Emergency Doctor Gets Taste of His Own Medicine

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s Emergency Department Provides Fast Responsive Care to Everyone who Needs It

​A physician at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s Emergency Department found himself needing the urgent care he usually provides, when a rare form of pneumonia caused his lung to collapse in October.  

Dr. Harold Shim began feeling ill as he ended his shift. Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, part of Mubadala’s healthcare network, is a COVID-free facility but out of an abundance of caution, he took a COVID-19 test that came back negative. Suspecting he had the flu, he stayed at home over the weekend to try and recover. Over the next few days, he began experiencing shortness of breath, even finding it difficult to walk upstairs. 

“After a couple of days, the Chair of our Emergency Department Dr. Jacques Kobersy called me to check how I was feeling. When I told him about my symptoms, he told me to come in to get checked out. It was only then that I realized my condition was more serious than I thought. My blood oxygen levels were below normal, and my chest X-ray looked pretty bad. Luckily, I have tremendous faith in my colleagues and I knew that our Emergency Department was the safest place I could be,” explains Dr. Shim. 

Concerned that his condition could be contagious, Dr. Shim was placed in one of the Emergency Department’s negative pressure isolation rooms while he underwent a battery of tests. A bronchoscopy revealed a large number of white blood cells in his lungs, pointing to a diagnosis of eosinophilic pneumonia, a rare disease. Following the diagnosis and as his condition began to improve, Dr. Shim was discharged to continue his recovery at home.  

A week later, despite having felt significantly better, Dr. Shim had a coughing fit and became short of breath. At around 1AM, he asked his wife to take him to the Emergency Department.  

“Harold’s oxygen saturation had dropped significantly and was even lower than when he had first come in. Our tests showed that one of his lungs had collapsed. His chest cavity was full of air, putting pressure on his lung and even his heart, a potentially life-threatening condition that needed immediate treatment,” says Dr. Ashley Alwood, a consultant in Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s Emergency Department.

Dr. Alwood inserted a chest tube to relieve the pressure in Dr. Shim’s chest and re-inflate his lung. This led to an almost immediate improvement in his condition and allowed him to breathe normally. Admitted to the hospital for observation, it became apparent that the leak in his lung wasn’t healing on its own, so he needed a minimally invasive surgery to repair the leak and remove a balloon like pocket of air that had developed between his lungs. 

“I was called to consult on Dr. Shim’s case as he had developed rare and unusual complications from his pneumonia. Looking at his scans was quite surprising as you certainly don’t see complications like his every day. After discussion it was decided that a video assisted, minimally invasive approach was the best way to treat his condition. Our team cared for Dr. Shim as a colleague and a friend which is how we treat all our patients at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. Doctors often have a reputation for being challenging patients, but I’m pleased to say that Dr. Shim was a pleasure to treat,” says Dr. Redha Souilamas, Chair of Thoracic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Following his successful surgery, Dr. Shim has returned home to regain his strength and looks forward to getting back to work with a fresh perspective on how it feels to be a patient. 

“This has been an incredibly humbling experience. I’ve experienced how our patients feel when they come to us scared and sick, and seen how quickly the team respond and offer the highest level of care. I look forward to getting back to work and building this experience into our approach to treating our patients like they were our own family,” concludes Dr. Shim. 

For more information or to book an appointment at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, call 800 8 CCAD (2223), visit www.clevelandclinicabudhabi.ae or download the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi app.