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Colonoscopy gone bad
hospital | 10/13/02 | self

Posted on 10/12/2002 4:17:28 PM PDT by Cobra64

Man almost bled to death as a result of a colonoscopy.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: bleeding; colonoscopy
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To: Pearls Before Swine
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.

Anywhere between 65% and 50%. Not good Russian Roulette odds.

Proximal Shift in the Distribution of Colon Cancer

81 posted on 10/12/2002 9:41:32 PM PDT by Polybius
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To: IncPen
I think we both agree that your doctor's behavior was bad... he probably was what we call a "double O doctor" .... (licensed to kill). If he's gone ...good. My point is that sometimes the outcome isn't the "fault" of anything other than.... bad stuff happening to good people. I'm glad that everything turned out OK for you child and wife.
82 posted on 10/13/2002 4:30:08 AM PDT by Dick Vomer
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To: Fracas
I feel for you. Peole don't realize what being in the medical system after a doctor reams you out is like. No other doctor will treat you properly, not for fear of being sued, but instead for fear of having to testify that there was a problem caused by the other doctor. Some of them will throw a gun down beside your body.

As a mechanical engineer I always felt that lawyers were scum of the earth. The lawyers in my case were the only ones who behaved ethically

83 posted on 10/13/2002 9:32:40 PM PDT by Nov3
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To: TC Rider

FYI--Prilosec is not the "purple pill" so you're insecurities and suggestions with regards to it were misguided. Nexium in the "purple pill" which you were looking to point blame on, but beings it isn't the prescribed medication your wife was taking, you have misguided your anger. Do your research before you cause an uproar amongst people who really desire to find the true casue of their medical problems.

Oh...and I don't recall peanuts being a part of the "roughage" category. I would recommend keeping him away from lettuce instead.


84 posted on 04/04/2006 9:41:01 PM PDT by pantaya (Do your research before placing blame)
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To: Wonder Warthog

"Physician incompetence kills more people than guns"

You got that right. In many "civilized countries" the medical and pharmaceutical industries take a terrible toll. The US and Australia had something like 1 in 9 or 1 in 11 of all deaths due directly to the actions of a doctor, nurse, pharmacist or related fields. That is many times the deaths due to guns, cars, telemarketers combined.


85 posted on 04/04/2006 10:00:48 PM PDT by Geritol (All I need is another hole in my head...)
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To: Cobra64

Had a friend that did lose her life while having a colonoscopy.


86 posted on 04/04/2006 10:02:28 PM PDT by zeaal (SPREAD TRUTH!)
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To: Cobra64
I think your unfortunate experience was highly unusual. I just had one of these a week ago in the morning, and my wife and I went to a movie the same night. And I have had three colonoscopies total now.

Thousands and thousands of these procedures go without a hitch, but I suppose any medical procedure can occasionally go awry. Good luck to you.

87 posted on 04/04/2006 10:09:11 PM PDT by Babu
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To: CobaltBlue

Your opinion might be valuable here.


88 posted on 04/04/2006 10:12:35 PM PDT by bad company ((The UN 1967 Outer Space Treaty is bad for America and bad for humanity - DUMP IT.))
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To: Trust but Verify
Now if they could eliminate the elimination part, they'd really be on to something!

There is a major improvement in this area -- It used to be they gave you a gallon of this cr*p to drink the day before called "Go Lightly". But as those of you who have used it know, it tastes awful (and it isn't easy drinking a gallon of something awful), and you don't go lightly.

Last week, when I had my last colonoscopy, gastrodoc had me buy two very small bottles of "Fleet Phospho-Soda". They are no more than about 2 ounces each. You buy them at the pharmacy, but I couldn't find, so asked, and the pharmacist keeps it in the back, but its OTC. The stuff doesn't taste great, but it's such a small amount that it's easy to take. You take one tiny bottle at 2 pm the afternoon before the procedure, and the second tiny bottle at about 3 am the morning of the procedure. It does clean you out, but it's much less hassle than that gallon of 'Go Lightly' stuff.

If your doc isn't hip to the newer stuff, tell him you prefer to use the Fleet Phospho-Soda. You'll be glad you did.

89 posted on 04/04/2006 10:19:01 PM PDT by Babu
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To: TC Rider

While I do empathize with your wife's predicament, I can't see how you would blame the manufacturers of Prilosec for what happened to her. Blame the doctor, yes, for not accurately pursuing all possible etiologies of epigastric discomfort on the differential diagnosis...but it's well known by physicians that proton-pump inhibitors may mask symptoms of conditions that are not GERD, which comprises a further reason that your wife's doctor should have taken a more skeptical eye toward her symptoms. But it's not the fault of the manufacturer that their drug was poorly utilized by the physician.

Prilosec (and it's younger and more over-achieving brother, Nexium) are very good drugs for patients that do indeed have GERD (by preventing esophagitis and possible metaplasia of the esophagus which may eventually lead to cancer). But while the drug is heavily promoted, it is not promoted for treatment of gallbladder disease since it is of course not indicated for such. Again, the manufacturer is not to blame for poor judgement on the part of the physician.


90 posted on 04/04/2006 10:32:24 PM PDT by The Phantom FReeper (Have you hugged your soldier today?)
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To: Dick Vomer; bourbon; WKB
My cardio surgeon basically save my life twice from a congenital defect. I'm pretty fond of him.

