54
熱
門話題
譚 明
（內科主任醫生
）
Tam Min
"MISDIAGNOSES": AN
ISSUE NOT TO BE IGNORED
The Author's mother, aged
77, fainted with froth coming
from her mouth. She was at first
diagnosed by a young cardiol-
ogy professor as a heart attack.
After 2 days, she woke up and
the diagnosis was revised to a
stroke. Unfortunately, the nar-
row window for effective treat-
ment of the stroke had just gone
by and she had permanent pa-
ralysis till her last days - a sig-
nificant burden to her sons. In
October last, a freshman Mr
Sun was barred from university
entrance because of a misdiag-
nosed "tuberculosis cavity" in
his lung. A second opinion
found it to be just an ordinary
emphysema cavity but Mr Sun
had already been delayed for a
year. When a man of 60 with
obstructive jaundice for 3
months (thought to be due to an
inoperable cancer of the head
of the pancreas) died frommas-
sive gut bleeding, the post-
mortem revealed it to be a large
duodenal ulcer masquerading
as tumour. Though highly
advisable, second opinions may
be impracticable. Moreover, as
the human factor (the main
culprit) is coupled with the very
complex medical system, one
j us t canno t r u l e ou t a l l
misdiagnoses. Perhaps we
should understand more about
our own diseases.
『誤診』
一個不容忽視的沉重話題
好像是《笑林廣記》上有這樣一則故事，說是某人患
病，走了幾家醫院，看見每個先生背後都有一大堆冤魂，不
敢前去就醫。好不容易發現一位大夫背後只有一位冤魂，就
前去打聽，原來，這位大夫昨天才開業⋯⋯
雖然是笑話，卻反映了一個客觀真實：醫生誤診自古以
來就存在。
遭遇誤診
母親已經去世幾年了，但是我至今仍難以忘卻老人家患重病
被誤診的情景：那是一個初秋，77歲高齡的母親突然口吐白沫暈
倒，父親和身邊親人迅速把母親送到一家大型的三級甲等醫院急
診科。醫生們圍著母親團團轉，負責搶救的科主任是一位小有名
氣的心血管教授。做了些物理檢查以後，她大略地看了看，認為
是心肌梗塞，便要求醫生按照心梗搶救。兩天以後，母親終於蘇
醒了，醫生進一步檢查，發現不是什麼心肌梗塞，而是腦梗。教
授自我解嘲地說，反正搶救方法差不多⋯⋯其實，搶救方法不一
樣。這時已經耽誤了最佳搶救時機——即24小時內腦動脈緊急疏
通，母親落下了偏癱，直到幾年以後去世，一直半身不遂⋯⋯
出於對醫院和專家的尊重，我們一直沒好意思說什麼。老人
最後的歲月活得很艱難，成為我們兄弟心頭的一大隱痛！
一個衰老的生命也許價值不怎麼高，可是，對一個年輕學子
的誤診，卻幾乎耽誤了他的一生。去年10月，某醫院在高考體檢
時發現孫明山的右肺葉上有陰影，便簡單地誤診為“結核空洞”。
結核病具有傳染性，暫時不宜入學就讀，於是被取消了當年上大
學的資格。家長領著孩子到權威機構復查，經多家權威醫療機構
證實，孫明山患的僅僅是“右下葉支氣管囊腫”的小毛病。然而此
時已經過去了幾個月，已經耽誤了高考學子的入學時機。家長向
