Should I bother with a case?

[jjsmoke62]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

My wife went to a reproductive endocronologist(Help having a baby). She also has a problem with seizures.

The repro told her she would have to get off the meds for seizures before he would continue treatment. She did.

He put her through a serries of painful and stressful tests. Test 1 he refused her pain and anestesia meds. Hurt her and did not go through with the test, but aborted mid way because she "couldn't relax enouh".

Test 2 he took hurt her again, and he ushered her out of his office with more meds for enhancing reproduction without explanation. I came in with her and asked to speak to him. As we sat in his office, I proceeded to ask him why certain meds were prescribed, and or not prescribed. He rose in anger, said I was out of line, threw us out of his office. My wife was devestated.

a few days later she had a seizure, I believe was becasue of the doctors abrubt termination of services, and anger out burst. She bit her tongue severely, and wrenched her arm. She is still in pain 5 days later.

Do I have a case?

Joe

 

[moburkes]

Are you saying that while your wife was not taking her anti-seizure medications, she had a seizure?

 

[jjsmoke62]

Are you saying that while your wife was not taking her anti-seizure medications, she had a seizure?

Thats what I am saying.

Since he abrubtly sent us out of his office, we were at a loss as to what to do next. We were wainting for him to send us the copies of our records and try to decide what to do next. (We still have not received all our records and he has ignored my requests to get them). So we just did nothing for about 4 days and waited. When the seizure occured, we called her neurologist, and he had her go back on the meds immediately.

I was a little uneasy about the doctors advice to stop taking the medicines, but I tried to trust him. I had no idea he would be so volitile, and unstable.

He obviously does not like to give his patients explanation of why he prescribes certain meds. It is "out of line" to him.

 

[loveumms]

Sorry but something just doesn't sound right with this picture. Why would he tell her to stop taking the seizure medications without prescribing another anti-seizure med? She may have been on a medication that is dangerous during pregnancy and no reproductive endocrinologist would allow conception while mother was taking harmful medicine (dilantin, depakot, tegretol just to name a few). Also, I don't think a reproductive endocrinologist would be comfortable making seizure medication changes - that is certianly not their specialty. Are you sure the doctor didn't say that she had to go off the medication but, have the neurologist prescribe a different class of anti seizures?

 

[jjsmoke62]

The fact is he said, "You have to be off the meds(Tegratol) for me to treat you." She went back to the neurologist, and because of the repro's insisting on this, he decided to take her off, slowly. It took 1 month. She even had a sleep deprived EEG before we started.

The neurologist did tell me I needed to keep her stress free during this time. I cancelled trips with her family, and even got her going on some art projects. I never expected the Repro to be certifiable. Like I said, she was devestated when he threw us out of his office.

The Repro would not work with her at all on any anti seizure meds. It was either she was off, or forget it. Black or white. We were not told by either doctor of a med that could be substutued.

Is there?

 

[tigger22472]

Your wife knew that by not taking her seizure medication it put her at high risk of having a seizure and by consenting to the procedures she voluntarily stopped medication. She is at fault for this, not the doctor.

You asked why some medications are ok and some are not. It's like asking once your wife is already pregnant why some medications are ok and some are not... it's because different medications cause different reactions that do different things.

I do not see a case here, ellencee may come along and see it differently but I see this as your wife making a choice

 

[loveumms]

Well, if she was under the care of the neurologist during this period then you cannot fault the reproductive endo - he did the job he was asked to: safely try to get your wife pregnant. Most anti seizure medications are teratogenic (meaning harmful to a fetus). The newer agents may be less teratogenic, however there is not enough clinical evidence to support an argument one way or another (since they are new).

Being unable to conceive a child is a very stressful time for couples. The reaction you felt toward the doctor may have been exaggerated by other emotions that you are not aware of (subconscious). Not to say that the doctor wasn't wrong for treating you harsh, there may have been compounding factors at work.

