Am I wrong?

Published

:D Hi, everyone:

Ive belonged to allnurses.com for a couple of years, but this is my first real post--I'm a reader, not a poster.

I was an LPN for 20 years---had to give it up after rupturing my L-4-L-5 disc on the job.A laminectomy and 8 years fixed that. I miss nursing terribly, but don't think I could hack it the way things are today.God bless all of you who keep at it.

I am writing to ask a question about , I guess, medical ethics.

I have Barrets Esophagus, a hiatal hernia, and long standing gastritis.

No, I dont drink.

I had an upper endoscopy done on July 8th.By a gastroenterologist.

He took 40 biopsies, 4 per centimeter for each of 10 centimeters.

I had stopped taking Plavix on July 3rd.

I was okay until July 12th--nothing I could put my finger on, just felt lousy, slept all day.

At 10 p.m. that night, I vomited a large amount of black coffee ground material.I I called the Dr.s number, assuming that he had an answering service. Dummy me! The hospital operator came on the line, told me that he was not on call and there was no-one covering for him. She advised me to call my family Doc, which I did. He was on vacation at the beach, but called me back, anyway.He advised me to go have a CBC at the hospital in the morning.

I vomited again at 1:30---at 3 I had a tarry stool---another at 6--I called my family Doc at 7--he told me to go to E.R..

I was a little dehydrated, my hemoglobin was 10.2.

E.R. Doc tried to call the gastroenterologist--took 5 calls for him to respond.

He ordered I.V. Protonix---this is getting much too long--I was admitted

-he had ordered blood if my hemoglobin fell below 8---it hit 7.2. I got 1 unit of packed cells.

My REAL complaint here, I guess, is that he never came in to see me until my family Doc had written my discharge---then siad that the bleeding was from the EGD, which I had already surmised. SO--from Saturday night until Tuesday afternoon, he , essentailly ignored me.

I called the hospital today and lodged a compaint.

Am I right?

ALL replies welcome--thanks!

Emmy41lgpn

Okay--thank you all for your opinions.

Hope none of you are ever in the same position.

Keep on keepin on------

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OMG! I am just trying to say that the gastroenteroligist who did the endoscopy, and took 40 biopsies, left me with NO WAY to contact him.And no-one to contact in case of a problem.

HOW can you do an invasive procedure which causes a complication and NOT have ANY responsibility for it???

Emmy, I'm sorry you have gone through so many hard times with your health. I'm sure this bad experience added to your stress. Chronic health problems are no fun. People who deal with on-going --and sometimes life-threatening--illnesses usually do better when they feel they have a safety net in place. It's important to look for practitioners who can find ways to have down time without leaving their patients in the lurch.

After reading through this entire thread, I see what amounts more to a communication problem than a dereliction of duty.

It isn't wrong for a doc to decide to be unavailable outside office hours. Most have some kind of alternative coverage, but that isn't always the case. What IS wrong is for a doc to not make his situation abundantly clear to every one of his patients and tell them what they should do if they have problems. This is especially important following a procedure that can result in complications.

True inaccessibility isn't the norm, and that puts an even greater burden on docs who work this way to be certain that their patients really understand that they will have to visit an ER or call another doc should difficulties arise.

I'm thinking that a good percentage of patients will find this unacceptable and look elsewhere.

I hope you're feeling better.

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Emmy, I'm sorry you have gone through so many hard times with your health. I'm sure this bad experience added to your stress. Chronic health problems are no fun. People who deal with on-going --and sometimes life-threatening--illnesses usually do better when they feel they have a safety net in place. It's important to look for practitioners who can find ways to have down time without leaving their patients in the lurch.

After reading through this entire thread, I see what amounts more to a communication problem than a dereliction of duty.

It isn't wrong for a doc to decide to be unavailable outside office hours. Most have some kind of alternative coverage, but that isn't always the case. What IS wrong is for a doc to not make his situation abundantly clear to every one of his patients and tell them what they should do if they have problems. This is especially important following a procedure that can result in complications.

