Comment by nickles | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nickles | Hacker News Reader

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> As I have told my patients and medical students, a surgical infection is a life altering event. There is a good chance that you will never be the same after experiencing it.

What is it that makes such an infection is so impactful? Is there physical damage that persists, psychological trauma due to the experience, or some other factor?

Edit: Read the comments prior to reading the article.

> When Harrison awoke from that surgery, he imagined his nightmare was over. But in reality, it had just begun. Since then, what began as a simple operation has turned into a lengthy struggle that left him for months at a time dependent on hired nurses, unable to dress himself, take a shower, or work, and afraid for his life.

3 months in the ICU with an open abdomen (for example) is likely to cause all kinds of lifelong impact.

I’m definitely not qualified to answer this question. I speculate that a surgical infection is serious because the infection involves pathogens growing deep inside tissue that isn’t normally exposed to infection. Thus your immune system is ill equipped to fend it off.

If someone comes into hospital trusting the opinion of their doctors that this procedure is going to result in an improvement in their quality of life, and then instead of returning home better they have extended complications, it is just awful. I’m not sure how else to explain it - but consider if your mother/father/partner went to theatre for an elective joint replacement and then instead of being back at it in a couple of months, better than ever, was still in hospital undergoing rescue surgeries and strong antibiotics

In order to help you, a surgeon has to cut you and damage you. There's a huge amount of trust you have to place in the surgeon, the staff, the hospital, the equipment manufacturers, etc. Even if it all goes well, it can take weeks to years to fully recover from a major surgery. I know people who likely have PTSD from getting a good outcome. I cannot imagine if it went sideways. How would you trust that hospital, or any hospital?

Antibiotic resistant bacteria?

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