I started having severe neck pain in 2022. By November 2022 the pain was intolerable. I went to the ER. The doctor at the ER x-rayed my neck and said I had degenerative discs but no fractures or any other complications. My neck pain got worse and worse and I ended up back in the ER five more times in April 2023. This was the only hospital in 100 miles, I had nowhere else to go. The xray that was taken in. November was the only radiology of any type I was given at this hospital. Every clinical note that the doctors wrote talked about how my comorbidities were driving their treatment decisions. I am diagnosed with bipolar disorder, At my next visit to that ER, they did not even take me back. They had me sit in the lobby and after three hours a doctor came out and said “we need to talk about your bipolar disorder.” I left the ER and made my way home in an Uber. I gave up. By now I couldn’t really function at all due to the pain. My son called the police for a well check. The police talked to my son and they took me back to YRMC against my protests. My kids showed up and told the hospital they would bring me home. Instead, they drove like hell down to a metropolitan area where I went into a hospital, still weeping and screaming in pain. That hospital immediately gave me an MRI. About 15 minutes later, the nurse came over and said we are admitting you to the ICU. You have a fracture at C1 and C2.
I was in the ICU for four days then a neurosurgeon came over and fused my neck. I had a couple more days in the ICU then spent about 10 days in the regular hospital with another six weeks after that in a skilled nursing facility. before the surgery I had started experiencing shots from my head to my feet. It felt like I was being electrocuted and this was on top of the pain. Months later now my hands are still numb and I cannot carry many things without dropping them.
about a month after I got home I got one of those surveys tell us how are emergency room, dead, and I answered your room. Emergency room came very close to killing me and you are going to end up not only paying your own lawyers but mine as well. a couple of days later the documentation in my medical file started changing. They put in that I had come in for reasons other than neck pain. At one point they even wrote that I had gotten an MRI.
I’ve called two lawyers. The first one told me that medical malpractice cases are so expensive to litigate that he couldn’t help me. The second lawyer said I am really sorry this happened to you, but I also work in the community where the hospital is and can not sue the hospital because I have to stay on their good side.
I can’t really move my head so I can no longer drive. I don’t know what to do or who to call or if any lawyer will help me because apparently they all hate malpractice lawsuits.
thanks for listening. Feel free to comment or advise.
I was in the ICU for four days then a neurosurgeon came over and fused my neck. I had a couple more days in the ICU then spent about 10 days in the regular hospital with another six weeks after that in a skilled nursing facility. before the surgery I had started experiencing shots from my head to my feet. It felt like I was being electrocuted and this was on top of the pain. Months later now my hands are still numb and I cannot carry many things without dropping them.
about a month after I got home I got one of those surveys tell us how are emergency room, dead, and I answered your room. Emergency room came very close to killing me and you are going to end up not only paying your own lawyers but mine as well. a couple of days later the documentation in my medical file started changing. They put in that I had come in for reasons other than neck pain. At one point they even wrote that I had gotten an MRI.
I’ve called two lawyers. The first one told me that medical malpractice cases are so expensive to litigate that he couldn’t help me. The second lawyer said I am really sorry this happened to you, but I also work in the community where the hospital is and can not sue the hospital because I have to stay on their good side.
I can’t really move my head so I can no longer drive. I don’t know what to do or who to call or if any lawyer will help me because apparently they all hate malpractice lawsuits.
thanks for listening. Feel free to comment or advise.
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