My nightmare hospital experience this weekend

I would put a complaint into the Texas board of medical examiners. No patient should be treated that way. I would write a letter to the Hospital board and (cc) several other big wigs there. Even if they thought you were pain seeking your lab work met criteria for you to be admitted, right? Good Luck. PM if you have any questions.

Thank you all for helping me through this hard time. I will get those letters in the mail ASAP and I will let you know what happens.

OMG. OMG. OMG.

I just read the thread regarding the passing of momtobbb...and her husband wanted to warn everyone of the symptoms she was experiencing. He said:

On the night of the 22nd of April my wife told me she thought she had an intestinal bug and she had some cramping on her left side. She said it was just mildly uncomfortable and she fell asleep. That next morning she said she wasn't feeling well and the cramping was about the same. she said she wanted to go home. (We were on vacation in New Hampshire) so I packed the truck and we went home. She had some diarrhea and she was throwing up about every 1/2 hour but so told me it wasn't too bad and she felt like she had a stomach bug

Those are virtually the same symptoms I have been experiencing. I do believe that I have gotten better since I am no longer vomiting, but because I am still having pain, I am going to find another doctor and be examined ASAP! Peter was so thoughtful to post this in his time of grief to make sure someone else could be spared this suffering. I had been hesitant to go back to the doctor but this has convinced me. I shall not waste any more time. I am going to call another band surgeon and get checked out. Thank God he posted this. I feel so terrible for him though. Wow.

Good luck, I read that last night on my daughter's computer and it was so sad. I hope you get some answers! brandyII.

My goodness, I can't IMAGINE being at the hospital and being treated like that. When my mom or someone goes in the hospital, we have a family rule that we don't leave them alone, we take off work and take shifts. It may not be as severe as what you experienced, but we all have to be so careful. Good luck and def. keep us posted!!!

Mrs. Flipflops you're so right-on there. It's a team effort when it comes to hospitals. I know things aren't always perfect and my daughter, 19, has her gastric bypass next Tuesday and I'm already trying to figure out how to be able to spend the night so I can be there to help her when she needs something.

My hospital experiences weren't always the most wonderful things but they were never nearly as bad as what the poster experienced. But I do know that if I can be there to help I would love to. I don't think I'm being over protective but maybe I am. This will be her first experience with major surgery and it can be scary.brandyII.

Actually, I think Peter mentioned that they are thinking that cause of death was sepsis due to a step infection. That would have shown up pretty clearly on your bloodwork. Now if your lab values showed that you had a big infection, and then the doc wanted to send you home.....then you'd have a reason to sue!!

Plain,

Maybe it was a long time ago but I don't remember having blood work done prior to leaving the hospital. Maybe it's not a standard procedure that all surgeons/hospitals require.

Oh, sorry BII....I was directing that at 80's chick. She said in the OP that her doc ran some bloodwork and recommended hospitalization. Then (I think) she wrote they ran another battery of tests the next day, as well.

Oops

Hey, I have been wondering has there been any resolution to all of this?

I would also share your story over on the section of this site that talks about doctors (you may have already done so).

Whatever you feel it should be anger - not humiliation. The nurses and staff should be humuliated by their actions - not you. You did nothing wrong.

Best of luck to you - hope it all works out.

socaldixigal, from reading this thread I'm a little confused as to why you think the the nurses should be humiliated by their actions? All the nurses attempted to do was advocate for their patient and offer as much support as possible, which is our job.

Also 80's chick, you should talk to the hospital ombudsman about your experience as that is what they are there for, maybe you can get some resolution for your awful time there.

I second that! We should all take a lesson from BrandyII's experience and keep someone with us at all times. My mom ended up in the hospital with an obstructed bowel a couple years ago and thank goodness my brother was with her to notice the hospital staff had forgotten to attach the vacuum-sucky-thing to the wall outlet...So she's laying there in pain with this plastic tube threaded through her nose down into her stomach doing absolutely nothing! It's infuriating!

Has anyone ever heard of a "patient advocate or representative?" From what I gather, it is someone who will look out for the patient's rights and quality of care while they are in hospital. Perhaps, if someone here has more information about this type of patient service, they will share it.

BrandII, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. It really ticks me off to think that in this day and age, and the amount of money that is spent in hospitals and on healthcare that we are still not guaranteed a high quality of care and caring. Even had you been a drug-seeking-addict, you were entitled to better treatment, medically and emotionally.

vegwannabie,

I think you mean 80's chick but that's ok! take care brandyII.