Recently, a Sichuan woman said that the hospital's delay in treatment caused her son's death of influenza A has aroused widespread concern in the society. It is reported that Ms. Zhang's 2-year-old son developed fever, cough and other uncomfortable symptoms on February 24 and was sent to the Jinjiang Campus of the Second Affiliated Hospital of West China of Sichuan University. A flu test was performed that night and the results were negative.
A puncture was done the next morning, which also showed normal. However, in the following days, the child's condition became more and more serious, and he developed critical conditions such as difficulty breathing and lung infections. Finally, on February 28, the woman was told that her 2-year-old son had died of severe illness with influenza A.
Ms. Zhang believed that the hospital's misdiagnosis and delay in treatment led to her son's death, and complained and claimed compensation to the relevant departments.
She said that during her child's hospitalization, doctors did not give a timely and effective treatment plan, nor did they inform her of the risk that her child might have severe influenza.
She also questioned whether the hospital's method of testing for flu A was accurate and scientific, and why there were false negative results.
So, what exactly is going on with this incident? Let's analyze it from the following aspects:
Why do flu A tests get false negatives?
Influenza A(H1N1) (Influenza A) is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by a novel H1N1 influenza virus. It is highly contagious, easily mutable, and cross-species infectious. It is mainly transmitted by droplets, contact, etc., and can cause mild to severe clinical manifestations.
At present, the diagnosis of influenza A mainly relies on laboratory tests. The following detection methods are commonly used:
- Rapid antigen test: This method is done by taking a nasal swab or throat swab sample and using a strip of test strips containing specific antibodies or antigen marker substances. The advantage of this method is that it is quick, easy and inexpensive, and can be performed on an outpatient clinic or in the community. However, it has the disadvantage of being less sensitive and specific, and prone to false-negative or false-positive results. Therefore, it can only be used as an initial screening method and cannot be used as a basis for diagnosis.
- Nucleic acid detection: This method is done by taking a nasal swab or throat swab sample and amplifying and detecting the nucleic acids of the virus using techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The advantage of this method is that it has a high sensitivity and specificity, which can accurately identify the type and subtype of the virus. However, its disadvantage is that the operation is complex, time-consuming, expensive, and requires professional laboratory equipment and personnel. Therefore, it can generally only be carried out in designated hospitals or professional institutions.
- Serology: This method involves taking a sample of the patient's blood and using techniques such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect virus-specific antibodies. The advantage of this approach is that it can reflect the patient's immune status and infection history. However, it has the disadvantage that it does not reflect whether the patient is currently infected with the virus in time, and it requires the comparison of two serum samples at different intervals (usually 2 weeks) to determine whether there is infection.
Based on the above introduction, we can see that A flu detection is not a simple and easy thing. It is affected by a variety of factors, such as sample collection, preservation, transportation, processing and other links; differences and limitations between different detection methods; and factors such as individual differences, immunity levels, and time of infection. Therefore, in practice, misdiagnoses such as false negatives or false positives may occur.
Through the analysis of this incident, we can see that the emergence of doctor-patient disputes is not the responsibility of one party, but the combined effect of many factors.
During the treatment process, doctors and medical staff are under great pressure, they face many patients, and every life is precious.
Even so, however, there is no guarantee that every life will be saved.
But for the woman in the incident, the son is the most precious life, there is no room for loss, but in the process of treatment, the son's life cannot be saved, and the hospital cannot escape its responsibility.
In the face of such a thing, can we get a proper solution due to the different positions of each other?
Welcome to leave your answer in the comment area.