(Trinidad Express) The United Kingdom-based Medical Protection Society (MPS) Ltd has weighed in on the cocaine surgery that was conducted last December at the St Augustine Private Hospital.
MPS has stated in its latest publication that is distributed globally, that the case raises an important issue about when a doctor should breach a patient’s confidentiality.
It said the doctor and his clinical team should have reported the presence of cocaine pellets in the stomach of the patient and failure to this exposes the doctor and the clinical team to possible offences.
MPS Ltd is regarded as the world’s leading protection organisation for doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals.
It supports the professional interests of more than 290,000 members around the world.
The September, 2014 issue of the MPS “Casebook” magazine reports its opinion on a doctor’s duty to breach patient confidentiality and cited the cocaine surgery in Trinidad.
In January the Express exclusively reported that surgery was conducted on a man in December where 17 pellets of cocaine were removed from his abdomen.
In an attempt to smuggle the narcotic, valued at millions of dollars, the 34-year-old man had ingested 20 pellets of cocaine which almost cost him his life.
The man, who lives in Arouca, was taken to the private hospital by a relative after complaining of stomach pains and bowel obstruction.
On December 21, 2013, the man underwent a laparotomy—a surgical incision into the abdominal cavity-where the cocaine was found meticulously packaged into pellets.
The surgery, which started at 5 p.m., lasted for close to three hours and was conducted by a team of five-a surgeon leading three nurses and an anaesthetist.
The Express reported that during surgery it was found that the man’s bowel was perforated, as nine of the pellets had penetrated the bowel and had entered the man’s abdominal cavity.
Some 17 cocaine pellets were removed from the man’s body and he disclosed to the hospital staff that three were passed in his stool prior to surgery.
Instructions were given to the medical staff to not take any pictures of the pellets and to package them in a re-sealable storage bag. The illegal drug was handed back to the man.
Because of the bowel perforation, the man’s condition deteriorated and he developed sepsis-a potentially fatal inflammation of the entire body.
Nine days later and after close to $100,000 in medical and hospital fees, on December 30, 2013 the man was transferred from the private hospital to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope.
The Express had visited the EWMSC and confirmed that the man was recovering at the public hospital.
The matter has since been under investigation by the police.
MPS on page 8 of its “Casebook” publication gives its advice on whether a doctor should breach patient confidentiality with respect to a case of cocaine pellets found in a surgery.
MPS stated:
“Case 1: Foreign bodies
Mr Y was taken to the hospital by his relative after complaining of stomach pains and bowel obstruction.
Following his admission he underwent a laparotomy where 20 pellets of carefully packaged cocaine were found in his abdominal cavity. During the surgery it was found that Mr Y’s bowel was perforated; as nine of the pellets had penetrated the bowel; although 17 pellets were successfully removed and three passed from the body in Mr Y’s stool, shortly after surgery Mr Y’s condition deteriorated and he developed sepsis as a result of the bowel perforation.
After being transferred to intensive care Mr Y’s condition eventually improved and he was discharged after making a full recovery.
However, the surgeon who removed the cocaine pellets instructed the other clinical staff present not to take any photographs of them and to instead repackage them in a resealable storage bag.
They were then returned to Mr Y.
The matter leaked to the media who focused on the failure of the clinical staff to report the illegal drugs.
At the time of Casebook going to press, the matter was still being investigated.”
MPS’ gave the following advice:
“The case raises an important issue about when a doctor should beach a patient’s confidentiality. In this case, the surgeon- and anyone else in the clinical team who was aware of the nature of the objects within Mr Y’s body- should have reported the presence of suspected illegal drugs in Mr Y’s possession.
Failure to do so potentially exposes clinicians to two particular laws, the MPS stated.
It cited the Criminal Law Act.
MPS said under Section 5 of the Criminal Law Act a person may be guilty of an offence if he assists a person who he knows or believes is guilty of an arrestable offence.
He must however know or believe the individual to be guilty or charged of an arrestable offence, or has committed an arrestable offence, or does any act to impede the individual’s apprehension or prosecution.”
It also looked at the Dangerous Drugs Act.
It noted that Under section 27 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, any person who attempts, aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission of drug trafficking is guilty of an offence.
It is to be noted that neither Act explicitly stated (as does the Sexual Offences Act and Coroners Act) that there is a general statutory duty to report illegal activity, MPS stated.
To date, no one has been held or charged in relation to the cocaine surgery.
