A medical visit to Nairobi Hospital became a disturbing experience for renowned lawyer Donald Kipkorir after he got questionable services from a doctor at the premises.
According to Kipkorir, he had gone to Nairobi Hospital seeking medical attention after experiencing pain on one of his toes.
To his surprise, the doctor who attended to him at the hospital made uncredible inference on the possible cause of the pain and consulted Google services in offering the diagnosis.
[caption caption="The Nairobi Hospital"]
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The doctor, whom Kipkorir terms as "young and lazy", made the presumption that the pain was a result of consuming nyama choma (barbecued meat) and taking alcohol.
This was contrary to the lawyer's medical history as he claimed not to have consumed barbequed meat over a long time neither was he a frequent consumer of alcohol.
Today, I went to Nairobi Hospital for pain on my toe & met lazy young Doctor. He told me to stop eating nyama choma (can’t remember last time I even did it) & drinking alcohol (I only take wine & less than one bottle a week) .. And he was consulting Google instead of The Lancet.
— Donald B Kipkorir (@DonaldBKipkorir) February 25, 2018
Kipkorir was alarmed by the low level of research that the doctor engaged in before he could issue out a conclusive diagnosis.
Besides, Kipkorir pointed out that the medical journal, Lancet, was a more credible source in case the doctor needed to carry out his research online.
The lawyer also took issue with the stereotypical association of paining joints with eating barbequed meat arguing that some communities have nyama choma as their staple food and do not necessarily experience such medical conditions.
He also defended the right of the patient to question their doctors as outlined by the Medical Ethics.
Doc, Google is known to prioritize certain sites and not for their value ... if you google medicine, you wouldn’t find The Lancet or NEJM.
— Donald B Kipkorir (@DonaldBKipkorir) February 25, 2018
Criticizing the methodology applied by the doctor, the lawyer was of the opinion that it may end up being unnecessary to seek such level of medical attention if the doctors have to rely on the internet and stereotyped diagnosis.
