Surgery Video Scandal in Youtube

A doctor gingerly pulls out the 6-inch long canister from the male patient's rectum... someone shouts, "Baby out!" amid loud cheers.

A 3 minute unauthorized video of a rectal surgery was uploaded in youtube. But was removed last Wednesday due to controversial issues regarding client's safety , privacy and confidentiality.

The patient who is a 39 year old florist of Basak-Pardo, Cebu City was horrified to find out that he was the one in the video circulating in the internet. He claimed he was drunk during the incident and realized only the following morning that a foreign object had been left in his rectum after having sexual contact with a stranger on New Year's Eve.

He went to the government-run VSMMC, the largest government hospital in Central Visayas, and underwent a rectal surgery on Jan. 3. He said he was sedated and did not know that the procedure was being recorded with a cellular phone camera.

Ehical, Legal and Moral Issues : Right to Privacy and Confidentiality

*The posting of the video in the Internet violated several provisions of the Patients Bill of Rights, including the right to be free from unwarranted publicity, right to confidentiality and to good quality health care and professional standards.

*Capturing still images or videos is an invasion of patient's rights to privacy unless of course, the patient has signed a consent that will allow it to happen.

Feature Story: Nursing to the Ends of the Earth

After completing her degree in Australia, Theresa returned home to practice her profession in Zamboanga’s needy areas, only to find that her Australian nursing degree was not recognized in the Philippines. “I was appalled! I had studied for four years in a first world country and yet what I learned was not good enough for the Philippines!

Read more.........

Philippine Nurses in The U.S. - Yesterday and Today

During the mid 20th century, thousands of nurses from the Philippines migrated to the United States in search of the American dream. Today a whole new generation of nurses is following the trail they blazed.
By Barbara Marquand

Rosario May Mayor arrived in New York City one cold morning in March 1971, a 22-year-old with “adventure in her veins,” yearning to experience the America portrayed in the television shows and movies she had watched while growing up in the Philippines. “The draw was a different setting, a different country with lots to offer—opportunities for education, travel and to be independent,” she recalls.
Rosario May Mayor, MSN, RNThe young immigrant nurse took full advantage of those opportunities. Over the years, she grew to become a top nursing professional and a national leader. Today Rosario May Mayor, MSN, RN, is a health systems specialist to the director and chief of staff of the Bronx VA Medical Center. She is also president-elect of the Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA).

Mayor is one of thousands of nurses from the Philippines who migrated to the United States in the 1960s and ‘70s and became an integral part of the health care system here. For decades the Philippines were the number one source of foreign-trained nurses in the U.S., and the trend has continued into the 21st century. In 2005, out of the 21,500 foreign-trained registered nurses who sat for the Certification Program Nurse Qualifying Exam, administered by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS), 55% were educated in the Philippines.

Today, as a severe nursing shortage grips the U.S. health care system, a whole new generation of Philippine nurses is coming to America to seek educational and career opportunities unavailable in their homeland. This newest wave of immigrant nurses faces a more complex health care system and stricter immigration rules than their counterparts of 30 or 40 years ago. But many of the challenges of adjusting to a new culture, as well as the drive to seek a higher standard of living, have hardly changed at all.

A Historical Perspective

The former colonial relationship between the United States and the Philippines laid the foundation for the mass migration of Philippine nurses to this country in the latter half of the 20th century, according to Catherine Ceniza Choy, associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History (Duke University Press, 2003). Before the Philippines became independent in 1946, the United States sponsored nurse training there, including the study of English, that was comparable to the work culture and training of nurses in America.

Exchange student Josephine Villanueva (second from left) at the University of Kansas in 1966.The first big wave of nurses from the Philippines came after 1948, as part of the Exchange Visitor Program. This program allowed people from other countries to come to the U.S. to work and study for two years to learn about American culture. Originally the program didn’t target the Philippines or nurses specifically but was created to combat Soviet propaganda during the Cold War by exposing foreigners to U.S. democracy, Choy explains. But because of the strong relationship between the two countries, a large percentage of the exchange visitors came from the Philippines, and many of them were nurses.

