I just learned yesterday that my surgery's outcome is due to nurse malpractice. My surgeon couldn't figure out why the bone anchor went all the way through the hole he drilled instead of staying directly in the middle of the bone....until he realized that the nurse's "strict protocol" at the hospital was not followed. The nurse handed him a bone anchor with a gauge too small, which made it go farther than he intended. I don't know if I'll still be fine (up for grabs), but it's awful thinking I may have to go through this again (even putting all this stress on family helping me almost around the clock when Joe isn't home) for another 5 or more weeks if this doesn't pan out. The doctor seemed really worried about me sueing...because he's been going well out of his way to help me. He wasn't supposed to be in the office yesterday, but he made the 40 minute trip to explain about the surgery for me. I told him I was feeling short of breath and anemic/fainty, he wrote up a referral to go to a blood lab place that will tell me the results within a couple of hours..and he later called me up to highly suggest me going to the ER (which I did end up taking his advice) because he was worried about a blood clot if I'm out of breath. I don't have one, but they did find a minor infection. He called me when I got home from the hospital to check up on me and said he would call in a couple of days to see how I'm doing even though my next visit with him isn't until the 17th. He is a very nice doctor/surgeon...and I don't believe this was his fault. He trusted the nurse on good faith that she was handing him the right tool (which I'm sure he will now double check on his own). I told him the only thing I ask for, is the hospital putting a note in my file that if I have to go through surgery again to fix this, they are taking care of the bill.
Anyways, today I still feel out of breath, and I almost fainted this morning and had a heat-rush and nausea as if I had the flu. I hope it's nothing serious still.
I'll leave you with one of the cutest videos of my children this week...
3 comments:
Hope you feel better soon. The doctor is ultimately responsible. He may be a very nice person but you are still the one having to carry burden of the error.
I was injured several years ago and didn't want to see because it was a non-profit, etc. and I had great insurance when I was injured. Had I known what lay ahead, the number of co-pays I would have to pay with doctor visits, rehab, etc. I would have let their insurance company take care of me financially seeing they were at fault.
I hope everything goes well for you. It would be a terrible time if you need to go through the surgery again.
Tobad he is laying the blame on the nurse. He should have checked this out when putting it in as well as the size. I'm sorry but he needs to man up. I'm sorry you are going through this.
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