Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You request further testing based on inclusive results.
The doctor is not pleased, but he schedules further tests for the patient.
In the end, other tests confirm the patient did not have a heart attack. Now
you worry you've put him through an emotional roller-coaster and irritated
the doctor without reason.
However, you did put the patient's safety first, which is what biochemist
Penny Beuning recommends.
"I wouldn't just send him home," says Beuning. "I think
that would be the wrong thing to do. "We work with E. coli in my lab, so
we can just put it in the freezer and nothing too bad will happen, but when
you're dealing with a human life I think you want to err on the side of caution,
and I think you could keep this person (in hospital)," Beuning adds.
"I mean, money is always an issue, but you could keep this person there
while you analyze this data and... do another test to try to figure out what's
really going on."