With the cycle of nursing shortages after World War II, the exchange program became a recruiting vehicle for U.S. hospitals. Many Philippine nurses hired through the program had positive experiences, but some nurses were exploited, Choy says. Because the exchange program was intended as a learning opportunity, nurses were paid stipends instead of full salaries. But in some instances, hospitals used the program simply to fill positions and gave the most unfavorable shifts and jobs to the exchange visitors.

Another big upsurge in migration from the Philippines occurred after 1965, when U.S. immigration laws—which had favored northern European countries—were changed, allowing more people from the Philippines and Asia to immigrate. The new law also allowed nurses to come here on tourist visas even without prearranged employment, says Reuben Seguritan, JD, a Filipino American attorney who is general counsel to the PNAA.
Meanwhile, entrepreneurs in the Philippines set up more nursing schools to meet the demand, and the number of nursing graduates soared. In the 1940s there were only 17 nursing schools in the Philippines, compared to 170 in 1990 and more than 300 today, says Choy.

Easing the Transition

American life and culture have undergone many changes since the days when Philippine nurses of Mayor’s generation migrated to the United States. But even though Motown, disco and “All in the Family” have given way to hip-hop, iPods and “The Simpsons,” many of the challenges that confront newly arrived nurses from the Philippines aren’t all that different today. One of the biggest difficulties is simply adjusting to a new environment and cultural landscape.

Exchange student Josephine Villanueva being greeted at the airport by KU nursing students.“The weather was so cold,” remembers Josephine Villanueva, MA, RNC, associate nurse executive and chief nurse at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System in California, who first came to the U.S. in the 1960s as part of a student nurse exchange program between the University of the Philippines and the University of Kansas. She arrived on a frigid day in January. “Our American roommates met us at the airport and said, ‘Let’s go to Dairy Queen and have ice cream!’”
Like many other new arrivals to the U.S., Villanueva had to adjust to the nuances of American culture. For example, she says, Americans are more independent than Filipinos, whose lives are more centered around family. The Filipino culture values sensitivity and gratitude, while Americans are more frank.

Language differences are another source of culture shock. Even though nurses trained in the Philippines speak English, they often have trouble deciphering the varied American accents and idiomatic expressions. Villanueva recalls looking out the window in alarm one day when a roommate said it was “raining cats and dogs.” She laughs when she remembers puzzling over a store clerk offering her a “rain check” coupon.
Exchange student Josephine Villanueva posing with KU roommate Debbie Hardman. Some newcomers from the Philippines working in U.S. health care facilities feel embarrassed to talk and ask questions, says Cheri Nievera, BSN, RN, a staff nurse in the cardiothoracic ICU at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Homesickness can be a problem, too, she adds. “Emotionally it’s very challenging being alone and away from their families.”

Many PNAA chapters offer mentoring programs and acculturation classes to help these new immigrant nurses make a smooth transition into American life. In the 1990s, the New York chapter collected turtlenecks, jackets and other warm clothing for nurses who had just arrived and were not prepared for the difference in climate. The chapter also sponsored a seminar called “Managing Effectively in a Different Environment,” a program Mayor would like to resurrect during her term as president of the national association.

In 2000 Nievera coordinated an initiative at Barnes-Jewish Hospital called “Bridge to the Pacific” to ease the transition of new cardiology nurses from the Philippines. The project came about after concerns were raised publicly about the new Filipino nurses’ educational background, clinical competency and communication skills. Nievera traveled to the Philippine Heart Center in Manila to meet with the nursing director, educators and staff and review standards of care, treatments and equipment. She learned that the nurses there met rigorous qualifications, administered the same medications and treatments as their U.S. counterparts and met comparable standards of care. The equipment was older, but the nurses treated the same conditions, she says.

