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Doctor Neglect and Malpractice

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pebblesflorida

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FLORIDA

MEDICAL NEGLECT/MALPRACTICE QUESTION

I am a work comp person and I had disc fusion surgery in January and immediately after waking up and trasnfered to my room about 6:30 p.m., the pain was out of control. The nurses paged my surgeon for 5 hours, he would not return their calls. The dr. would not increase my meds and only gave me a muscle relaxer when he finally called back 5 hours later. I was awake and in in humane amount of pain (30 on a scale of 1-10) until 4:30p.m. the next day when the surgeon finally showed up to check on me. Then he finally gave me pain meds, which still never controlled my pain. . I was never assigned a hospital "medical" Dr. to my case, just the surgeon who didn't care about me or my pain control. I would see him every other day. I wanted to donate blood but he said no. Day 2 after surgery I had to have a blood transfusion, which really upset me since I wanted to donate my own blood ahead of time but was told NO.

Day 5 I was transfered to a nursing facility because I was not well enough to go home. The nursing facility didn't have my meds in stock and had to call the local pharmacy to deliver. At 11:30 p.m. those meds still were not delivered. I went 5 hours past the time I was supposed to have my meds. I had to call 911 because the nursing home wouldn't help me. The EMT's came and said it was a good thing I called them because the nursing home never had me registered in their system. I WAS THERE FOR 5 HOURS. It's a good thing I remembered my room number. They also falsified my medical records and said them gave me my meds, which is a lie because they didn't have them on premise!

I was taken back to the hospital where I had my surgery, but was in the ER. The ER dr. called my surgeon and the surgeon took 5 HOURS to call him back! The ER administered so much pain meds, but nothing got my pain under control, that's how bad of shape I was in. I was in the ER for 13 hours. The surgeon wanted me to go back to the nursing home and I refused, I told him "over my dead body". Next thing I know I was being "Baker Acted" which means that I threated to kill myself and the state steps in and forces you to be hospitalized under "suicide watch" for 72 hours. ???? I don't get it, it was an expression to let them know that there was just no way I was going back to that nursing home who put me in the ER for 13 hours.

I was re-admited to the same floor I was originally on, but had a suicide ""baby sittter" watching my every more for 48 hours until the shrink came and realized nothing was wrong with me.

Finally after being re-admitted is when I got a hospital medical dr. who got my pain under control within about 4 hours! The surgeon NEVER had my pain under control the 5 days I was in his care.

After being released from the hospital, 7 weeks later a staph infection opened my incision. I actually remember in the hospital that particular area being really painful but the nurses dismissed it as just a tender area. Well that's exactly where the infection blew a hole through my incision. Was on antibiotics for 9 weeks.

I fired my surgeon because he has been nothing but mean, screams at me, completely neglected my care in the hospital and VIOLIATED MY PATIENT'S RIGHTS. I have discovered he has had 6 lawsuits againsit, the newest one was in February, 2008. Because of being Work Comp, I was not allowed to get a 2nd opinion, but how since exercised my right to have a one-time change of Dr.

I had 2 herniated disc from the injury, but the surgeon only fixed one disc. Now all the original sysmptoms are coming back and my PCP feels it's from the disc level above which the surgeon NEVER FIXED. My PCP asked the surgeon why the surgeon didn't fix the other herniated disc, the surgeon said "it was a judgemen callt". WELL GUESS WHAT, HE MADE THE WRONG CALL!

My PCP feels now that if I don't have a 2nd operation that I will be disabled the rest of my LIFE!

So my question is do I have a neglect / malpractice against the surgeon, hospital, nursing home? Also specifically with the surgeon because of the way I was treated at the hospital and because he didn't fix the other disc that was clearly herniated? In my opinion this surgeon shouldn't be in practice any longer. As a matter of fact the State of Florida has forced him to go back to school for Continuing Education classes because of his latest lawsuit.

PLEASE, I DESEPERATE NEED HELP. Thanks Pebbles
 


momm2500

Member
you will need copies of all your medical records while in the hospital,doctors, nursing home and the emt's too. you will need all of that to present to an attorney.
 
