ILL-EQUIPPED HOSPITAL BLAMED FOR TEEN’S AGONISING DEATH

>> The tragic case of a teenage boy who died from a rare stomach condition due to inadequate hospital care has highlighted severe problems with the health system, the boy’s distraught mother says.

A Facebook post giving details of the case that went viral said the boy went to a hospital in Phetchaburi province with severe stomach pains and waited for a long time before a doctor attended to him.

The doctor and medical team confirmed yesterday they tried their best to treat the patient mentioned in the post. But he came in with a rare ailment — they said only five in a million suffer from the condition — and that it was too late to help him with the limited equipment the hospital has.

The boy was Teetat “New” Gatethong, 15. His body was brought to Wat Cha-am Kiri in Cha-am, Phetchaburi, for the religious ceremony. New’s mother, Supat Gatethong, 46, said on the night of July 20 he complained of a stomach pain. Ms Supat took him to a hospital in Cha-am.

The doctor arranged for an X-ray before ordering him to rest for the night at the hospital. However, New was still ill in the morning. The doctor transferred New to another hospital on the morning of July 21. He was not attended to until 1.30pm when his pain was so severe he had trouble sitting in a wheelchair.

“I went to ask the nurse to take him in but she told me to wait,” Ms Supat said. “After that he was in shock and passed out.

“Then the doctor and medical team took him in. They helped him and he became conscious while the medical team ran the check on him and found that the artery in his stomach had burst. Later on, he passed away.”

Yesterday Prajak Wattanakul, the public health doctor of Phetchaburi province, together with Satid Rattanasrithong, the director of the hospital involved with New’s case, called the media in for clarification of the incident.

Dr Satid confirmed the patient was transferred from another hospital and was brought in to be examined at 2.02pm. The doctor said the boy was X-rayed at 2.30 pm. While the doctor was waiting for the result, New passed out. The doctor drew some blood then administered CPR. At 2.45pm, he was sent to the emergency room with low blood pressure. The doctor gave him a saline solution before sending him to have a CT scan.

The doctor presumed he had an aneurysm in his chest which was beyond the ability of the hospital to treat properly. At the time doctors wanted to transfer him to a better-equipped hospital, New’s heart stopped beating. The medical team gave him CPR but they were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead at 4.38pm.

“The patient passed away from an aneurysm in his chest, which is a very serious condition. It’s very rare to find. It happens to five in a million. It is normally found in adults aged 40 to 70. To determine with symptoms alone would be very difficult. That’s why we need to use a CT scan or an X-ray,” Dr Prajak said.

“This condition is very hard to treat. In the nearby area, there’s only Siriraj Hospital that has the technology to handle the case. Most importantly, when the condition became increasingly serious, we only had three to five minutes to treat the patient. When the patient came in, he was at the peak point of the symptom. It was too late to transfer him.”

Dr Prajak offered his sincere condolences to the family. He confirmed that the medical team tried their best but New’s condition was beyond the ability of the hospital to handle.

He said the hospital will offer some help as appropriate.