Nievera reported back her findings to put the concerns at rest, and her insights were used to shape the orientation and cultural integration of the new nurses. She also worked with the St. Louis chapter of the PNAA to send needed equipment back to the Philippine Heart Center.
Something Old, Something New

Unfortunately, another aspect of Philippine nurse migration that has not changed much over the years is the potential for nurses to be exploited by unscrupulous employers and recruiters eager to profit from the nurses’ desire to achieve a better standard of living in America.

Filipinas Lowery, MA, RN, CNORFilipinas Lowery, MA, RN, CNOR, one of the founders of the PNAA, recalls how some recruiters in the 1980s collected fees from hospitals to bring in Philippine nurses, then charged the nurses fees and held their passports until the nurses paid up. At that time, Lowery was president of the New York PNAA chapter. She and others from the chapter worked with the New York State Nurses Association to put a stop to the unethical recruiting practices.

Today, immigrant nurses are still vulnerable, but it’s difficult to say how often exploitation occurs. Lowery, now a nurse consultant in New York, believes such practices are more likely to occur in remote areas of the U.S. where international recruiting efforts are relatively new. “We hear about it from time to time, but we don’t have the documentation [to prove it],” she says.
While some of the challenges faced by immigrant nurses from the Philippines are the same now as they were 20 or even 50 years ago, others are completely new. Today’s new arrivals encounter a much more complex work environment than that of a generation ago, including new high-tech equipment, paperless records, increased regulation, utilization review guidelines and new disease management concepts, to name just a few.
There are also more barriers to immigration, Seguritan says. These days, foreign-educated RNs applying for an occupational visa must obtain a visa screen certificate. This certificate is issued by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools, an international authority on credentials evaluation of health care professionals worldwide.

The visa screen is an immigration requirement, not a license to practice in the United States. It determines whether the nurse has the equivalent of a U.S. license and education, can speak and write English adequately and has adequate medical knowledge. To get the visa screen, nurses must pass either the CGFNS certificate exam or the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s NCLEX-RN® exam.
The problem is, only the CGFNS exam—a pre-qualifier for the NCLEX—is administered in the Philippines. Outside the U.S., the NCLEX, which is required for licensing, is administered only in Hong Kong, London and Seoul, South Korea. Philippine nursing leaders on both sides of the Pacific are lobbying for the NCLEX to be administered in the Philippines to make the immigration process easier.

Meanwhile, the Philippine nursing “brain drain”—the loss of the country’s best nurses to the U.S. and elsewhere—remains a concern. (See sidebar.) And now a growing number of physicians trained in the Philippines are switching to nursing to take advantage of the opportunities abroad. An estimated 4,000 Filipino physicians are currently enrolled in nurse training, according to Rey Rivera, MA, EdM, RN, CCRN, CNAA, BC, ANP, senior director of nursing at The Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York and education chair of the PNAA.

As president-elect of the PNAA, Mayor is in beginning talks with the World Health Organization about the need for initiatives that would encourage return migration. These issues were also addressed at a joint conference held in January by the PNAA and its counterpart in the Philippines, the Philippine Nurses Association. And nursing leaders are working on creating more structured visiting programs for U.S.-based nurses traveling to the Philippines.
Although the brain drain is a serious problem, Philippine nurses’ desire to leave their homeland in pursuit of the American dream is, then as now, understandable and even inevitable. There aren’t enough jobs at home for all the nurses who graduate from universities in the Philippines, Lowery points out.

Rivera, who taught psychiatric nursing in the Philippines, immigrated to the U.S. in 1986 to complete his master’s degree and ended up staying in America and working in critical care, says the issue is complex and goes beyond just the nursing profession. It’s natural for people in developing countries to want to immigrate to places where there are better opportunities. “It’s economics,” he emphasizes. “We need to improve the economic conditions in the Philippines.”


Barbara Marquand is a free-lance writer based in Reno, Nevada.

