Judge not...

Sometimes it’s not easy being a big mouth frog. You know the kind that always has their mouth open, long before their brain is done processing all the input?! I mean, being decisive is a good trait in most cases, and most of the time all is well. But there are those times when the judgment call was simply wrong. And that would be ok, if the results did not affect another human being’s well being. Entering my vocation I hope to have learned an extremely valuable lesson on Sunday. Not having all the fact allows you to paint a picture in your mind, filling in the blanks, and going by what is common knowledge. But medicine is an inexact science, and much is unpredictable. My foundations are shaken, to say the least. I assumed a patient was exaggerating their condition from hearing mere snippets of the condition. But as we found out a few days ago, it wasn’t. Erring can have deadly consequences. In this case I had no direct role in the patient care at all; mine was just the judgment about the patient’s behavior. I do not forgive myself easily, nor should I. This example should stick with me for my entire career. Err on the side of caution. I need to substitute opening the mouth with shrugging my shoulders. Because we all know what assuming can make out of us…
It seems to me that the trend in society is to prefer jumping to conclusions to slow informed deliberation. Look at shows like American Idol, Survivor and court shows that go along with the popular vote, instead of what is fair and just. It does not absolve the individual from their responsibility of fairness by any means.
It’s times like these I see how small I am, and how much I need to rely on divine guidance. Ultimately the health and well being is in God’s hands. Even if 99.99% of patients in the last 9000 years were fine after this treatment, there is a chance that one may not be. Statistics and evidence based practice only go so far. The rest is up to God. Is it their time? How sobering. Lord, guide me in your wisdom!