Marcela Moreno Wilches
Latin Agency for News Medicine and Public Health
Dr. Leonardo Hormaza Laracuente, the only certified pediatrician with two subspecialties, pediatric gastroenterologist and liver transplant hepatologist, stands out as a professional dedicated to accompanying his patients in this process.
From an early age, he was passionate about medicine, especially when he had an asthma attack, with no history, but in response to allergic asthma.
“At that moment I was out of breath and I felt like I could die and I think from that moment I decided that, as an adult, I wanted to be a doctor because I didn’t want this to happen to any of my children and I wanted to be prepared to have my children if something like this happened and it was so when I was little I understood that I really like medicine “, said Dr. Hormaza.
During his studies in high school, he turned to engineering, however, in his school, they did community assistance campaigns, and the specialist could be at the Children’s Hospital in Guaynabo, there, at an older age, he could interact for the first time. date. time with children with some medical conditions.
He remembers how one of the little ones’ mothers told him that he would be an excellent doctor and there, with the phrase he remembers to this day, he decided to be a doctor inclined towards pediatrics, although at first he liked ophthalmology. and pediatric surgery.
As a pediatrician, he suffered from gastrointestinal problems, such as irritable bowel syndrome, reflux and other conditions, and because he knew how he felt and what his patients needed, he turned to gastroenterology in order to provide more careful treatment.
As for his specialty in transplantation, he remembers being marked by a Mexican patient with a severe liver problem who did not receive treatment in Mexico and decided to cross the border to receive care in the United States.
“A family is created with these patients, especially chronic patients, because you have seen them for many years and they connect with those families and it becomes almost a part of their family and I remember that the most they gave me was a lot of sadness with one of my patients and that my patient’s sister also got a liver condition and on the weekend they came to the hospital I was not on duty and the sister had an unknown condition and ended up dying . My family called me and when I arrived I was very sad, these deaths were very painful, especially in cases of liver where the conditions are known to be strong and mortality is high and it is hoped that these things will not happen. “
, said the pediatrician.
Regarding the support of other medical specialists, he stressed that it is lucky to have Dr. Daniel Campo in Puerto Rico, another specialist in child transplantation, because they are few and less pediatric. “the fact that Daniel, being a Bolivian, comes to help us is an incredible contribution for people ”.
Patients in Puerto Rico have had to go to surgery in the United States and be away from family for at least 6 months after recovery, now they can receive care on the island and be close to their families, which is very favorable, in addition, can receive emergency care for transplants much faster.
Follow-up of the patient, dedication, discussion of cases and their awareness throughout the process is essential for this specialist who declares himself a complete lover of medicine.