What We Do In Our Life

Art of Nursing

Nurses are old and young, tall and short, skinny and wide. We come from all walks of life. Some choose to enter the nursing profession for job security, others to help those around them. Throughout our schooling, we are taught and tested on the science of nursing. Our primary focus is the ability to recall important facts, to think ahead of the current situation, and to understand interactions between the patient and the interventions we provide.

Elusive, yet widely recognized, the art of nursing is our ability to connect with those around us. It is only when we begin direct patient care that we become aware of the art of nursing. The word art can be used to describe the results of a particular task as well as the knowledge and skill required to perform that task. Like other more fashionable art forms, nursing can be dramatic, inspirational, comedic, relaxing, comforting, joyful, and even sad. Nursing is also creative, existential, and has a particular rhythm. This intangible connection can create an environment of healing, one that allows patients to fully participate in their own recovery process.

My great-great-aunt Mae was a nurse at the turn of the 19th Century. Seven days a week, she hitched-up her horse and buggy to provide medical care and comfort in her rural community. When the local veterinarian was busy, she would also help care for local horses and cattle. Later, she became a psychiatric nurse, and even later a nurse educator. Nursing allowed her to travel, meet new people, and provide for independence that most women couldn’t attain in that time period. For her, nursing meant freedom and the ability to be her own person.

My great-aunt Marge became a nurse in the late 1930s. She initially worked in a small country hospital. When World War II erupted, she moved to a bigger city to care for veterans on a medical ward. As she provided these brave men with physical care, she also performed assessments and interventions to help relieve their psychological pain. She felt that her calling at that time was to heal their damaged spirits. Though her career spanned many decades and various nursing specialties, it is this work that brought her the most joy and great professional pride.

When I decided on a career in nursing, I knew none of this. I had worked in healthcare settings since I was 15 years old, and always knew I wanted to work in a patient care environment. I readily learned the tasks I needed to perform whatever job I was assigned. But more than that, I could easily connect with my patients on a level deeper than I expected. Patients would open up to me. Even at the tender age of 16, I had elderly patients share their fears of death and dying with me – seeking comfort.

Nurses teach, support, communicate, medicate, and coordinate patient-care events. Nurses are patient advocates who provide comfort and hope to our patients and their families. The art of nursing is in play when we just ‘know’ what to do to meet a patient’s emotional needs: when to hold a patient’s hand, stroke their brow, crack a joke or even just sit and listen. Most of this is being accomplished simultaneously during each patient interaction.

The science of nursing allows us to care for our patient’s bodies; but it’s the art of nursing that calls me to the profession and allows each nurse to touch souls.

Nurses on Duty During Christmas Day

I find this story very interesting for a nurse like me... this really inspired me... hope you like it as well...

It was an unusually quiet day in the emergency room on December 25th. Quiet, that is, except for the nurses who were standing around the nurses' station grumbling about having to work Christmas Day.

I was triage nurse that day and had just been out to the waiting room to clean up. Since there were no patients waiting to be seen at the time, I came back to the nurses' station for a cup of hot cider from the crockpot someone had brought in for Christmas. Just then an admitting clerk came back and told me I had five patients waiting to be evaluated.

I whined, “Five, how did I get five? I was just out there and no one was in the waiting room.”
“Well, there are five signed in.”

So I went straight out and called the first name. Five bodies showed up at my triage desk, a pale petite woman and four small children in somewhat rumpled clothing.

“Are you all sick?” I asked suspiciously.

“Yes,” she said weakly, and lowered her head.

“Okay,” I replied, unconvinced, “who's first?” One by one they sat down, and I asked the usual preliminary questions. When it came to descriptions of their presenting problems, things got a little vague. Two of the children had headaches, but the headaches weren't accompanied by the normal body language of holding the head or trying to keep it still or squinting or grimacing. Two children had earaches, but only one could tell me which ear was affected. The mother complained of a cough, but seemed to work to produce it.

