When Kevin Murphy was applying to college, his initial interest was in medicine, but he later switched to electrical engineering. He was afraid he would make a mistake and hurt someone, said his mother, Margaret.
Sadly, "that was to be his fate," she said.
Nearly a decade after her 21-year-old son died as a result of medical errors in their native Ireland, Mrs. Murphy has become an international advocate for patient rights, educating health care workers by sharing Kevin's story. She spoke Wednesday at the third annual Patient- and Family-Centered Care Educational Conference at the Medical College of Georgia Hospital and Clinics.
Mr. Murphy had developed a benign tumor near one of his parathyroid glands, which stimulated it to put out high levels of a hormone that regulates calcium in the body. Instead of building up bone, it was starving the bones and causing calcium to build up to dangerous levels in the bloodstream, Mrs. Murphy said.
But the result was repeatedly missed over a two-year period as her son's behavior became erratic, she said. When the levels came back nearly three times higher than the normal range, a nurse noted the results on a sticky note, but the physician ignored it in his diagnosis. When Mr. Murphy was admitted to the hospital, the note was stuck to the back of a letter in his file.
"It wasn't seen by anybody in the hospital until six weeks after his death," Mrs. Murphy said. Worse, he was admitted just before the weekend and was seen only by resident doctors in training.
"I suppose at that point nobody seemed to appreciate how ill Kevin had become as his condition deteriorated rapidly," she said. "There was no overarching monitoring."
The family's pleas fell on deaf ears, Mrs. Murphy said.
"All concerns were ignored because we were repeatedly pointing out different issues and they weren't taken onboard," she said. "I'd always say, 'You ignore at your peril the concerns of a mother.' I could see things that nobody else could."
Her son ultimately had a heart attack and died. Afterward his family tried to reconstruct what had happened.
"How can a young man go to hospital on Thursday and be dead on Sunday?" Mrs. Murphy said. "In essence, Kevin was asked, 'Please stay alive until Monday.' And he just could not do that."
It was the cold and defensive response afterward, however, that really hurt the family, she said. It ultimately prompted a lawsuit, whose proceeds were donated to charity, and spurred Mrs. Murphy to join the World Health Organization's World Alliance for Patient Safety. Her advice for hospitals and health care organizations is straightforward -- listen to patients and keep the focus on patients.
"Care is only patient-centered if it is perceived as such by the patient," Mrs. Murphy said. "The patient is the litmus test. It's not about what you think or I think. It is the man in the bed."
Her talk drew a standing ovation from an audience filled with health care workers, which was what Bernard Robinson was hoping for.
"We really want them to grow from this," said Mr. Robinson, the director of family services development for the health system. "We've learned that patient stories are key to learning this. It gets you to think about things you would normally not think about."
Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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When O institutes the medical system used in Ireland, and he is trying very hard to do just that, we'll have this kind of story every day. With government provided medical care (you know what it's called) you often stand in line until next Monday, or the Monday after....
PT, since you know, could you tell us exactly what medical system is used in Ireland?
The same that is used in all of the United Kingdom-----socialized healthcare. And it sucks, it kills people and the US does not want it. Of course, it will take actually implementing the system and several hundred thousand dying before anyone catches on. Clinton tried to get it started in the 90's and it didn't work....my fear is Obama will get the system passed. Wo unto all of us if it does.
Uncle bill...how could an intelligent reader not know what system is used in Ireland?
Your subliminal point is well taken, UncleBill.
Who gives a dang what system they use in Ireland? Are any of you planning on moving there? If you could read a little bit, you will realized that this had nothing to do with the system but a lack of people doing their jobs. Under the system we have now the same situation occurs everyday. I know you like to blame President Obama for everything but nothing he has proposed nor nothing in place today will prevent errors due to laziness.
What the US does not want is for all individuals to be afforded the same healthcare as the upper 1% of the nation. Hopefully the millions of dollars that PT and does it really matter have is going to last way into their old age, so that they can continue to pay for the best healthcare that's offered. You people really need to learn another song, because the one you're singing now is getting old. Your comments about Obama have nothing to to do with his ability to run this country. He can't do much worse than the last 3 presidents we've had. I really think that the posters here who constantly complain about Obama actually voted for him and just don't want their friends and family to know, hence the constant complaining.
Medical mistakes are made all over the world - iregardless of the system involved. Despite all of the technological advances, medicine is still mostly art. It involves humans making life-and-death decisions about other humans. But those of you who think that the type of healthcare system isn't important are fools. Socialized medicine has never - never - been proven to work for the benefit of the majority of people in any country where it has been tried - never. There are definitely more mistakes made under a socialistic system than private free enterprise. There are fewer choices for treatment - and fewer people allowed to be treated by their respective government with life-saving or quality-of-life enhancing procedures and medications. One day soon, Obama will probably put forward the first stages of socialized medicine (he'll lie to us and call it "national health insurance", etc.) if not a sudden and destructive insitution of socialized medicine in one full swoop. We'll see how Americans like their healthcare then. Waiting lists for procedures and treatments - unless you're "too big to fail" (i.e. one of the elite group of congressmen or other "dear leaders").
PT, since you know, could you tell us exactly what medical system is used in Ireland?
Posted by UncleBill on Thu Apr 2, 2009 6:58 AM....I ain't PT, but will answer that one as it is easy. It is socialized medicine just like England's.
The article is not about what type system but the type of care!! I have a friend that was treated for back problems at a hospital here in the Augusta area for over a year. Finally it got to the point where he could not walk without the assistance of a walker.
One Sunday he came to church on a walker and unable to lift his feet to get into his car. Immediately he was taken to the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center and by the next day, he had surgery to remove a cancer that had spread to his spinal cord and started cancer treatment.
This oversight could not happen here in the U. S. ( as some of you say) because we have not gone to socialized medicine!!
So, what caused this to go on for over a year???
This patient did not know that he had a right to insist that the insurance company/hospital perform a MRI or CT (since his problem had lingered on so long, the first hospital could "work him in" within a month).
"Patients rights" include timely procedures to get proper/timely medical care.
THIS IS NOT A REPUBLICAN/DEMOCRATIC THING!!! IT IS A RIGHT THAT ALL PATIENTS SHOULD HAVE REGARDLESS OF INSURANCE!!
Wrong, jack. The Irish has the same sorry healthcare system that America currently has. One that favor Big HMOs' rights over the rights of the patients.