Ryan Ginstrom wrote:

> "cc" <cpasuneadresse@spam.com> wrote in message
> news:bksgsg$1m1$1@bgsv5648.tk.mesh.ad.jp...
> >
> > "Eric Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote in message
> >
> > > It's pretty hard to deny a needle in the heart if it's still there.
> >
> > They didn't deny.
>
> No, but it took them two days to come clean. And that only because it is
> impossible to hide a needle in the heart.
>
> The doctor actually told me, during one of his lame excuses, that the
> patient does not need to be told everything if it does not harm them.

When I was on the JET Program, we lost the school's principal to what was
officially called an ulcer. He was out of it for months at a time over a period
of two years, had to be hospitalized, and required surgery. School business was
seriously affected. Then he died.

I've known people with ulcers, such as my grandfather back home or people in
Japan, who were successfully treated for their ulcers.

I really doubt that the principal had ulcers or died of ulcers. My grandfather
was nearly 80, collapsed in a Las Vegas casino during a vacation, and was found
to have had x pints (I forget) of blood in his stomach from a bleeding ulcer.
He could have died if their had not been someone to find him. The doctors
simply removed that part of the stomach, sewed him back up, and he was back
gambling, walking and traveling by air, in about three days.

I don't believe that 7th grade boy from my homeroom suddenly collapsed and
later died of a week old circulatory blockage in his large intestines, either,
very coincidentally collapsing shortly after a PE teacher kicked him in the
back while down. But if that is what the hospital and school claim, or what the
family believes, what can be done?

> For
> instance, he said, doctors sometimes forget gauze and other items in their
> patients, but never tell the patients because it does not do them any harm
> (and probably more importantly, doesn't show up on an X-ray).

I don't remember the source or if it was Japan or the US, but just last week
there was the news story of a patient dying with gauze in them, and it being
attributed to the gauze.

> Now, I am not a doctor so I will take his word that having gauze sewn up
> inside your chest will not harm you.

Perhaps he would not mind if it happened to him, or if gauze were left in his
relative's body, or better yet, volunteered.

> However, this shows a major problem
> with the attitudes of Japanese doctors in general.
>
> When I undergo surgery or any medical treatment, I am putting my body, and
> even my life, in my doctor's hands. But it is still my body, and my life. I
> have a right to know everything that happens to my body under my doctor's
> care, even if it is inconvenient for the doctor to tell me.

Note I am not suggesting an "absurd" trial or some sort of vendetta in this
case, unless there are some lasting effects. But those people need to realize
they need to change their ways, even if it costs them face or money.