Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

Jun 09, 2009 02:45 PM

by oramar

allnurses Guide

http://KDKA.com/health/angioplasty.h...2.1036593.html

*elkpark* · Jun 09, 2009, 04:08 PM

Re: Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

My father was an anesthesiologist, and he used to always kvetch about all the little hospitals that wanted to make money from offering cardiac caths and angioplasties -- he always said that a hospital had no business offering those procedures unless they were set up to provide open-heart surgery as a back-up if something went wrong ...

Crux1024 · Jun 09, 2009, 04:15 PM

Re: Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

Exactly. I wish this was something the docs doing the angioplasty were more open about. They may try to minimize the occurances, but if/when it happens, youre screwed.

*oramar* · Jun 09, 2009, 04:19 PM

Re: Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

The family states that their mother signed a paper acknowledging the danger but that she didn't understand. You know I agree with this. You and I and other people in the health care business understand but the average civilian does not really comprehend.

SandraCVRN · Jun 09, 2009, 06:38 PM

Re: Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

Sullivan recalled. "They punctured the artery, and my mom died because of it."

In the case of Pearl Sullivan, Holy Name said: "We are confident the evidence will show the doctors, staff and hospital acted appropriately and that this death was unrelated to the absence of on-site cardiac surgery."

In other words they messed it up so bad that it wouldn't have helped to have CV surgeons available.

In the rare cases (3/4 year) when we do an emergent CABG straight from the CathLab I have never seen one from a punctured artery.

*elkpark* · Jun 09, 2009, 07:42 PM

Re: Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

Originally Posted by SandraCVRN

Sullivan recalled. "They punctured the artery, and my mom died because of it."

In the case of Pearl Sullivan, Holy Name said: "We are confident the evidence will show the doctors, staff and hospital acted appropriately and that this death was unrelated to the absence of on-site cardiac surgery."

In other words they messed it up so bad that it wouldn't have helped to have CV surgeons available.

In the rare cases (3/4 year) when we do an emergent CABG straight from the CathLab I have never seen one from a punctured artery.

The hospital's statement doesn't mean anything -- it's just PR by the hospital attorneys. What do you expect them to say, oops, you caught us? They'll continue to insist they're completely innocent and everything was fine, right up until the jury verdict ...

*oramar* · Jun 10, 2009, 06:08 AM

Re: Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

I think they doc and staff did everything they could under the circumstances. However the circumstances were that there was NO surgical back up. Chances are that they were struggling for four hours trying to save her when the place she needed to be was in surgery having the thing repaired. I acknowledge that I wasn't there and that I am just guessing.

rkitty198 · Jun 10, 2009, 12:36 PM

Re: Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

There was a group of Cardiologists in my area who opened up a small "surgical" center. They do diagnostic angiograms and arterial runoffs. Now seems great now these days where a Interventional Cardiologist is able to do this in an office type setting, but what if something goes wrong?
Well the talk was that the patient would have to get in an ambulance to the nearest hospital.
Kind of scary.

labcat01 · Jun 10, 2009, 01:52 PM

Re: Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

"Pearl Sullivan signed a consent form both for the procedure and to participate in the study of angioplasty without surgical backup. But her family doesn't believe she understood what it meant."

You've got to be kidding me! This is part of a legitimate study with no contingency plan for something like a punctured artery. I'd like to know who is funding the study and what IRB approved this.

**P_RN** · Jun 10, 2009, 04:24 PM

Re: Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

This is too frightening. I have 5 years on my pacer battery and my doc says he'll replace it in his office surgery suite. I don't think so. I bled like heck when he put it in, I think I'll just go to one of the $$$$$$ cardiac towers in town with the 1: 1 nursing and the beautiful scenery thank you.

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Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

Dangers of angioplasty when there is no surgical backup.

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