Malpractice? I wonder.

Karihkinz

Karihkinz

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Karihkinz
Ok so, once again I'm going under the knife. Which sucks. Alot. I don't like the knife D: But who does? Dont answer that.

Anyway.

Last November I had a maligment 8ish ounce cyst attatched to my right ovary that twisted around, ripped, and from what I was told back then completely enveloped the ovary killing it off. Also since the cyst ripped, alot of blood clots and bacteria were floating around inside my abdoment, stomach, and chest. (That doesn't sound so bad, but a cyst rupturing has been noted to be more painful than child birth if its large, which mine was.) So I had to have surgery to remove all of that. Now, after I got out of surgery the doctor told me that he had removed the right ovary, cyst, drained all the bacteria and removed all the clots. Good as new!

Wrong.

Well the pain never went away. But being that I had all this done with no insurance and a ton of debt I let it hurt and just continued to take pain killers. Month after month it was horrid pain that not even a vicoden an hour could kill off, dent, or dull. So last Friday I go back to the hospital to the ER, sent home from my job becuase my lower back and right leg went numb and I couldn't walk without severe pain (or lay down, or sit still, etc). I got to the ER at about 12:30, it was empty. Sat around for 2 and a half hours to finally be let into a room. I noticed there was maybe 1-2 other patients and I wondered why it took so long. I see 11, count that, 11 nurses sitting at the desk laughing and having a good old time. Whatever, I just want to finally find out why I'm in so much pain all the time.

Doctor comes in and he asks me some questions but seems very stand offish and as if hes not even paying attention. He says ok we'll do an ultrasound (no thats not just for pregnant people) and find out whats up. So 2 hours goes by. He comes in. "Wheres your test results?" to which I reply that they havent even come and got me yet. A couple minutes later a nurse walks in and says they are just so busy and forgot about me. Mind you, I can see thier desk from my room. They werent busy. So as we're doing the ultrasound I keep being asked "Are you SURE they took the right ovary?" "Are you POSITIVE thats what the doctor said?" This might be a good time to point out that the doctor that had performed the surgery at the same hospital I was at on Friday has left the bussiness and moved out of state.

They say finally "Ok it will be an hour before they are read by a Doctor on call in St. Louis then we'll get a fax with the results." I get back to my room its now about 6:30. My mom who had picked me up from my house to take me since I couldn't drive was missing work and incredibly mad that we were being treated so poorly so she asked the nurse why. The nurse got defensive, told her it was normal, and walked off. Not more than 5 minutes later the doctor comes in says I'm fine I need to deal with cramps better and to go home. Prescibes me a very lax pain killer (which doesnt make any sense since VICODEN DOESNT WORK, why would anything less?) and I go home incredibly angery and still hurting.

So yesterday I go see a specialist. I went to the hospital to get my records for the specialist which I had requested at the ER and had been told "well we're not supposed to do that but I'll see if I can" in a snappy voice. Hello? My records? Its the law, bitch. I go there and find the request was never put in and have to wait nearly 2 hours for them to be put together, and then they dont even put in most of the information I requested. Just what had been done during the surgery in november. The new Doctor tries to get my ultrasound results from the hospital and they wont send it to him, one told him they didnt have the results, one told him they werent allowed to send it, another said they didnt know where they were, etc etc.

Finally he says "Thats it let me talk to administration." They put him on hold, in comes the fax of the results, and hes told to have a nice day. He just thinks they didnt want to get off thier ass and fax them. Thats nice. You know, my records, trying to find out whats wrong, and they are that way. Anyway, he reads over the report from my surgery first, and says the ovary was never removed. I am somewhat flabbergasted. I say no thats not possible. He -told- me it was gone. The whole thing. But the doctor didn't enter it in the report that he removed it. During the step by step documentation of my surgery he doesn't even mention the ovary. So I am now really nervous. Why would a doctor tell me "I removed this organ you wont have any more pain on that side" and he didn't?

Then he reads the ultrasound results and doesn't see my ovary there. Now the doctor and I are completely dumbfounded because when he felt around through some tests he told me he felt the ovary. So what the heck?!

His final diagnosis was either the doctor left some of the ovary there, and it scarred over and attatched itself to my appendix, and now its like a rubber band pulling on both organs and twisting. Or he left it all in and another large cyst has occured. But scar tissue can't be viewed through any type of test only through a camera they insert through your belly button.