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FLORIDA

MEDICAL NEGLECT/MALPRACTICE QUESTION

I am a work comp person and I had disc fusion surgery in January and immediately after waking up and trasnfered to my room about 6:30 p.m., the pain was out of control.

that could happen after surgery

The nurses paged my surgeon for 5 hours, he would not return their calls. The dr. would not increase my meds and only gave me a muscle relaxer when he finally called back 5 hours later. I was awake and in in humane amount of pain (30 on a scale of 1-10) until 4:30p.m. the next day when the surgeon finally showed up to check on me. Then he finally gave me pain meds, which still never controlled my pain. .

I cannot believe it took 5 hours and there is a ceiling limit of pain meds you can recieve or else you could go into respiratory arrest. Sounds like you wanted meds meds meds and maxed out and then got upset.

I was never assigned a hospital "medical" Dr. to my case, just the surgeon who didn't care about me or my pain control. I would see him every other day. I wanted to donate blood but he said no. Day 2 after surgery I had to have a blood transfusion, which really upset me since I wanted to donate my own blood ahead of time but was told NO.

the kind of surgery you are describing does not require blood most of the time so your giving blood would be unnecessary. You dont need a medical dr. The surgeon is the one to follow you in the hospital if he operated on you. I want to knoe why you needed a blood transfusion for a back surgery. Something doesnt sound right.

Day 5 I was transfered to a nursing facility because I was not well enough to go home. The nursing facility didn't have my meds in stock and had to call the local pharmacy to deliver. At 11:30 p.m. those meds still were not delivered. I went 5 hours past the time I was supposed to have my meds. I had to call 911 because the nursing home wouldn't help me. The EMT's came and said it was a good thing I called them because the nursing home never had me registered in their system. I WAS THERE FOR 5 HOURS. It's a good thing I remembered my room number. They also falsified my medical records and said them gave me my meds, which is a lie because they didn't have them on premise!

again, you are upset about meds meds meds. You called 911 to help you which is abusing the system. This story sounds more bogust the more I read it.

I was taken back to the hospital where I had my surgery, but was in the ER. The ER dr. called my surgeon and the surgeon took 5 HOURS to call him back! The ER administered so much pain meds, but nothing got my pain under control, that's how bad of shape I was in. I was in the ER for 13 hours. The surgeon wanted me to go back to the nursing home and I refused, I told him "over my dead body". Next thing I know I was being "Baker Acted" which means that I threated to kill myself and the state steps in and forces you to be hospitalized under "suicide watch" for 72 hours. ???? I don't get it, it was an expression to let them know that there was just no way I was going back to that nursing home who put me in the ER for 13 hours.

you must have said something that you are not stating here for them to hold you.

I was re-admited to the same floor I was originally on, but had a suicide ""baby sittter" watching my every more for 48 hours until the shrink came and realized nothing was wrong with me.

that was for your own safety

Finally after being re-admitted is when I got a hospital medical dr. who got my pain under control within about 4 hours! The surgeon NEVER had my pain under control the 5 days I was in his care.

so you were doped up

After being released from the hospital, 7 weeks later a staph infection opened my incision. I actually remember in the hospital that particular area being really painful but the nurses dismissed it as just a tender area. Well that's exactly where the infection blew a hole through my incision. Was on antibiotics for 9 weeks.

staph can happen, that is not negligence.

I fired my surgeon because he has been nothing but mean, screams at me, completely neglected my care in the hospital and VIOLIATED MY PATIENT'S RIGHTS. I have discovered he has had 6 lawsuits againsit, the newest one was in February, 2008. Because of being Work Comp, I was not allowed to get a 2nd opinion, but how since exercised my right to have a one-time change of Dr.

I am sure the surgoen was happy to be fired by you.

I had 2 herniated disc from the injury, but the surgeon only fixed one disc. Now all the original sysmptoms are coming back and my PCP feels it's from the disc level above which the surgeon NEVER FIXED. My PCP asked the surgeon why the surgeon didn't fix the other herniated disc, the surgeon said "it was a judgemen callt". WELL GUESS WHAT, HE MADE THE WRONG CALL!

My PCP feels now that if I don't have a 2nd operation that I will be disabled the rest of my LIFE!

