The hospital became my world. From the moment I first entered the operating room, I knew I have found my purpose in life. And then, shortly after I started working at the hospital, I was challenged the way I have never assumed I would ever be after performing an emergency surgery.
That night, a woman with no ID was admitted to the hospital. She was unconscious, pale, and had a hard time breathing.
The paramedics informed me of blunt force trauma to the abdomen and possible internal bleeding. The X-ray showed her spleen had ruptured and she needed an emergency surgery.
“ER won’t take her in,” the medics said.
I was well aware of the hospital rules – uninsured patients could receive basic care, but anything major, like an emergency surgery, needed approval from administration.
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At that moment, however, with the homeless woman’s life at stake, I couldn’t way for any approvals. She wouldn’t stand an hour more, so I made the call. “Prepare the OR,” I said, while the nurses and the medics exchanged glances.
The surgery lasted for three hours, but eventually, that unknown woman’s life was saved. I felt proud of doing the right thing, although I was well aware I could find myself in trouble.
A couple of hours later, my name was called over the intercom.
Dr. Langford, the chief doctor, along with the entire surgical teams waited for me at the conference room.
“Do you understand what you’ve done?” Dr. Langford asked me with fury in his eyes.
Surgeon gets fired after performing emergency surgery on a homeless woman
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But before I could speak up, I was told I was fired. Effective immediately.
The emergency surgery I performed cost the hospital thousands of dollars, money they could never get back, not from a homeless woman without insurance.
They told me operating on her wasn’t my decision to make. None of my colleagues said a word, but from the way they looked at me, I knew they judged me.
The days that followed were quiet. I missed the hospital, my work, my patients…
And then, I received a call in the middle of the night. It was Dr. Langford. His daughter was involved in a car accident and needed an emergency surgery, but no doctor was available. My formed chief begged me to go to the hospital and operate on his daughter.
I didn’t hesitate even a bit.
Thankfully, the surgery was a success.
When I got out of the operating room, Dr. Langford got on his knees. He thanked me for saving his daughter. With teary eyes, he said, “I should have never fired you. I should have… stand by you… I’m so sorry.”
I got my position as a surgeon a week later. What’s most, they changed the hospital policy to allow emergency surgeries for uninsured patients.
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