So now I am having to go through surgery on very little information and on very short notice, and I really have to wonder if I have any type of grounds to be angry at the hospital and doctor that did my surgery. Shouldn't operations be covered more thoroughly? Should I have numerous people dumbfounded as to whether or not I still have an organ or not? It just seems way to disorganized when it comes to someones health and well being, and things done to my body. They charged me nearly 9000 dollars for that which I'm still paying off, and now I have to go through it all again? Just seems very weird. Anyone know any steps I could take to maybe getting a clearer understanding as to why so much information is off, and also as to why I was treated so badly in the ER? My appendix is really flared up because of this, what if it had burst? That can be life threatening, and they just wrote me off as a dumb girl who doesn't have a pain tolerance for cramps.
 
If what you say is true it sounds to me like you may have the grounds for a malpractice suit against both the doctor and the hospital.
 
Jesus chrsit Kari, I think you shoudl track down the doctor who preformed the operation and grill him on wtf he was doing while inside your abdomen....I he said "I took your ovary" then you damn well better be minus 1 ovary. If you arent and theres still 2 ovaries in you fucking sue his ass for malpractise. For all you know he could of just opened you up then closed you and said BAM we're all done.

I really think you should confront him about it Kari, If he is some horrible doctor he could be working his shitty skills on other people. Find em, confront em, sue em.

I really hope you when you go under the knife again you get a good doctor and not one like this:
nick.jpg


Get better Karihkinz! ^_^
 
Im more confused at this point. If its just a miscommunications in the records department, then I wouldn't want to get into some suit that will just cost time and money. The doctor being gone doesn't help at all because only he knows what he really did. And yeah I'll find out come next Wenseday, but at what cost? 2 weeks of missed work, more medical debt, and all without 100% solid proof that the surgery is needed. Like I said, it just sounds way too disorganized to me.

EDIT: The hospitals response to me saying he took the ovary and them thinking it was still there was "Well it wasnt documented. You must of just heard wrong."
 
I don't understand why hospital ERs are like this, but the same thing happened when I fractured my hip back in '00. Took them forever to look at me and they even kicked me out of the wheelchair they had given me so someone else could have it, leaving me to hop around on my good leg for a while. Then they took x-rays, found nothing wrong, and sent me home with a knee brace even though I told them 10+ times that my hip is where I landed when I fell. Then several days later I go to a specialist who looks at the x-rays from the ER trip and is completely flabbergasted that they missed the obvious fracture.

As for malpractice, from our discussion about this earlier I'm not entirely sure what you can do about the original doctor since he has vanished and since there's no written log of what he supposedly did. However, you could probably go after the ER for a form of medical neglect by sending you home so many times when you complained about such terrible pain.

Whatever happens, you know I'm always pulling for you and hope that everything turns out okay. Good luck to you and I hope this new surgery finally takes care of all this pain.
 
Yeah exactly. Theres no proof he ever told me that he took the ovary other than myself, my boyfriend at the time, and my mother being told by the doctor that it was removed. Also, myself and the doctor had a long discussion about this later that day after my surgery in my room. He said he took it because it had been killed off. Then I asked if I could still have kids, and he had laughed and said sure thats why you have a left one! Though because of complications with the bacteria infecting parts of my uterus I have a really slim chance of carrying to term if I ever do decide to have children.

Why would we have this dicussion, if they were both left?
 
I knew all about this, I really didn't realize the severity until now.

Let me know if I can do anything to help Kbeans. More than happy to drive down & kick the doctor in the ass if that makes you feel better too. ^^;

You'll be in my thoughts when surgery time comes around. Hopefully you can call me asap & let me know how it went. I worry. ; ;
 
Kari I'm really sorry to hear about all this. You should look into a malepractice lawyer considering how much money your being charged for the level of care your recieving. There is no way the hospital or doctors should be treating you this way espically with the severity of the situation.
 
He could be feeling anything in there. Until they do the laproscopy there is no telling what it is he is feeling. It could just be scar tissue and adhesions or endometriosis or about a hundered other things. If your "cyst" was "malignant" was there any radiation or chemotherapy done? If not it could be that the malignacy has spread. Who knows? Your best bet is to let them take a look and see what's up in there.
 