True inaccessibility isn't the norm, and that puts an even greater burden on docs who work this way to be certain that their patients really understand that they will have to visit an ER or call another doc should difficulties arise.

I'm thinking that a good percentage of patients will find this unacceptable and look elsewhere.

I hope you're feeling better.

T

Your post deserves more than the push of a Thank You button...

:up: Thank You !! :bowingpur

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rn/writer-------you said it PERFECTLY--thank you!

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Thank you, Mara.

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Me, again--the gastroenterologist called me today.He told me that he is always on call for his patients, through the hospital operator,but that she had apparently not been told this. I dont know if I can swallow that one, or not. Yes, pun intended.

He also said that, yes, my family Doc had called him on Sunday morning, and told him that he (family Doc) had told me to go to E.R., and would call the E.R. to let them know that I was coming in., which he did.

The G.I. did not order the I.V.Protonix, or the unit of blood, the E.R. Doc did.

As I said, the G.I. showed up at the hospital about 30 minutes before I went home.Said that the endoscopy had caused the bleeding, and that he was sorry.

No word from him until he called today.He said that steps have been taken to make sure that his patients can always reach him. He has been at this hospital for over a year, I guess I was the first person to ever call him about a complication.

I called the hospital---sounds like the poor operator still has a job.I mean it sounds like she still answers the main hospital number, I did a hang-up call.

So--I have an appt with the G.I. on 8/6--will see if anything has changed.

BTW---the E.R. Doc DID try to call him, 5 times---he said his cell phone kept fading out.

SO--thats my story. Any comments?

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Me, again--the gastroenterologist called me today.

SO--thats my story. Any comments?

Comment?...it may be time to change doctors or let it go...your choice

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Specializes in no specialty! (have to graduate first!).

I think that there has been a lot of miscommunication. Whatever the reality is of who called who and whose phone doesn't work and what operator is incompetant....doesn't really matter anymore. What's done is done. Find a new doctor. Since you've since seen him, he knows that you are upset. He will either make more effort or he won't. I do agree that is what wrong of him to not give you contact info. or to at least tell you he will be unavailable and tell who to contact in case of an emergency or if you have concerns. You were ignored. And your feelings are 100% valid. I also agree with others that if he is not on-call, he should not have to be bothered on his time off. MeJane19 is correct about that. He simply can't be at every patients disposal when he is not on-call. He needs personal time too. But as I said, he should've told you something more about the situation before he went off-call. I know doctors are busy but if he is so busy that he can't simply have a 2 minute conversation with you then maybe he should lighten his patient load if possible.

Anywho, I wish you luck!

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Specializes in Pediatric Psychiatry, Home Health VNA.

You experienced a miscommunication, but the long and short of it is that you're home and well. You didn't die or experience serious injury due to the neglect of your gastroenterologist. In fact it sounds like the hospital moved quickly (as quickly as a hospital can) to pick up the slack. I'm sorry that you're dissatisfied with the care you received, but really, keeping the negativity going is not going to resolve anything. I truly think it's time to find a new doctor or let this go. I don't think at any point your GI doctor intended to intentionally blow you off, things happen, he's apologized. If that's not enough for you then do yourself a favor and move on to another practice. There's not much more to be said here.

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Specializes in Telemetry.

I don't think its worth all the energy you are giving it. If you are dissatisfied with the service then find someone else. I really don't see an issue with the Dr not being available when you called. I guess I just figure that the ER is there if you are experiencing complications. Plus you had your PCP for advice as well. Its not as if you were left with absolutely no resources to bleed to death.

I also think you have been a bit defensive through out this entire thread- with the initial complaints about not getting enough responses, to the defensive comments when you didn't get answers you liked.

I'm sorry about your hard times and hope you are well and stay well now!

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i have to agree, about time to let it go and move on.

what more can be said???

leslie

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Wishing peace and good health for the OP.

As this thread has run its course, will now close.

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