So my question is do I have a neglect / malpractice against the surgeon, hospital, nursing home? Also specifically with the surgeon because of the way I was treated at the hospital and because he didn't fix the other disc that was clearly herniated? In my opinion this surgeon shouldn't be in practice any longer. As a matter of fact the State of Florida has forced him to go back to school for Continuing Education classes because of his latest lawsuit.

PLEASE, I DESEPERATE NEED HELP. Thanks Pebbles


take all your records to a malpractice attorney, give him a ton of money and then sit back jack because there is no case here. You were obviously hooked on the drugs and upset noone would give them to you. everyone everywhere was doing you wrong from the nursing home to the ER to the surgeon and NOONE would "properly" medicate you. Yeah right.
 

lealea1005

Senior Member
It is routine for pain medication to be order post op. Per haps you were maxed out with the med ordered and it would have been dangerous and negligent to increase the dose.

Your surgeon may have been in surgery wth another patient and could not be interrupted to call the floor regarding a non-emergent request for more pain medication.

Your surgeon was the admitting Physician who is in charge of your care. There is no need for another Physician to check in on you unless there are unrelated complications (infectious disease, cardiology, etc). If your PCP visited you, it would have been considered a courtesy only.

I, too, am stunned that you called 911 to the nursing facility you were just admitted to 5 hours earlier. That was inappropriate and a waste of health care dollars.

You were held in the ER for that length of time because your situation was NOT an emerency. You have no idea what other EMERGENT patients they were treating at the time. They appropriately admitted you on suicide watch after verbalizing the possibility that you would harm yourself while you were under the influence of medication, therefore, not coherent.

Staph infection is an unfortunate, sometimes unavoidable fact of surgery. You would have to prove blatant negligence by the staff changing your dressing and/or that the surgeon KNOWLINGLY breached sterile technique during the procedure.

As other have already advised, you can always hire a med/mal attorney who will obtain their own copies of your medical records (at YOUR expense), have a medical expert (at YOUR expense) review your records and advise further.

In the future, should you be concerned with your Physician's malpractice history, may I suggest you check it out BEFORE your surgery, not after the fact.


PS to Sally: my husband required 2 units to be tranfused after his complicated surgery at L4-5, S1, so, although unusual, it could be required. ;)
 
yeah lealea, that is the only point I wasnt sure of. OP seemed to think they were anticipating blood loss and wanted to donate his own blood ahead of time. The rest of his story sounds like a derainged drug addict who is upset that he didnt get his fix. I have a feeling that he is on pain meds chronically and he was maxed out at the hospital and got mad. Atleast that is the feeling conveyed to me.
 

lya

Senior Member
I hate to step on anyone's toes---BUT---I see numerous acts of gross negligence by the surgeon, the nurses, and the rehab/LTC facility.

The surgeon had a duty to the patient and as such is required to respond to being called by the hospital staff on behalf of the patient. Ignoring the patient's request is below the minimum standard of care and is a breach of duty to the patient.

Not only did the surgeon fail in his/her duty to respond to the patient's complaints of pain, but so did the nurses.

The nurses breached their duty to the patient and failed to provide care at the minimum required standard of care by not following procedure to insure a physician saw the patient in a timely manner. The referenced procedure is progressive through the Nursing Department, through the Medical Staff, and through the Administrative Staff up to and including calling the hospital administrator at home in the middle of night if necessary.

The surgeon and the nurses, and I'm sorry to say, RN responders to this post, judged this patient as being a drug seeker and did so, most likely, because of the prejudice against persons with chronic unrelieved back pain, which often defies the best efforts to manage and leads medical professionals to assume the patient is a lazy, opportunistic, drug seeker.

The definition of pain is whatever the patient says is pain, how severe the patient says it is, etc. It is not a judgment call by any healthcare professional.

I, for one, advise the original poster to consult with a medmal attorney at his/her earliest opportunity.

I believe the discharge from the hospital was below the minimum standard of care for safe discharge and because of this, an unnecessary hospitalization placed the patient in jeopardy of contracting the staph infection that he/she had successfully avoided during the initial hospitalization.
 
