appears to be ordering at least a half dozen tests for what seems to be no reason whatsoever while ignoring even mentioning the obvious stated above.  I am all about covering the bases, but lets not go as far as covering ever base on every ball field in the state of Sotuh Carolina. Let’s at least stay in the same county. I understand that there is a slim chance that this could be salmonella, E coli, or Mad Cow..BUT the obvious is staring them straight in the face and quite frankly some of the tests that were rattled off probably have a 1/1,000,000 chance of being the cause of the diarrhea. As gently as I could say it I encouraged the doctor not to make this case a science experiment. I told her that our insurance had been billed over $40,000 for the previous 12 nights on this ward and we got little more than some oxygen, IV antibiotic, and a bunch of tests ending in negative results. Some of the tests caused room confinement (contact precautions).
So lawyer medicine is when doctors order tests that they have no scientific or statistical justification. I stipulate that they must be running the tests to protect them from being sued in the unlikely even a patient gets worse or dies because they did not run every test for every illness that even mentioned any one of the symptoms the patient is experiencing.
In the end I will admit that I am thankful for the science of medicine. It is not exact science and unfortunately the scientists (doctors) as they are called are as human as I am even though some have a hard time admitting it.
On a lighter and much more upbeat note I want to share a rare and uplifting experience I had with a doctor last week. I had a visit with my GI doctor as a followup to a swallowing problem I had in September while in Washington, D.C. What started as a relaxing dinner with a co-worker landed me in the George Washington University Medical Center Emergency Department.  The short of the story is that I got my very first bit of steak stuck in my esophagus and was not able to even swallow a drink of water to wash it down. I have dealt with this condition called Schatzki’s Ring many times over the past 20 years. I wrote at length on this in a post earlier this year titled “When You Can’t Swallow“. Anyway…I digress. For me an episode like the one in DC ultimately leads to a upper GI scope (EGD) with dilation. This time was no different and I was actually scheduled to have the procedure done later today here at MUSC.  An EGD for me requires monitored anesthesia due to my extremely strong gag reflex. Since I needed to be put under for the procedure I had to get a consult with anesthesia so they could get my recent medical history and make plans for giving me the correct amounts of the best drug. Before sending me off to teh anesthesiologist he GI doc said that they would probably just give me the same stuff Michael Jackson was given. You can imagine how comforting of a response that invoked down in my gut. I went on over to anesthesiology and the nurse came in and ask some questions. Then the doctor (anesthesiologist) came in. I don’t recall ever seeing this particular doctor before in my life which is not uncommon at MUSC. There are over 10,000 employees at this hospital. What made this doctor stand out was that when we were done with the medical business he asked, “Can I pray for you?” I immediately answered with an affirmative, I think I said, “Sure!” As I listened to him pray I could tell that this man had done this before and was well acquainted with the Word of God. His words were powerful, words of life. When he was done I thanked him and told him that I could not even explain to him how much this meant to me. A doctor willing to step out and openly display their faith is a rare and welcome experience in my opinion. I hope to encounter more doctors of faith in the future.
Drum Roll
And for those who have not heard…the picture below is what you think it is. Baby Ozz 0.4 will breathe her first breath in early June of 2010. The she reference is just a place holder…Sherry has agreed (so far) to let me be surprised with the gender at the birth. I have promised to have a painting crew on standby armed with pink and purple colors if Baby Ozz 0.4 is a girl.
