I first met this boy of about 14 one week back. He had come with a severely ill patient; he was diagnosed as a case of massive liver abscess with jaundice with hepatorenal failure. Patient was in hypovolemic/septic shock. He was already turned away (or he ran away) from 2 previous hospitals. The patient was admitted but there was no one except this boy with him. Two relatives showed up later but refused to take care of the patient, they turned out to be distant relatives. The dillema wa that there was no one to explain the prognosis to. It was real bad..
We had to start him on ionotropic support and and aspirated about 500 ml pus from the liver. Blood transfusions and the usual supportive care was given and patient showed gradual but limited improvementThe relatives kept coming in short bursts but showed no real interest.
T o be cont..
The patient’s condition deteriorated and he started having intraperitoneal bleeding and hypotension. Blood was transfused and symptomatic care was carried out but we could not revive the patient. He died in the ICU 1 week after the admission. The young boy did not flinch through all this and was very strong. he had nowhere to go after the death of his father and he told us he could not go back to the relatives.
Later we heard that he went to his grandfather in a nearby city.