I dunno if you could sue for malpractice or such because they'll throw up a "BLAH BLAH BLAH POSSIBLE RISKS OF SURGERY HAHEHUHO" defense, which I've seen in over half a dozen cases...though professional negligence sounds like a very stable case, ESPECIALLY if they don't have a full log of what they've done during the operation.

I really, really hope everything turns out okay for you Kari...
 
Ya, I would have suggested a biopsy on that area especially since if the cyst was to become malignant and grow, it would result in removal of other parts. Depending on the spread and time lapse it could be personally detrimental and thus questioning neligience on the doctor and the hospital staff's performance. Right now, try to communicate with the doctors and hopefully the next operation is a preventive measure.

Your files on records cannot be held from you. They should be held away from marketers or malicious intents of some insurance companies who try to gain information to decide who can and cannot be on their policies. The doctor has fled which means there are probably other unsatisfied previous patients. Might want to do a little self research to see if there are other cases building up against this particular physician.

Sadly a lot of hospitals for profit (some nonprofit) have taken out of quaility of service in exchange to prevent malpratice and to cut down on the overall cost of health care. OBGYNs are one of the most sued health professions and while some cases are unreasonable, (ie parents suing the doctor for a parent(s) genetic defect that passed onto the child(ren)) others are legitimate.

Best of luck.
 
Change your diet.

Get a new doctor and second opinion and persue a malpractice suit if you have money, go find someplace that cares because it sure doesn't sound like they care over there.

REsearch online, friends, family, anyone before going to any doctor.

I really hope everything turns out ok for you.
 
I'm also in the process of dealing with ovarian cysts. I've been to the emergency room twice, the first time they started telling me it was my appendix, and decided on a urinary tract infection, and again the next time I was in the ER, they told me it was a urinary tract infection, of which both times, it was neither, although they just insisted on treating that and sending me home, bent over in pain. My mother had surgery about a year and a half ago for a histerectemy. She had been suffering horrible pain for years, because when she was around 20 or so, she had surgery for ovarian cysts, and the scar tissue ended up building up around her ovaries, eventually choking them. She was very lucky to been able to have me, though I was born premature and she had several misscarriages before and after I was born.

But, although I'm afraid I might have to go into surgery, a friend of mine had surgery around the middle of last year to remove the cysts, she was having pain for a long time after as it healed. Though not to the extreme you're having, she did suffer for a while, and might need to go back in for more surgery. My mother, my friend and I all have the same OBGYN, and he's a very good doctor, so I trust that I'm in good hands. When he re-examined my records from the hospital, including ultrasounds(Which aren't fun at all, because I REALLY had to pee.) They couldn't even find my right ovary, him or the hospital. I haven't gone back in a while but I'm plenty overdue, since I've always had bad "cramps" and suffered though painful and heavy periods, it was a clue that something wasn't right in my system. :/

Were you put on birth control at all? After I was diagnosed with developing ovarian cysts, I was immediately put on birth control because it would help shink the ones I had and prevent others from comming. That's probably one thing you should check into, or possibly some other type of hormone replacement since they pulled out one of your ovaries.

I've always been in poor health, and I understand how debilitating ovarian cysts can be, the pain that I've suffered though with only small cysts has been absolutely dreadful, so I can only imagine the kind of pain you've been going through. If you need someone to talk to, I'm always here, you can PM me or message me in game.
 
Yeah I was on birth control for a while but I stopped taking it because they were actually causing me to have worse pain then without. But I can completely relate to your story, I was in the ER numerous times before and was always told either "cramps, go home get over it" or it was a urinary tract infection. It isn't until I go to another hospital that I'm ever diagnosed properly. And it took my first cyst rupturing and me collapsing at home screaming for them to take me seriously. (Hurray for the neighbor being an EMT).

My OBGYN was one of the only ones around here, and many of the women I know and work with have had him as well. And while everyone agrees he has a great bedside manner, many of the ladies I've talked to have had trouble with him as well. Whether or not he fled because he had a couple of lawsuits going or just changed state for better money, I can't say for sure. There could be numerous reasons.

I just got back from my new hospital of choice doing blood work and they were commenting that they had many bad experiences with the other hospitals ER not diagnosing people properly. I'm really not out to sue, like I said. I just really feel that something is wrong when noone knows what was done to my body, especially when it comes to whether or not organs were removed or left alone that are the foundation as to if I have children one day or not. (Which I do wish to have). This would be much more simple if I had the same doctor still, because only he knows what he did and did not do. I understand people make mistakes, doctors are human too! But theres no mistaking a "Yeah lets leave that in there" vs a "nah, lets take it out." Its a friggin body part!