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kjizzle

Member
I hate to step on anyone's toes---BUT---I see numerous acts of gross negligence by the surgeon, the nurses, and the rehab/LTC facility.

The surgeon had a duty to the patient and as such is required to respond to being called by the hospital staff on behalf of the patient. Ignoring the patient's request is below the minimum standard of care and is a breach of duty to the patient.

Not only did the surgeon fail in his/her duty to respond to the patient's complaints of pain, but so did the nurses.

The nurses breached their duty to the patient and failed to provide care at the minimum required standard of care by not following procedure to insure a physician saw the patient in a timely manner. The referenced procedure is progressive through the Nursing Department, through the Medical Staff, and through the Administrative Staff up to and including calling the hospital administrator at home in the middle of night if necessary.

The surgeon and the nurses, and I'm sorry to say, RN responders to this post, judged this patient as being a drug seeker and did so, most likely, because of the prejudice against persons with chronic unrelieved back pain, which often defies the best efforts to manage and leads medical professionals to assume the patient is a lazy, opportunistic, drug seeker.

The definition of pain is whatever the patient says is pain, how severe the patient says it is, etc. It is not a judgment call by any healthcare professional.

I, for one, advise the original poster to consult with a medmal attorney at his/her earliest opportunity.

I believe the discharge from the hospital was below the minimum standard of care for safe discharge and because of this, an unnecessary hospitalization placed the patient in jeopardy of contracting the staph infection that he/she had successfully avoided during the initial hospitalization.
Very good post:)
 

MedMalDoc

Junior Member
I do believe that it was harsh to jump to conclusions about the "drug seeking status" of the OP but there are a number of other things that I'd like to point out.

I am a work comp person and I had disc fusion surgery in January and immediately after waking up and trasnfered to my room about 6:30 p.m., the pain was out of control. The nurses paged my surgeon for 5 hours, he would not return their calls. The dr. would not increase my meds and only gave me a muscle relaxer when he finally called back 5 hours later.
Referring to the notion of medication use, to adequately review this case the amount of pain medication you were taking before the surgery (if any) would have to be taken into account. When we develop resistance to opiods, the decrease in respiratory drive does not develop resistance at the same pace as pain control--often it is not affected. The subjecive value of this can be decreased by reviewing vital signs in the records. But to continue to give someone increasing amounts of pain medication "willy nilly" is irresponsible and that IS a breach of the standard of care. Yes, your surgeon should have discussed this with you before the operation.


The definition of pain is whatever the patient says is pain, how severe the patient says it is, etc. It is not a judgment call by any healthcare professional.
This is untrue and has caused more apneic codes/intubation/ICU stays that I'd like to remember. I've seen it.

I wanted to donate blood but he said no. Day 2 after surgery I had to have a blood transfusion, which really upset me since I wanted to donate my own blood ahead of time but was told NO.
To be useful the blood has to be donated a good amount of time before the surgery or it defeats the purpose. This may be one reaso why he said no.

The surgeon wanted me to go back to the nursing home and I refused, I told him "over my dead body". Next thing I know I was being "Baker Acted" which means that I threated to kill myself and the state steps in and forces you to be hospitalized under "suicide watch" for 72 hours. ???? I don't get it, it was an expression to let them know that there was just no way I was going back to that nursing home who put me in the ER for 13 hours.
It did get you back into the hospital. You have to watch this because although you didn't mean it there are cases where people have been discharged and committed suicide.

had 2 herniated disc from the injury, but the surgeon only fixed one disc. Now all the original sysmptoms are coming back and my PCP feels it's from the disc level above which the surgeon NEVER FIXED. My PCP asked the surgeon why the surgeon didn't fix the other herniated disc, the surgeon said "it was a judgemen callt". WELL GUESS WHAT, HE MADE THE WRONG CALL!
When anatomy looks normal when you're looking at it, you don't mess with it. Surgery is the definitive diagnostic tool. There are no guarantees with back surgery, I've taken care of patients who have had too many to count. If he did fuse the other vertebra, there''s no gurantee that you wouldn't still have pain and need more surgery.

