Have You Ever…?

Several years back, the number is not important, I flew down to Mexico once a month to volunteer with Flying Samaritans. The group serviced a clinic in Bahia Kino, a small fishing town on the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California). We provided dental, vision, Ob/Gyn, general medical, and audiology services. After doing this for several years I began having patients come to see me from Hermosillo, the Capital of the State of Sonora. Our group was in Kino to help this underserved area, not to see people from the “big” city, but we treated everyone the same, whether they drove up in a big SUV or were Seri Indians who had walked for several hours across the Sonoran desert.

The problem I started having was that parents were bringing their children in to be tested and get a second opinion on what their doctor had told them. It’s hard to remain professionally detached when parents bring in a three or six year old child who has a severe to profound loss due to untreated infections. You really want to help. You want to give the parents some hope, but I had to hold the line and refer the parents back to their physician. I was in no position, ethically or physically, to do anything other than hearing tests and fit hearing aids donated by U.S. manufacturers.

I bring this up because I recently talked with a Dispenser who has had similar situations occur, not in Mexico, but in her office in Southern California. People have come to her office looking for medical advice and/or second opinions about hearing related medical problems. Has this ever happened to you? As much as she wanted to help, even if the help was only words, she did, and continues to do the right thing by referring these patients back to a medical doctor. Many of these people are illegal aliens or on Medical. They have few if any resources. As she told me, “It’s not always easy to do the ‘right’ thing.”

As a member of the human race each of us is free to do or say whatever we want. We can give whatever advice we feel is appropriate, but as licensed professionals we are constrained by our licenses. It does not matter whether or not we are being paid for that advice. A license gives us special rights, to test hearing – sell hearing aids, but it also prevents us from straying outside of our well defined guidelines.

We all learn when we share our experiences. Will you share yours with us? When was the last time you were asked to give medical advice or to stretch FDA waiver rules, and what did you do?