Thanks for all the words of encouragement ^_^ Hopefully things arent that bad. I feel very weary of my new doctor telling me within 10 minutes of meeting me that I need surgery again, especially going off the other hospitals notes which are poorly organized. I highly doubt it'd be a "Oh hey we didn't need to cut you open, so we wont charge you." ordeal. x_x

I will probably wait til after my surgery on Wenseday, to decide whether or not to call and get malpractice advice. Because until then I really don't have much of a grasp on the situation. I feel that if the ovary is there I do have a case, because I was told as well as my mother that it was removed. I have pictures of the before and after pictures as well though I cant tell what organs are which lol. (I'd post but I dont want to gross out the weak stomach readers.)
 
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While its not as serious as your case, the same thing have happened to my family four times We never, ever see a doctor unless its very important.

Three years ago my sister got borelia. My mom, naturally, went to a doctor to get some medicine for it. They look at her, and just say its not borelia. She goes to another one, he just searches on the internet and says some things, that the symptoms are not right (following adult sympoms only, my sister was 6 at the time).

Four months later, my sister is rather sick. Sleeps all the time 'cause she's really tired, and half of her face is red. So we visit a specialist, and she said the symptoms were clearly visible, and it wasn't good that we came so late to her, yada yada. My sister gets well.

1 month ago, the exact same story happends. We tell the doctor that the exact same thing happened three years ago, but he still doesn't believe us, refuses to look at it, and just assumes we're wrong.

The two other stories involve my other sister, and isn't quite as interresting, but let's just say we still have no clue wtf the problem is as all the doctor say is "Well, I haven't heard of it before, so it can't exist, and thus there's no need for me to examine it".

Either way, I personally think you should sue the doctor. Best case scenario is that you get your money back, and the doctors might actually get a little bit more competent. Although in the end it all comes down to what you feel. I do hope that it'll get sorted out so that you won't have to be in pain anymore.
 
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As previously stated, you should consult with a malpractice lawyer to see if you have a case, because if the hopsital and the doctor messed up, then that could cause your situation to worsen, assuming that it is a case of malpractice.

You should also do some research online (internet has everything) and try and contact a doctor, or a medical expert involving your situation, and ask for their honest, educated opinion. That's what I would do, and have done. They actually do help out. :O

Hope ya get better.
 
Karihkinz said:
You could be on to something. I do eat alot of prison food. >_>
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lol, whatever that is it don't sound too good for you.

Usually Cancer, Heart Disease, colds, almost anything is caused partly if not wholelly by your diet/lifestyle. And changing it can/may change alot more than you can possibly imagine.

Doing so however is probably the hardest things you ever will attempt, there is no greater reward then getting to live in a healthly body, because its the only one you'll ever have.
 
Ranpha said:
Sadly a lot of hospitals for profit (some nonprofit) have taken out of quaility of service in exchange to prevent malpratice and to cut down on the overall cost of health care. OBGYNs are one of the most sued health professions and while some cases are unreasonable, (ie parents suing the doctor for a parent(s) genetic defect that passed onto the child(ren)) others are legitimate.
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This is very sad but true. Also, what stood out to me was your mention of insurance issues and still paying off medical bills. From personal experience I can tell you, many hospitals treat you differently the minute they get the inkling that you are not going to pay or may not be able to afford the care. If you walk in there without insurance, you can almost count on a lesser level of care and a shitty, condescending attitude from the hospital staff. I went through a period of time where I also had female health issues and didn't have medical insurance at the time and went through a nightmare with seemingly apathetic and/or incompetent health care people.

The best advice I can give you is to take care of yourself. Don't take any shit from these people. If they want to be pricks, you be a prick right back. You have rights as a patient and no matter how "busy" they are or how condescending, you are paying for a service and legally, they are required to provide it. I would absolutely look into the malpractice issue, as it seems fishy to me that doc up and left town, and I would ask questions of these new folks until you get a comfort level with what they're telling you.

And I couldn't agree with some of these people more... Your best bet is to be as knowledgeable about your symptoms/issues as you can be so you can go to the doctor and say "well, what about x." Here's a site to check out, maybe a good place to start: http://www.webmd.com/

I hope everything works out for you and that you are feeling better soon.
 
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