Something was wrong with the picture. Our hospital policy, however, was not to turn away any patient, so we would see them.

When I explained to the mother that it might be a little while before a doctor saw her because, even though the waiting room was empty, ambulances had brought in several, more critical patients, in the back, she responded, “Take your time, it's warm in here.” She turned and, with a smile, guided her brood into the waiting room.

On a hunch (call it nursing judgment), I checked the chart after the admitting clerk had finished registering the family. No address -- they were homeless. The waiting room was warm.
I looked out at the family huddled by the Christmas tree. The littlest one was pointing at the television and exclaiming something to her mother. The oldest one was looking at her reflection in an ornament on the Christmas tree.

I went back to the nurses' station and mentioned we had a homeless family in the waiting room -- a mother and four children between four and 10 years of age. The nurses, grumbling about working Christmas, turned to compassion for a family just trying to get warm on Christmas. The team went into action, much as we do when there's a medical emergency. But this one was a Christmas emergency.

We were all offered a free meal in the hospital cafeteria on Christmas Day, so we claimed that meal and prepared a banquet for our Christmas guests.

We needed presents. We put together oranges and apples in a basket one of our vendors had brought the department for Christmas. We made little goodie bags of stickers we borrowed from the X-ray department, candy that one of the doctors had brought the nurses, crayons the hospital had from a recent coloring contest, nurse bear buttons the hospital had given the nurses at annual training day, and little fuzzy bears that nurses clipped onto their stethoscopes. We also found a mug, a package of powdered cocoa, and a few other odds and ends. We pulled ribbon and wrapping paper and bells off the department's decorations that we had all contributed to. As seriously as we met physical needs of the patients that came to us that day, our team worked to meet the needs, and exceed the expectations, of a family who just wanted to be warm on Christmas Day.

We took turns joining the Christmas party in the waiting room. Each nurse took his or her lunch break with the family, choosing to spend their “off duty” time with these people whose laughter and delightful chatter became quite contagious.

When it was my turn, I sat with them at the little banquet table we had created in the waiting room. We talked for a while about dreams. The four children were telling me about what they would like to be when they grow up. The six-year-old started the conversation. “I want to be a nurse and help people,” she declared.

After the four children had shared their dreams, I looked at the Mom. She smiled and said, “I just want my family to be safe, warm and content -- just like they are right now.”

The “party” lasted most of the shift, before we were able to locate a shelter that would take the family in on Christmas Day. The mother had asked that their charts be pulled, so these patients were not seen that day in the emergency department. But they were treated.

As they walked to the door to leave, the four-year-old came running back, gave me a hug and whispered, “Thanks for being our angels today.”

As she ran back to join her family, they all waved one more time before the door closed. I turned around slowly to get back to work, a little embarrassed for the tears in my eyes. There stood a group of my coworkers, one with a box of tissues, which she passed around to each nurse who worked a Christmas Day she will never forget.

More on: ABNF JOURNAL

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE PART 1

Hello Friends,

I want to share this with you... a story about one of my batchmate in nursing school. I just receive this from my e-mail few months ago. Be aware that this might happen to you...

CYRELLE J. ESLAVA, a 26 yr. old senior nurse at Catherization Laboratory of MEDICAL CITY HOSPITAL (Ortigas Ave. Pasig City Manila, Philippines) was diagnosed of having Pituitary Adenoma (a benign slow growing tumor of the Pituitary Gland). Her doctor a neuro-surgeon of the same hospital DR. LOUIE C. RACELIS recommended that a Transsphenoidal Surgery should be done to remove the tumor or else she would suffer SUDDEN BLINDNESS! With that kind of diagnosis, any patient would rush to the idea of surgery.

