7 Apr 2000 - Medical Mistakes
Last night on 20/20 I saw a report on medical mistakes. It was incredible. They showed all manner of things that had been left inside patients after surgery. There were sponges, surgical towels, 7-inch clamps, and a “spreader” that was 13 inches long and 3 inches wide. The man that had the spreader left in him had had ulcer surgery. After the surgery he was in terrible pain but attributed that to the surgery. Then months passed with no relief from the pain. He started going to doctors. He had countless tests and even x-rays. The x-rays showed a strip 13”X3”, but he was told that it was surgical mesh that was put there to hold the incision together. His pain went on for 5 years. He ended up losing his family and his job. He could barely eat. Finally a doctor opened him up and saw the “spreader” and removed it. That took care of his problem.
There were several stories like that one. And also a few stories about people going into the hospital to have one leg removed only to awake and have the good leg taken off instead. It made me remember my second leg surgery.
After the wreck, the doctor put a 15-inch plate in my leg to hold it together. A year later the plate was to be removed. I wasn’t to be at the hospital until about I hour before surgery. So I didn’t see my doctor before hand. I was taken to the operating room by an attendant and placed on the table. The anesestiologist came in to put the IV in. He purposely walked to my left side and put the IV there. A few nurses came in, and said a word or two to me. So far I had seen no one that I knew. The anesestiologist started the IV. I was to be asleep very soon. Then my bone doctor came in. I had all my hair under a cap and no makeup on so I didn’t really look like myself. The doctor walked up and looked down at me. He said, “Jami?,,,, Is that you?” I said, “Yep”. He said, “They have you down as a James Luther and the chart says you are to have your right arm operated on.” Luther was my maiden name, but the doctor had known me as a Sinclair, so the name meant nothing to him. He said, “ We only have the instruments ready for arm surgery. We will have to wait while they “flash” the leg instruments.” (I sure hoped “flashing’ meant cleaning LOL.) It took about 15 minutes. Then the instruments came and they put me to sleep and did the correct surgery. But I have always wondered if I had fallen asleep before the doctor came in, or if he didn’t recognize me, would they have cut into my arm before they realized I was a girl and that my arm was fine? Who knows? But after that report last night I know that stranger things have happened.
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