My dad's neurospecialists at Mayo kept him in decent life for 7 years after brain tumour diagnosis. One is a personal friend in Middle TN

My wife and I visited our OB-GYN today who delivered 2 for us so far till this next one and we are crazy about him. He's delivered over 15K babies and is revered.

I could say the same for some RNs, Surgical Nurses and Emergency Room docs I've known over the years

But yes....there are some crappy docs too and staffs as well

I've fond that health care is usually determined by the local hospital and the volume they treat.

Here in Nashville, we have 4 very good hospitals which is high for a metro area of 1.5M....and about a dozen feeder hospitals ringing Metro Nashville. Unless it's an emergency of locale then one goes to certain hospitals for certain specialties and you have a good idea you'll get good service from top notch folks who have seen your ailment before.

My heart surgeon is number 3 in the world volume-wise still in practice at 50 or so. Things like that give comfort...least to me.

I'm sure glad Cobra survived but I'm not sure he has grounds. Complications are not always grounds for recourse except in tort-law-rich-jury environments like Mississippi where I come from and juries are demographically prone to support any claim just to get back at the "man"...whoever that is.

Medical claims down there have nothing to do with reality but rather opportunity.
91 posted on 04/04/2006 10:38:24 PM PDT by wardaddy (If the GOP is so great, why do I feel so crappy, betrayed and surrounded by eunuchs?)
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To: Geritol
You got that right. In many "civilized countries" the medical and pharmaceutical industries take a terrible toll. The US and Australia had something like 1 in 9 or 1 in 11 of all deaths due directly to the actions of a doctor, nurse, pharmacist or related fields. That is many times the deaths due to guns, cars, telemarketers combined.

Could you perhaps provide some links to studies supporting such a claim?

92 posted on 04/04/2006 10:42:57 PM PDT by The Phantom FReeper (Have you hugged your soldier today?)
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To: Cobra64

It sounds like he perforated your colon with the "scope." This is a very real, but extremely rare "complication." Before my first, my GI told me that it was possible, but quite doubtful. It's just that any surgical procedure carries risks.

I have no idea if this is "real" malpractice, but you need to see a lawyer

Mark


93 posted on 04/04/2006 10:48:38 PM PDT by MarkL (When Kaylee says "No power in the `verse can stop me," it's cute. When River says it, it's scary!)
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To: MarkL

Perforation is actually very unlikely in this case. He would have experienced severe infection instead of bleeding. There is a post explaining such much better further up in the thread by a poster with more years of medical experience than I, so I'll defer to his explanation of the mechanics of a perforated colon.


94 posted on 04/04/2006 10:53:42 PM PDT by The Phantom FReeper (Have you hugged your soldier today?)
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To: SarahW

My sister in law went in for a hernia op and ended up with a perforated bowel. It took the idiots 3 days to figure out where the bleeding was coming from. She's full of infection; we still don't know if she will make it.


95 posted on 04/04/2006 11:03:08 PM PDT by stands2reason
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To: Cobra64; pantaya

Well, it's been 3 1/2 years and pantaya just now joined and bumped the thread. How'd things work out?


96 posted on 04/04/2006 11:05:11 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Howie
Two weeks ago I found out by accident that the plate they installed to hold the vertabra together is too long and the lower screws are drilled into the DISC instead of the bone. I can't get anyone to tell me if this is bad, not important or sure to cause me to start looking like Cristopher Reeve. D***! I work in spinal surgical equiptment, and if they put the screws in the disc rather than the bone, someone seems to have flunked A & P 101. Heck, even I know that! (and I just check the stuff.)

Do your research before you go in there, and have them fix it. Your health is more important than hurt feelings. (and document everything!)

97 posted on 04/04/2006 11:21:32 PM PDT by Maigrey (Inspired by G_d; Guided by JC, and kicked in the (backside) by TC. What a Trio!)
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To: Babu

Fleet Phospho Soda IS the prep I had. Yuk. It tastes so nasty it's a good thing you have to drink only a couple ounces. The problem I had was that my procedure wasn;t until mid-afternoon and the elimination part had me SO dehydrated I had a splitting headache and they couldn't get an IV started.


98 posted on 04/05/2006 4:34:17 AM PDT by Trust but Verify (( ))
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To: Trust but Verify
That's unfortunate! They should adjust those times given to take the Phospho-Soda according to what time of day your procedure is, but they don't seem to bother.

Re the taste, the Phospho Soda comes in unflavored as well as flavored -- I got "ginger lemon" I think it was. It wasn't tasty but I didn't have a problem downing it, and then I chased it with a couple of ounces of ginger ale.

Post-script to my own post #89 -- I forgot to mention: Two nights before the procedure at bedtime, I took two tiny Ducolax (sp?) laxative tabs as instructed (provided by the doc's office). That got the elimination process started, then next afternoon, the first Phospho-Soda, and so on ...

99 posted on 04/05/2006 6:43:12 AM PDT by Babu
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To: bad company; Cobra64

Thanks for the ping.

I have no idea whether he suffered malpractice or whether it was just a bad result. The only person who can make that determination is a physician who is a specialist in the same field.

He needs a second opinion.

Also, he needs to find out whether he has any permanent injury or whether he has fully recovered.

If he's fully recovered it's probably not worth bringing a case against the doctor, but that depends a lot on where he lives.

So, first thing, I would say, is see another doctor and see what that doctor has to say.

Also, keep a diary, write down everything while it's still fresh in your mind.

And keep all receipts.


100 posted on 04/05/2006 8:18:52 AM PDT by CobaltBlue (Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.)
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