And so CYRELLE agreed to have an operation for her to prevent getting blind. Since DR. RACELIS is from MEDICAL CITY (the same hospital that she works for) , she trusted him and as far as CYRELLE knows he is one of the best neuro -surgeon of the said Hospital. DR. RACELIS even assured CYERELLE and her Mother that it is an easy operation; that it will only take 45 minutes; that he does the same operation 3X a week; that CYRELLE is in her optimum age; very young and will recover fast and that in 4-5 days she will be discharged..

But that did not happen...

CYRELLE was admitted last July 22, 2007 and was operated July 24, 2007. The operation lasted 4 hours . The immeditae family members were NOT informed what was going on the operation. And why a 45 minute surgery turned into a 4 hour operation? This was left un-answered. An hour after the surgery, CYRELLE decreased her level of CONCIOUSNESS. Thus, an emergency CT SCAN was done. That's when DR. RACELIS appeared before CYRELLE's parents and told them that a PROFUSE BLEEDING had occurred during the surgery and a BLOOD TRANSFUSION was given to her.

Clearly, SOMETHING WENT WRONG! DR. RACELIS has been hiding the fact from the start. He even told CYE's parents that everything is normal and that she will recover soon.

What really transpired during the operation? Is it something that only the operating team of DR. RACELIS including the anesthesiologist and nurses knew?

CYRELLE is BRAIN DEAD NOW!

The NEURO SURGEON, RACELIS has no more "compassion". He even suggested to pull out the respirator on CYRELLE and offered that an autopsy be done. 12 hours after the surgery CYRELLE went into coma. WHY? This questions where all left unanswered.

One week after the operation there was NO spontaneous breathing, NO amount of pain can stimulate CYRELLE and her HEART still pumps only because she is young. BUT who knows when will it get tired? Only GOD knows when. Only a MIRACLE will save her...

As to DR. RACELIS isn't it your Job to save a patient's life? Isn't it that you convinced CYRELLE to undergo surgery to prevent her form getting blind? Isn't it that CYRELLE entrusted you her LIFE? WHY did you offer her family to JUST pull the plug? YOU wanted to deny your responsibilities? You wanted the easy way out? To escape the truth and to end the burden of what you did? Maybe, just maybe your conscience is bothering you, that is if you still have one. Was CYRELLE the first one? Or is she only one of those who suffered the same fate?

YOU people who knows the truth, those of you who were present at the time of the surgery, COME OUT IN THE OPEN. GOD will bless you in may ways and GOD also knows what you've been hiding! CYRELLE's FAMILY needs your prayers. Please, let us support them in this very difficult time of their lives. I ask you to please forward this Email to your Friends and Relatives until it reaches DR. RACELIS.

JUSTICE FOR CYRELLE...Justice for all the patients who sufferred in the mortal hands of an OVER-CONFIDENT surgeons like DR. LOUIE C. RACELIS.


Anonymous

MEDICAL MALPRATICE PART 2

REPLY FROM DR. RACELIS...


To All:

We are aware of the email that has circulated against Dr. Racelis. Unfortunate as it may be that the email is from an anonymous writer, Dr. Racelis nonetheless has decided to answer it. Attached here with is his reply.

Sincerely yours,
Irma P. Gueco,MD
Head, Patient Partnership Division
The Medical City

DR. RACELIS’ REPLY:

An unsigned email has been circulating which raises various critical points against me. Although unfortunate that the email is not authored, I will still answer the allegations.

Let me start by saying that Cyrelle is someone I know and care for as we have worked together in the hospital. What began as an informal, in-corridor consultation about what was bothering her, eventually resulted in a formal consultation when she visited myclinic. Upon determining what was causing her condition, I recommended surgery. I told Cye however that the decision would be entirely hers. It was notan emergency case that required immediate intervention.

Being a colleague, I felt truly honored and proud tha tshe asked me to be her doctor, knowing she could choose from so many other neurosurgeons. While obtaining informed consent from Cye and her family, I discussed the major risks of surgery including hemorrhage, infection and a leaking of fluids or water from the brain. I further explained that some patients can suddenly lose their vision. In reference to the email that is currently circulating, I would like to state that portions of my previous conversations with Cye and her family weretaken out of context, namely:

When asked how long this type of surgery would take, Ianswered: “The fastest I have ever done was around 45 minutes but the usual is about an hour and a half totwo hours.” Clearly, the writer of the email latchedon to the 45 minutes.

