An 8 year old girl came in today with an infected toe. Somehow she had peeled off a nickel-sized flap from the underside of her big toe. Bugs buzzed all around it. The doctor wanted to clean it up and suture it. Although he used lidocaine, apparently it wasn't enough because the little girl was in agony calling out for help from sheer pain as he sunk his prolene needle deep in. I winced each time she screamed during the 30 minutes of the procedure. She had absolutely no voice and no tears left at the end. If I was queued to be seen, surely I would have abandoned the clinic visit after the first horrible 5 minutes. I was left wondering though if this happens in hospitals as well. Boy, are there huge disparities between the practice of health professionals of a third world country and that of a first world country.
An 8 year old girl came in today with an infected toe. Somehow she had peeled off a nickel-sized flap from the underside of her big toe. Bugs buzzed all around it. The doctor wanted to clean it up and suture it. Although he used lidocaine, apparently it wasn't enough because the little girl was in agony calling out for help from sheer pain as he sunk his prolene needle deep in. I winced each time she screamed during the 30 minutes of the procedure. She had absolutely no voice and no tears left at the end. If I was queued to be seen, surely I would have abandoned the clinic visit after the first horrible 5 minutes. I was left wondering though if this happens in hospitals as well. Boy, are there huge disparities between the practice of health professionals of a third world country and that of a first world country.
