38 states currently have an apology act. This means that if doctors feel they owe a patient an apology, they may provide one without any ramifications, if future legal actions are taken by the patient/patient’s family.
In 2006, I spent 218 days in the hospital after the healthy birth of my daughter. My chronic autoimmune disease, scleroderma, masked certain signs of preeclampsia, which went undiagnosed. This led to a massive infection that ultimately resulted in eight major surgeries, two tracheotomies, ICU psychosis, sepsis, extreme deconditioning from the neck down, multiple interventional radiology drains, feeding tubes, and a myriad of other life-threatening horrors that brought me to the brink of death at age 31.
In my opinion, and the professional opinions of multiple doctors and nurses whom I’ve consulted with since my recovery, much of what my family and I endured was caused by medical error. I believe there were four physicians who contributed to my patient harm.
My high-risk OB-GYN did not give credence to the rising levels of protein in my urine, or my rising blood pressure because I was not swelling (due to tight skin, scleroderma patients typically do not swell). My rheumatologist, whom I had seen for 11 years and had guided me through my first successful pregnancy, never communicated or collaborated with my high-risk OB-GYN. The GI specialist who was assigned to my case was arrogant and dismissive of my symptoms. Even after examining my post-partum ileus, which was enormous and hard as concrete, he suggested I was merely constipated. The surgeon who ultimately did perform exploratory surgery that resulted in an emergency colectomy, was extremely reluctant to bring me into the OR. He kept insisting that there was nothing that he could do for me surgically.
Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.
No comments:
Post a Comment