Doctors defend K.H.M.H.
Last month two babies died at the Karl Heusner Memorial within twenty-four hours of each other and the mothers went to the media. Both blame the hospital for the loss of their babies and the incidents have sparked the suspension of a doctor and a full investigation of the deaths. While the government has made it clear the hospital must also conduct a full review of its management procedures, the adverse publicity has cast a shadow over the entire facility and its staff. This week News Five was invited back to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital for a behind-the-scenes look at the positive things going on at the hospital and some of the cases that don’t make the headlines.
Dr. Andre Sosa, Orthopedic Surgeon, K.H.M.H.
“We are striving to improve the quality and range of treatment available. There are very strict limitations in which we have to work.”
Since the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital was opened in 1995, the institution, which is the only hospital in Belize to provide twenty-four hour emergency service, has had more than its share of criticism. Despite this, the current team of doctors, nurses and hospital staff are more determined than ever to provide the very best care they can to patients. They all want the public to know far more people have good experiences than bad ones at the K.H.M.H.
Dr. Victor Rosado, Pediatric Specialist
“Definitely there will be cases that will be questioned as to how they were managed. I won’t get into any of the recent cases; those cases are under investigation to the general public out here. I would like to say for those cases that were publicized recently there are ten, fifteen more cases that were successful and did not get any publicity at all.”
One such case involves seventy-five year old Melba Bodden. For the past eight years, Bodden has had a tumor growing in her thyroid gland. Today she is recovering after undergoing surgery at K.H.M.H. to remove the mass.
Dr. William Coleman, Surgeon, K.H.M.H.
“She had a problem with swallowing, difficult to swallow, episodes of choking and the tumor was already very large.”
Melba Bodden, Patient, K.H.M.H.
“Nothing I could have done, anything first until after I got the operation then I started to feel much better. I eat better; I sleep better.”
Dr. Francis Smith, Medical Chief of Staff, K.H.M.H.
“Fundamentally at the Karl Heusner we have basically a new team of doctors. You have probably about twenty new physicians, specialists and medical officers and I should say I am quite satisfied with their performance. They are very well qualified, hardworking, come in innovative. They go beyond the call of duty.”
Recently the K.H.M.H. made history with the first total hip-replacement operation performed on a thirty-eight year old female patient.
Dr. Andre Sosa, Orthopedic Surgeon
“When she consulted us, she was complaining of intense pain in the left hip which was really distorting her family life. She was in constant pain, found it very difficult to walk around, sit down.
Because of the loss of function in the hip we found it necessary to advise the placement of a total hip and there was a total hip replacement. We had to put in a new ball and socket joint which consists of a metallic stem and a high density polymer plastic cup.”
Road traffic accident victims who were facing the risk of paralysis have also been helped.
Patient, K.H.M.H.
“Couldn’t get up; it was a problem just to lie down and now with Mr. Smith’s help and the rest of his surgeons, there are a lot of things possible.”
This young man, who did not wish to appear on camera, fractured his lower back when he was thrown from the back of a pickup in a head-on collision.
Dr. Francis Smith
“So the surgery involves, as you see here, putting in what we call “L” shaped rods and attaching wires. So we attach the backbones to these rods and we stabilized it and then we take some bones from the lower crest and put it along the spine. The end result is that this spine should get very solid, stable and he should be able to move around without any harm to himself.”
The doctors say, not only are lives being saved at the K.H.M.H. on a daily basis, so is the money Belizeans once had to spend at hospitals abroad.
Dr. William Coleman
“At Karl Heusner the majority of the surgeries that we are doing are those that are done abroad and we have people that are qualified to do them here safely and it’s being offered to everyone.”
Q: “You do not believe the confidence has been lost?”
Dr. Francis Smith
“I don’t think so and this is reflected with the patients who keep coming here. We have poor people and one might argue that they are poor people and they have nowhere else to go. But in fact we have affluent, middle class and poor people coming to the Karl Heusner.”
In January, K.H.M.H. launched its Continuous Medical Education Program where the doctors, nurses and private physicians are kept abreast of the latest treatments and medical technologies in order to constantly improve the service patients receive. Some of the lectures are given by doctors sent by OMNI MED International in the United States. Dr. Victor Rosado is the Coordinator of C.M.E.
Dr. Victor Rosado
“These doctors come on average of every two months or every three months. Host families host them here in Belize through
assistance with Rotary Belize.”
Q: “But since it is a continuous program do we also have local doctors who hold lecturers as well?”
Dr. Victor Rosado
“Definitely, it is not limited to OMNI MED International. It is a Karl Heusner Program. We have had local physicians giving lectures here in the hospital. We have invited physicians outside of Karl Heusner as well, basically to try and do internal review and discuss cases that have been managed here at Karl Heusner.”
Dr. Francis Smith
“I would be the last to deny that we don’t have quite a lot of difficulties and that patients do fall through the cracks here at Karl Heusner. I think that is so all over the world and we do appreciate criticisms. I think that is the only way we will improve. But on the other hand I would like to emphasize that we do far more good than harm and we really would not like the public to become alarmed. We believe that we are doing a lot of good here at the Karl Heusner and there is reason, enough reason for the public to have complete confidence in the team of doctors that are here.”
