:)
Posted on 10/12/2002 4:17:28 PM PDT by Cobra64
That said, sometimes they get "bleeders". My last words to the physician before he "went in" was "Do me a favor, doc; don't perforate anything." No medical procedure is risk free; shoving a TV camera up somebody's but has some risk. The issue is: balance the risk against the risk of cancer. They found six polyps and got them all; pre-cancerous and I am a HAPPY camper.
My father died of colon cancer. I'm 51. So I will have these every two years or so.
Oh, and BTW--no matter what anyone tells you--those "virtual colonoscopies" are not worth, um, intestinal contents.
--Boris
After spending cumulative months in waiting rooms, the stories of failed orthopedic surgeries are appalling. Most are not the fault of the physician OR the patient, just a fact of life. The thing that really aggravates most patients is that doctors pay little or no attention to the complaints of pain. They dismiss it, think there's nothing they can do about it (mustn't make the patient ADDICTED!), or believe the patient is malingering.
There's a belief by many people (including physicians) that patients with back pain are exaggerating, trying to get disability and in general just milking the system.
I used to work in the medical field. I related this story one day, and a physician in the audience came up to me and said 'guilty as charged'. Turns out he was an orthopedic surgeon who developed degenerative disk disease. He said 'there's no way you can describe the pain to someone unless you've had it - and most doctors haven't had it'.
My husband also developed a rapid-onset cataract (very common in disabled people) and had the implant. Everything went fine until the film grew over the implanted lens. The Ophthalmologist removed the film with the YAG laser and detached his retina. The retinal surgeon said he couldn't do the repair because the patient has to remain in a position not tolerated by his neck and confinement to a hard collar. He's totally blind in that eye.
Moreover, to think that they work harder for the incentive of more pay says as much for the weakness of the case as it does for the concept of a fair justice system.
All well and good, what you said. The goal is zero mistakes, and when there are mistakes, somewhere in that fraction are doctors who have no business being at practice.
I'll give you a case in point: my son's birth was a traumatic nightmare that lasted 12+ hours and included failed forceps, failed vacuum and a delayed crash C-section that damn near claimed the baby and the mother. I watched the doctor in a full panic, after having berated my wife for 'not being up to the task of motherhood' drive the operating theater into a near frenzied panic with cursing, yelling and a hysterical tantrum. Nurses openly argued with him in front of me, saying he was making a bad case worse.
If I'd had my wits about me at that moment I'd have demanded he be removed.
Had my wife's uncle not been on the board of directors of the hospital group and had I not been diligent in demanding records immediately following the birth, I might not have found out some of what transpired.
When it was all said and done - I didn't sue- it was clear to me that at the very least I could have seen that OBGYN/SOB sanctioned by the medical board, if not suspended. It still makes my blood boil 9 years later.
I showed the physcian's own report to a close relative who is an internist. His opinion (not having been in the room) was that the OB's record was, at best, 'artfully written', in light of the other records I had.
Your response sounds to me like the words of a 'denial officer' with an HMO.
Nope I'm the one in the "pit" taking care of patients in the ER and just for giggles I review cases for malpractice insurance companies, and testify as an expert on ER aspects of child abuse and sports med....
as for your case of failure to progress..... that's why there's a 20-30% C-section rate in some areas of this country. Like I said .... some docs kill 'em and get away while some docs deal with real train wrecks (bad or difficult cases) and get screwed because people don't understand that sometimes.... you're gonna die and there ain't anything you can do about it.
Your doc yelling in front of you and wife and staff proves my point.... he may have done everything "by the book" but because he made it look like a Chinese fire-drill..... he's a loser. Where as kind ole Marcus Welby in the 40's- 50's would just come out of the OR and sit down and say... "We did all we could but ... we lost them. I'm so sorry."
..... Remember in the old movies how dads used to be smoking in the hallway all worried... even movies about the early 1900's..... Well the reason why is that (newsflash) Women used to die in childbirth and so did kids.... bleeding, infection, anoxia (no oxygen to the brain) and it is now RARE that a woman will die in childbirth that it seems "reportable". Look up the statistics on major malformations per 1000 live births in this country. You will freak out. You (or the rest of our suit happy country) will try to find out who or what caused the malformation... x-rays, drugs, foods, tylenol, diet... whatever... and sue them. Guess what... sometimes nothing can be found but everyone sued has to pay attorney fees and insurance. Well you get the pic right?
I'm not going to lie to you and say that there aren't some terrible docs out there..... but the problem is that the public can't judge a case by bad outcome only by procedure and usually doctors are harder on their peers than you think. I don't fault the public cause lawyers are the one that throw the stuff on the wall and see if something sticks.
They usually only sue if it's for big bucks.... this case on the surface looks like a fishing expedition for a $17000 bill to be written off.
The lawyer that takes this case is going to have to be hard up to get involved in this one. IMHO
Yep.... you're right.
Good analysis.
I'm no expert on bowel inspection, and have no firm opinion on which is better--I'll only repeat assertions that have been made to me.
There is a difference between colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy. The sigmoidoscopy is not done under sedation. Only the first, oh I don't know, couple of feet or so, is inspected. A colonoscopy is done under sedation and the full intestine can be inspected. That's what GWB had done when the baton (or briefcase) was temporarily passed to Cheney. I was told that "most" of the cancers and precancerous polyps show up in the bottom end of the intestine and are picked up by the sigmoidoscopy. I don't know what "most" means quantitatively.
The colonography covers the whole intestine. However, I doubt that its resolution is as high as would be obtained through visual inspection. I seem to remember the doctor's propaganda stating "small" and "several mm." Further, the colonography isn't always covered by medical insurance because it is new.
Its funny in a way that this issue is generating a good deal of traffic. Maybe there's an age correlation with conservatism.
No significant dieting. However, you have to take an emetic in the evening before the test (gross), and then only have clear fluids until the test is done. The emetic rots, the minimal fasting until the test is nothing.
You misunderstand me. In the current theater of 'me first' litigation, in my situation, I had a reasonbly good case which I chose not to pursue. Nothing about me is 'suit happy'.
My point was that the doctor had no business in the delivery room if he couldn't control the situation; the fact that he couldn't- and yes, the fact that I saw him- meant that had things turned out differently he'd have been very sorry indeed. If reality is perception, it appeared to me (and to the nurses who filed some of the other reports that I got ahold of) that this joker was not, as you insinuate, a man with 'poor bedside manner'. He was dangerous at best, more likely incompetent.
I know that the hospital was very concerned about our case, and that the doctor's privileges were not renewed and that he's practicing back in India.
I'm well aware of the stats in medicine. I tried to make your argument once on an abortion thread; sometimes all God's chillun aren't perfect and real live people have to decide what to do about that, much to the dismay of the people who are full of opinions but very little common sense (and even less understanding of medicine).
And I'll tell you, my experience in the delivery paled in comparision to my experience with the HMO when they decided we lacked a proper form and they weren't going to pay...
:)
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