Cardiac Arrest and Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Case of Medical Heuristics
Insufficient clinical data from patients is a major cause of errors in medical diagnostics. In an attempt to make a diagnosis, initial clinical information provided to the physician may be overly relied on as the only information required in making diagnosis leading to anchoring. Failure to rely on...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Case Reports in Medicine |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/9621390 |
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| _version_ | 1832566678471311360 |
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| author | Tokunbo Ajayi Jerome Okudo |
| author_facet | Tokunbo Ajayi Jerome Okudo |
| author_sort | Tokunbo Ajayi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Insufficient clinical data from patients is a major cause of errors in medical diagnostics. In an attempt to make a diagnosis, initial clinical information provided to the physician may be overly relied on as the only information required in making diagnosis leading to anchoring. Failure to rely on differential diagnoses in spite of new signs and symptoms or rethinking of initial hypothesis may lead to fixation on a certain diagnosis, which may lead to significant morbidity and mortality. In the event that there is an anchoring heuristic, like in our patient, it is important to consider differential diagnoses; however, it is not wrong to rely on some form of anchor. We report a case of a 62-year-old male with a history of multiple medical conditions and a history of acetaminophen overdose who presented to the hospital with large amounts of coffee ground emesis. He was subsequently transferred to the liver transplant center on discovery that he was in fulminant hepatic failure and died two days later in spite of aggressive medical treatment. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5aee3f3f642b45f89a24dbae7ffdda58 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1687-9627 1687-9635 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Case Reports in Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-5aee3f3f642b45f89a24dbae7ffdda582025-02-03T01:03:26ZengWileyCase Reports in Medicine1687-96271687-96352016-01-01201610.1155/2016/96213909621390Cardiac Arrest and Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Case of Medical HeuristicsTokunbo Ajayi0Jerome Okudo1Department of Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 55 Cedar Lane, Columbia, MD 21044, USASchool of Public Health, University of Texas, 1200 Pressler Street, Houston, TX 77030, USAInsufficient clinical data from patients is a major cause of errors in medical diagnostics. In an attempt to make a diagnosis, initial clinical information provided to the physician may be overly relied on as the only information required in making diagnosis leading to anchoring. Failure to rely on differential diagnoses in spite of new signs and symptoms or rethinking of initial hypothesis may lead to fixation on a certain diagnosis, which may lead to significant morbidity and mortality. In the event that there is an anchoring heuristic, like in our patient, it is important to consider differential diagnoses; however, it is not wrong to rely on some form of anchor. We report a case of a 62-year-old male with a history of multiple medical conditions and a history of acetaminophen overdose who presented to the hospital with large amounts of coffee ground emesis. He was subsequently transferred to the liver transplant center on discovery that he was in fulminant hepatic failure and died two days later in spite of aggressive medical treatment.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/9621390 |
| spellingShingle | Tokunbo Ajayi Jerome Okudo Cardiac Arrest and Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Case of Medical Heuristics Case Reports in Medicine |
| title | Cardiac Arrest and Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Case of Medical Heuristics |
| title_full | Cardiac Arrest and Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Case of Medical Heuristics |
| title_fullStr | Cardiac Arrest and Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Case of Medical Heuristics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cardiac Arrest and Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Case of Medical Heuristics |
| title_short | Cardiac Arrest and Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Case of Medical Heuristics |
| title_sort | cardiac arrest and gastrointestinal bleeding a case of medical heuristics |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/9621390 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tokunboajayi cardiacarrestandgastrointestinalbleedingacaseofmedicalheuristics AT jeromeokudo cardiacarrestandgastrointestinalbleedingacaseofmedicalheuristics |