I believe the discharge from the hospital was below the minimum standard of care for safe discharge and because of this, an unnecessary hospitalization placed the patient in jeopardy of contracting the staph infection that he/she had successfully avoided during the initial hospitalization.
We do not know when or if the pt "contracted" staph. 90% + of surgical wounds that are infected with MSSA are S. epi from the patients own skin. Also an infection that develops almost 2 months later would not be attributable to a hospital stay--more than likely it is due to care of the area and body habitus.

My PCP feels now that if I don't have a 2nd operation that I will be disabled the rest of my LIFE!
Surgeons decide when to operate, not the PCP. This statement is "over the top" so to speak.

The surgeon and the nurses, and I'm sorry to say, RN responders to this post, judged this patient as being a drug seeker and did so, most likely, because of the prejudice against persons with chronic unrelieved back pain, which often defies the best efforts to manage and leads medical professionals to assume the patient is a lazy, opportunistic, drug seeker.
While this may be true, it may also be true that they were acting because they had more information than we do. It is unfortunate and wrong that we often jump to these conclusions.

Overall, I do think there are things that could have been done better. A pain service consult was warranted, if that service was available. However, the two things that could have resulted in long term damages, the need for a second surgery and the infection are risks of this procedure. Trying to win a malpractice case becuase you hurt after surgery would be dificult. Surgery hurts.

Good luck with everything and I hope that your back feels better.
 

lya

Senior Member
MedMalDoc

The statement about pain is correct. It is word for word part of the standard.
 
you could never step on my toes lya!!!! LOL. My whole point is that this pt wants to sue over his pain management basically. He will sue the hospital, the nursing home, the nursong staff, the surgeon, all because he feels he did not get enough pain meds. NOONE can call it based on what he has said here. Truth is, there is a limit and he probably hit it and I will not give meds just because the pt wants them. PERFECT EXAMPLE: I have done chest tues in the ER where the pt kept saying it hurt and repeatedly asked for more drugs and in between was sleeping with a sat that was dropping so he was "cut off" and when he was transferred upstairs stated to his family that we had him in terrible pain and did not help him. This was after MASSIVE doses of dilauded, versed, etc. Should the er, dr and I be sued because we didnt kill him with drugs? I dont think so.
 

pebblesflorida

Junior Member
[/B]

take all your records to a malpractice attorney, give him a ton of money and then sit back jack because there is no case here. You were obviously hooked on the drugs and upset noone would give them to you. everyone everywhere was doing you wrong from the nursing home to the ER to the surgeon and NOONE would "properly" medicate you. Yeah right.
SALLY AND kJIZZEL, OR WHATEVER THE HECK YOUR NAMES ARE,

WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO BE TELLING ME THIS IS A BOGUS STORY AND THAT i'M A DERIANGED DRUG ADDICT? I WAS 4-5 DAYS OUT OF MAJOR BACK SURGERY AND DID NOT HAVE PROPER PAIN MANAGEMENT. YOU SAY I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT "MEDS, MEDS, MEDS" NO I WAS IN FREAKING PAIN, PAIN, PAIN!!! I HAVE NEVER TAKEN ANYTHING STRONGER THEN ADVIL BEFORE THIS ACCIDENT. YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE NEVER HAD SURGERY BEFORE. EVEN THE EMT'S COULDN'T BELIEVE I WAS LEFT IN THE CONDITION THAT I WAS IN. MY BODY WAS IN SHOCK AND IT TOOK 13 HOURS TO GET IT UNDER CONTROL. I AM NOT A JUNKIE LIKE YOU ARE MAKING ME OUT TO BE. I HAVE NEVER HAD SURGERY IN MY LIFE. THE PAIN WAS OUT OF CONTROL. YOU HAVE SOME NERVE BEING SO DISRESPECTFUL WHEN ALL I AM DOING IS TRYING TO GET SOME HELP. THE DR. HAS 6 MALPRACTICE LAWSUITS AGAINST HIM, ARE THEY JUNKIES??? THE ONE PATIENT WAS TOLD HE DIDN'T HAVE A BROKEN BONE, WHEN HE DID AND WAS TOLD ALL HE NEEDED WAS A STEROID SHOT.