 

[mb94]

From a quick google search I see that Tegretol is 1) classified as a drug that can increase birth defects (although the benefits are considered to outweigh the risks for many women since it is a very minor increase in possible problems) and 2) can decrease fertility and alter the normal reproductive cycle (which makes it even harder to get pregnant). So it is not unreasonable for a fertility doctor to ask his patient to stop taking these drugs.

As for the pain in the tests, I am not sure which tests he was doing but many of the gyn tests can be very painful and stressful but pain meds are not really practical. For one thing you may be asked to explain how certain things feel (pain, fullness, pressure, etc) and if you can't feel anything then you can't answer those questions. I don't see any malpractice, just a bad match between you and the doctor. When finding a fetility doctor, or any doctor really, it's important to find one you fit with. Some fertility doctors are there only to look at the bottom line, trying to get you pregnant as soon as possible(that is what he sounds like). Others will walk you through the process step by step. That sounds like what you need, but you have to find them. Ask her neurologist if he can recommend anyone who works with women with seizure disorders. I will tell you that even with the nicest doctor it is still very stressful to go through fertility treatments and there is no way around that. You may want to sit down with her primary doctors and see if they feel she is healthy enough to go through infertility treatment and pregnancy, since there is an increased risk of seizure during pregnancy.

 

[ellencee]

I do not see any indication of any wrongdoing.

Initially, I thought the fertility doc was in the wrong for adjusting the seizure therapy but the poster provided information that ruled out any wrongdoing.

What's left is a husband who does not understand that such procedures are painful and that giving anesthesia for such procedures is not common and usual practice. Additionally, giving anesthesia to a seizure patient is risky and is reserved for procedures that require anesthesia. I can accept that a Valium may have been indicated and may have even proved therapeutic in preventing seizures.

I don't understand why anyone would come off of seizure medication just to further risk her life from seizure activity or want to risk two lives (the baby's and the mom's) during the pregnancy! Sometimes, what is best is to accept that one cannot safely become pregnant, carry to term, and deliver a healthy baby.

Anyway--no damage as a result of negligence; therefore, no viable medmal claim.

EC

 

[tigger22472]

I don't understand why anyone would come off of seizure medication just to further risk her life from seizure activity or want to risk two lives (the baby's and the mom's) during the pregnancy! Sometimes, what is best is to accept that one cannot safely become pregnant, carry to term, and deliver a healthy baby.

This is kind of off topic yet this thread has reminded me of the Andrea Yates case... no not that I believe the OP's wife would murder any children that they would have but in the sense that she was on medication for her mental disorder and was advised not to have another child, not just due to not taking the medication but also the risk of having another psychotic episode after the birth of a child as that seemed to be what triggered them. She and her husband decided they knew what was best, she stopped her medication, stopped her birth control and became pregnant again. The rest is traumatic history. The point is that coming off REQUIRED medication for the sake of having a child is simply not always the best thing (cannot think of a situation in which it would be).

 

[jjsmoke62]

OK. Got the points.

1) It was risky to get off the seizure meds.

2) Neurologist supervised.

One last question people may have overlooked. The doctor threw us out of his office because we asked for information about the treatment. I hardly call that "overexadurated" stress since I was devestated as well. I belive it is the patients legal right to be well informed of what is happening during treatment, and what pills are being prescribed.

Was the doctor "reasonable" in his reaction to the questions? If not, did he put my wife in unnessessary risk by acting the way he did? The neurologist told me he thought there was a very little risk of reoccurrance in light of the sleep deprived EEG she took. He told me to try to keep her stress free. Did the Repro work with the Neurologists reccomendations, or go against it?

Yes there was a risk for a bad pregnancy. The Neuro said it was a very low risk. That taking extra folic acid would reduce the rsk, and this was in fact doable. I would never have taken that risk if I wasn't reassured by both the Repro and Neuro. Life is full of risks. I risk getting into a car accident every time I go to work. But you can't stiop living. But if a drunk driver slams me, or someone with road rage kills me, the risk was increased unnessessarily.