I was also asked how many surgeries I do. To my mind,the question was asked to establish competence and trust in my work. I replied, “Around two to three aweek.” This means I perform a total of two to three surgeries a week—not just this particular type ofsurgery in Cye’s case, but all types of surgery. My answer however was interpreted by the unidentified email writer as three surgeries (specific to the typeof surgery Cye would undergo) per week. This is statistically improbable in my practice because it means performing that particular type of surgery 150 times in a span of one year.

I do not deny saying that Cye, being very young, is at her optimum age for surgery, and will probably undergo quick recovery and discharge.

The anonymous email writer also questioned the time it took for me to inform the family about what transpired during surgery. This is my reply:

In the course of surgery, bleeding occurred. I followed standard procedure by stopping the bleeding. My priority at that moment was exactly that—to stop the bleeding. This took some time. After accomplishing this, I decided that the most prudent course of action would be to terminate the operation. Immediately after surgery, and while Cye was still in the operating room, I informed Cye’s family about what happened. I told them that I pre-terminated the procedure because of brisk bleeding that was encountered during theoperation. As her doctor, I am deeply saddened that due to the complications of surgery, Cye is now comatose. Again, I will state that the conversation I had with the family regarding what should be done was taken out of context by the unnamed author as explained below:

Given Cye’s condition, when asked by the family what Iwould do, I said I could best answer that by referringto certain experiences I myself had to struggle with.

When my sister, due to complications from child birth became brain-dead, it was my burden as the doctor, to explain to the rest of my family that the best option was to remove my sister from the respirator. Althoug hit was an extremely heart-breaking decision to make, I knew it was my duty to tell my family that by doing so, we would be relieving her from any more suffering.

I also referred to my mother who had suffered from cancer. When she became brain-dead, difficult and painful as it was for me, I explained to my family that the best course of action was to end her pain and remove her from the respirator. Although I shared these personal experiences with Cye’s family, I informed them that the decision was theirs to make, not mine.

Admittedly, because Cye is not just an ordinary patient being someone I know personally and care for, I went through extra lengths in ensuring her safety by obtaining a cardiopulmonary clearance, which is not usually necessary for someone her age. Needless to say, all surgeons, and I in particular, always feel acertain amount of stress, anxiety and anguish knowing we are but mere mortals, that we cannot control everything that occurs in the operating room. I followed all pre-operative and operative procedures,took all the necessary precautions, and yet something beyond my control transpired in the course of surgery, which has so unfortunately led to Cye’s present condition.

Because this is the profession we chose to embrace, we bear the burden of what it means to be a physician. There is risk not only to the patient but also to the doctor, precisely because we doctors know our patients carry that risk.

While the writer chooses to hide behind an anonymous unsigned email, taking no accountability for the statements so loosely given, I say with pride and dignity that I am Louie C. Racelis, neurosurgeon— and I answer your allegations head on, confident that I have done everything I could to save Cye. I have reviewed what transpired in that operating room over and overand while I would definitely wish for a different outcome, that Cye’s tumor would not have bled, that it would have been a successful surgery, I am also certain that even if I could turn back time, and start over, I would not do anything different. Difficult and painful as it may be, I will continueon, despite the risks, the anguish, and the condemnation, and in so doing will continue to embrace my profession.

Louie C. Racelis, MD

Reply With Quote



It's up to you guys to whom will you believe with... but my advise is... know the pros and cons before you undergo on a surgery. TAKE EXTRA CARE !!!


Cye died after a month hooked to ventilator... PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SOUL OF CYRELLE ESLAVA !

Read more: http://tsikot.yehey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41271&page=2