SO DON'T EVEN GO THERE WITH ME. WHAT DR. DOESN'T CHECK IN WITH HIS PATIENT AFTER SURGERY? WHAT DR. DOESN'T RETURN OTHER DR'S PHONE CALLS? I PRAY FOR PEOPLE LIKE YOU BECAUSE YOU SERIOUSLY SOME ANGER ISSUES AND LIKE TO TAKE THEM OUT ON INNOCENT PEOPLE. I JUST CAME HERE LOOKING FOR ADVICE NOT HEAR FROM A JERK LIKE YOU!!!
 
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pebblesflorida

Junior Member
It is routine for pain medication to be order post op. Per haps you were maxed out with the med ordered and it would have been dangerous and negligent to increase the dose.

Your surgeon may have been in surgery wth another patient and could not be interrupted to call the floor regarding a non-emergent request for more pain medication.

Your surgeon was the admitting Physician who is in charge of your care. There is no need for another Physician to check in on you unless there are unrelated complications (infectious disease, cardiology, etc). If your PCP visited you, it would have been considered a courtesy only.

I, too, am stunned that you called 911 to the nursing facility you were just admitted to 5 hours earlier. That was inappropriate and a waste of health care dollars.

You were held in the ER for that length of time because your situation was NOT an emerency. You have no idea what other EMERGENT patients they were treating at the time. They appropriately admitted you on suicide watch after verbalizing the possibility that you would harm yourself while you were under the influence of medication, therefore, not coherent.

Staph infection is an unfortunate, sometimes unavoidable fact of surgery. You would have to prove blatant negligence by the staff changing your dressing and/or that the surgeon KNOWLINGLY breached sterile technique during the procedure.

As other have already advised, you can always hire a med/mal attorney who will obtain their own copies of your medical records (at YOUR expense), have a medical expert (at YOUR expense) review your records and advise further.

In the future, should you be concerned with your Physician's malpractice history, may I suggest you check it out BEFORE your surgery, not after the fact.


PS to Sally: my husband required 2 units to be tranfused after his complicated surgery at L4-5, S1, so, although unusual, it could be required. ;)

Leal, thank you for your response. I agree with some of what you wrote I guess I am find out about how no medical dr. was necessary, but I was in astronomical pain and was shaking so much that the nurses were trying to massage my legs all night from the pain and spasms. My friends has to leave cause they couldnt see me in so much pain.

Becasue of WC in florida you do not have the right to a 2nd opinion so there for I did not have a choice. My body gave out on Xmas eve. I even asked my Atty if I could pay for another surgical opinion with my own insurance and they said NO, it's against the law. SO I had not choice in the matter. You know everyone is freaking going off on me and I don't understand why.

I am new here to this site and am looking for real answers to the nightmare that I went through but instead Im being treated like a criminal. As far as calling 911 after 5 hours, i had no choice, my body was going into convulsions, they did not have an meds on premise and there was no one around to help. So it was an emergency AND NOT WAISTING TAX PAYERS MONEY!!! WHILE IN THE ER THEY HAD TO GIVE ME SO MANY MEDS TO GET MY BODY UNDER CONTROL THAT'S WHY. IT WAS AN EMERGENCY. MY BLOOD PRESSURE WAS THROUGH THE ROOF, THEY WERE NOT BUSY, THEY WERE TREATING ME THE ENTIRE TIME, WITH MRI'S, XRAYS ETC. THE REASON I WAS THERE SO LONG IS THAT I REFUSED TO GO BACK TO THAT CRAZY NURSING HOME. THEY WOULD NOT LET ME GO HOME BECAUSE I COULDN'T WALK. HELLO? DOES ANY GET IT THAT I HAD MAJOR SURGERY AND WAS DISABLED? WHY ARE YOU ALL BEING SO MEAN TO ME???

I ALSO NEEDED A BLOOD TRANSFUSION BECAUSE I KEPT FAINTING AND MY HEMOGLOBINS (SP?0 WERE LOW OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. WHY ARE YOU ARE THINKING I AM LYING ABOUT IT. I HAVE FREAKIANG MEDICAL RECORDS WITH ALL MY CONDITIONS THAT REQUIRED EVERYTHING THAT WAS DONE.

