Educated Guesswork

Take this for whatever you think it is worth, but US doctors, who do not have firsthand knowledge of the medical situation, are guessing that doctors in the highly touted Cuban "free" medical system there may have condemned Fidel Castro to a brutal, slow death by botching the treatment of his original problem.

"It's not a good story. Too bad they didn't send him to Miami for surgery," said Dr. Charles Gerson, a clinical professor of medicine in the gastroenterology division of New York's Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

According to two medical sources cited by El Pais, the veteran revolutionary was in "very serious" condition after three failed operations on his large intestine for diverticulitis, or pouch-like bulges in the intestine, complicated by infection.

The sources in El Pais were from the same Madrid hospital where a surgeon who visited the 80-year-old Castro in late December works.

The Spanish surgeon, Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, had not changed his opinion that Castro was slowly recovering after stomach surgery for an undisclosed ailment, his secretary said.

But El Pais said Castro was being fed intravenously and his outlook was bleak. If confirmed, the newspaper's account was the first with details of Castro's clinical history since he first underwent surgery six months ago. His condition is considered a state secret inside Cuba.

Gerson and Dr. Meyer Solny, a veteran gastrointestinal expert at New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Weill Cornell College of Medicine, said Castro's doctors erred by seeking to avoid a colostomy — or opening in the abdomen to get rid of stool — after an initial operation to remove part of his large intestine.

'VERY RISKY SITUATION'

"They took a chance, which was probably not the best judgment under the circumstances," Gerson said.

"It sounds like they tried to spare him the colostomy, which would have been the safer and more conservative approach, and what they did was to try to establish continuity of the bowel by sewing the colon to the rectum, and for one reason or another it sounds like that didn't work. And now there are troubles," said Solny.

These doctors are, of course working from media reports and not firsthand knowledge. So it is hard to judge just how accurate they are. But if I was one of the doctors who treated Fidel, I would seriously be writing my will. Because I expect there will be a few extra bodies to bury when the maximum leader takes his long overdue dirt nap.

UPDATE: Sister Toldjah can't wait to hear what the far left has to say about the Cuban medical system now. Thanks to Tim Blair, she doesn't have to. He has a statement from a spokesman the left can be proud of!

Other Links to this Post

1. Bitsblog » Castro’s surgery botched? — Wednesday, 17 January , 2007 @ 5:09 pm