Any thoughts before we put this to rest?

 

[tigger22472]

OK. Got the points.

1) It was risky to get off the seizure meds.

2) Neurologist supervised.

One last question people may have overlooked. The doctor threw us out of his office because we asked for information about the treatment. I hardly call that "overexadurated" stress since I was devestated as well. I belive it is the patients legal right to be well informed of what is happening during treatment, and what pills are being prescribed.

Was the doctor "reasonable" in his reaction to the questions? If not, did he put my wife in unnessessary risk by acting the way he did? The neurologist told me he thought there was a very little risk of reoccurrance in light of the sleep deprived EEG she took. He told me to try to keep her stress free. Did the Repro work with the Neurologists reccomendations, or go against it?

Yes there was a risk for a bad pregnancy. The Neuro said it was a very low risk. That taking extra folic acid would reduce the rsk, and this was in fact doable. I would never have taken that risk if I wasn't reassured by both the Repro and Neuro. Life is full of risks. I risk getting into a car accident every time I go to work. But you can't stiop living. But if a drunk driver slams me, or someone with road rage kills me, the risk was increased unnessessarily.

Any thoughts before we put this to rest?

The doctor seems to have been a bit unprofessional for ordering you out of his office, however, no one here was there and cannot tell you if he over reacted.

You would have to PROVE that this is what caused you or your wife damage.
Can you PROVE that the doctor's actions were MORE stressful than your wife learning that she was not going to be having a child in the near future and that to pursue this you would have to start over with a new doctor? I mean presumably you knew this would be what you were left with BEFORE you went to the doctor.

Are you saying that your wife's neuro TOLD her that it was safe to stop taking her seizure meds? If so THAT would be the doctor you should concentrate on... not this one. But then again you would have to PROVE him to be negligent which would mean getting all of her records and getting the opinion of at least one other doctor willing to say there was a high risk of her having a seizure without the medication.

In the end it was still her (and presumably your) choice not to take the meds.

My husband and I were discussing this issue tonight as he is on seizure medication. He has said many times that he would rather be paralyzed again than to have another seizure. Despite what doctors may or may not say, he'd never be willing to take that risk. Your wife was and it didn't work. I do not mean to sound harsh or mean about this but this was brought on by her own actions and I see little chance of that fact being eliminated in order to recover any sort of damages.

 

[jjsmoke62]

Question for Ellenncee.

You said that pregnancy for women with seizure disorders could "risk the womans life and the fetus". Is that true? Are you a doctor?

I told my wife I was NEVER willing to take that risk. Is this a legitimate concern? Please let me know.

 

[ellencee]

Question for Ellenncee.

You said that pregnancy for women with seizure disorders could "risk the womans life and the fetus". Is that true? Are you a doctor?

I told my wife I was NEVER willing to take that risk. Is this a legitimate concern? Please let me know.

Pregnancy is high risk for known and unknown seizure patients. The medications required to control seizures are an issue as is the possibility of a seizure's cutting off the oxygen supply to the fetus.

Consult with a high-risk OB/GYN.

EC

 

[rmet4nzkx]

As previously stated, your wife was receiving appropriate care. Infertility, high risk pregnancies and seizures all make for a complex situation and these days, a reproductive endo is not going to take unnecessary risks. Your wife was properly supervised, including the addition of additional folic acid, which for persons taking Tegretol it is suggested they take approximately 5 times the normal reccommendation for pregnant women, and for a period of time before pregnancy is attempted. In addition to ceasing her ASD did she try a ketogenic diet to control seizures? Even though she had a sleep deprived EEG, it is obvious that her risk for seizures is still great and at greater risk of not delivering a healthy full term baby even though the risk from the Tegretol was small, it was not the only factor. 9+ months is a long time to isolate a person from stress and there is a risk to your wife's life as well. Please consider adoption once your wife's siezures are under control.