I AM SO SORRY I EVEN POSTED HERE. YOU ALL HAVE MADE ME SERIOUSLY FEEL LIKE CRAP WHEN ALL I WAS DOING WAS ASKING FOR HELP. GEEZ!!!
 

pebblesflorida

Junior Member
I hate to step on anyone's toes---BUT---I see numerous acts of gross negligence by the surgeon, the nurses, and the rehab/LTC facility.

The surgeon had a duty to the patient and as such is required to respond to being called by the hospital staff on behalf of the patient. Ignoring the patient's request is below the minimum standard of care and is a breach of duty to the patient.

Not only did the surgeon fail in his/her duty to respond to the patient's complaints of pain, but so did the nurses.

The nurses breached their duty to the patient and failed to provide care at the minimum required standard of care by not following procedure to insure a physician saw the patient in a timely manner. The referenced procedure is progressive through the Nursing Department, through the Medical Staff, and through the Administrative Staff up to and including calling the hospital administrator at home in the middle of night if necessary.

The surgeon and the nurses, and I'm sorry to say, RN responders to this post, judged this patient as being a drug seeker and did so, most likely, because of the prejudice against persons with chronic unrelieved back pain, which often defies the best efforts to manage and leads medical professionals to assume the patient is a lazy, opportunistic, drug seeker.

The definition of pain is whatever the patient says is pain, how severe the patient says it is, etc. It is not a judgment call by any healthcare professional.

I, for one, advise the original poster to consult with a medmal attorney at his/her earliest opportunity.

I believe the discharge from the hospital was below the minimum standard of care for safe discharge and because of this, an unnecessary hospitalization placed the patient in jeopardy of contracting the staph infection that he/she had successfully avoided during the initial hospitalization.

Lya,

FINALLY, a person that has a freaking clue. First of all I am a female for you 2 jerks that posted earlier. 2nd of all I have never had health issues requiring any of these meds I am on at this time. I have never had back issues or chronic pain in my life and am crying now because I can not believe the way those 2 people have treated me the way they did.

Thank you for your intelligent reply Lya. I'm wondering if the other 2 posters weren't JUNKIES OR DRUG SEEKERS!!! I have never had surgery in my life and had no family support to get me through this. I was scared to death and the pain was out of control. Even if the dr. doesn't care for his patients he still has the responsibility to respond to his colleagues phone calls. ESPECIALL THE ER doctor. I would have been treated that long if I was not in distress. There was physical evidence that I was in bad shape. Even the EMT's said it was good I got out of the nursing home becauase they didn't even have me in the system. They lied to the EMT's when they showed up and said that they didn't have anyone by the name. It was only because I have the EMT's over the phone my room number that they found me passed out!

Let me tell you I have never been so offended by a website when I am a disabled person looking for answers. Shame on alot of you for the way you handled yourselves. (Not you Lya).

I pray none of your loved ones are treated the way you have disrespected me on this site! If I did not have the surgery i would have been paralysed. I'm grateful that I can walk, but unfortunately the surgeon didn't fix the other disc that is herniated and now I need another surgery. Even my PCP is furious with the way that I have been treated and wants answers from the surgeon as to why he didn't do the proper procedures!.

The nurses would bring me water, neglected by my roommate and I and left us unbathed for 3 days, that is unacceptable. Perhaps that's why we had staph infections. When i asked for a bath on the 4th day, I got yelled at by the nurse telling me I should have told her we didn't have a bath in 3 days. I don't know as a patient that was MY JOB TO REMIND THE NURSES TO CLEAN THEIR PATIENTS!!! I did notice if I had visitors the nurses we sweet as can be, but soon as they disappeared, they were mean again.

How about the housekeeping lady wiping down the bio-hazard needle box and then wiping down out food trays with the same cloth? Is that just me bitching again? Or could that be considered unsanitary conditions?

Also what about the Patients Rights to be treated with dignity? AFter all all you Dr.'s get off on us bowing down to you! Honestly I commended RN's because they do so much work and don't get the proper credit.

Again, Lya thank you for your intelligent reply and having a bit of compassion. Geez, unbelievable.
 
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