My comments “Those record-breaking heart surgeries.” Uninformed Reporters and Ignorant Reporting
March 12, 2008
As I read this article in the Guyana chronicle, I noticed the lack of pertinent information that is due to uninformed reporters who are bent on producing incomplete pictures when subjects such as health and in particular heart surgeries get published in the paper. As a matter of fact, these reporters do not know the correct questions to ask and the important questions that need to be answered when heart surgeries are discussed. This is because these reporters exercise general reporting with no experience in the field, plain and simple as that.
Now the reason why I am upset at this situation is because when citizens who read the newspaper see the catchy title, they immediately get the feeling that all is well and Guyana does have the capacity to perform heart related surgeries that is the end all to all their heart related concerns should the problem arise. And these physicians do not let patients know of the absolute risks involved because the liability to life is minimal on their behalf.
Now, I must say post heart surgery, first and second years down the road is the most critical part of the rehabilitation process. Weather it vavular replacement, coronary angioplasty, or stenting, infections need to be watch closely because the do occur in often in the elderly population. Moreover, I wonder if these physicians are treating optimally according the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines. If left ventricular hypertrophy is diagnosed and is often case in Congestive Heart Failure, then set protocol needs to be followed if the patient is African because under the guidlines treatment protocol is different because of the nature of the disease. For patients that had a myocardial infraction (heart attack), are there proper procedures in place to catherize that patient or are surgeries done on an elective bases? Moreover, what is the survival rate for post surgery?
In fact, are patients getting the proper antiplatlet therapy post surgery like clopridogril or beta-blockers like Toprol or Coreg? What about Angiotensin Receptor Blockers or Angiotensin Converting Enzymes like Irbesarten or Accupril? In fact for black patients, Isosorbide Dintrate and Hydralazine are indicted to treat New York Heart Association stages one through four heart failure patient in adjunct to standard therapy. If the patient is diabetic, post care is absolutely critical since most patients die from the complication of Diabetes one of which being hyperlipidemia. Now another thing to be concerned with this is a thrombus formation that eventfully might becomes an embolus that travels until it lodges in the pulmonary artery causing a condition known as Pulmonary Embolism. Usually a embolus can occur when plaque formation within the arterial wall breaks away due to unstable accumulation of lipids within in the walls of the artery. For some one with sinoatrial problems, defibrillators and pacing systems that are placed in the atrium and ventricle needs to be monitored and regulated often.
The reason I mentioned the above is not to scare anyone but to let people know that there is a lot to be concerned with when heart surgery is the topic of discussion. Moreover, it does not mean that if your neighbor went to Dr X and had a successful procedure, you will also experience the same. Each patient poses varying risks that are sometimes undetectable with the naked eye. These risks lie deep within the arterial walls and proper tests that can get a three dimensional picture of the problem artery should always be part of the standard protocol when opting to enter the hearts’ vasculature. Moreover, heart disease manifests it self as peripheral vascular disease that affect the lower extremities or cerebrovascular disease that affects the brain. All these areas of the body must be taken into consideration when such a subject is discussed.
Reporters should be cautious when reporting on such issues since they are published nationwide and readers who are not educated on the subject will more than likely misinterprets the message. Hence, I urge these ignorant reporters to get educated in the subject they report on and ask the right question to inform the public that they chose to serve.
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Andrew
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3 Responses to “My comments “Those record-breaking heart surgeries.” Uninformed Reporters and Ignorant Reporting”
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The Guyana Chronicle is not a medical journal, and post-surgery heart care was not the scope of the article you mentioned. It simply reported on how far Guyana has come in health care and the 2008 budget allocation to support improvements in Guyana’s health care system.
I agree with what you are saying, but that was not the scope of the article.
well done, guy
understandable! if kept in context..but when the majority of readers are the general public with no experience in the field of cardiology or cardiovascular diseases …you can understand the issue that arises…it’s about content that is population specific…keep that in mind… my friend this is exactly how rumors and propagandistic info spreads.. Facts are necessary when such a subject is discussed