Should Dr's be held responsible???

[badkins]

I was diagnosed in August of 2005 with a 1.8mm AN. Removed in January 2006 trans lab surgery for 14 hours. A few surprises happened when they opened. I the tumor had grown pressing onto the brain stem having to remove my hearing, balance and a 1 1/4" off my cerebellum. During  this they did leave my facial nerve in tack leaving some tumor on the nerve.
After I woke up I had some complications and stayed in the hospital for 3 1/2 weeks. Always suffering from extreme headaches and no answers from day one even from when I woke up. I finally stumbled onto a Dr who explained to me what happened. My 5th nerve the TRIGEMINAL NERVE was cut from[all he suction and probing. I suffered in severe pain and deep depression for a year. Now I'm just pissed. I always thought it was my recurrent tumor. One day I was sitting down speaking with a BRILLIANT BRAIN Surgeon. DR.STEINER 83 years old still practicing at UVA> he told me before I was diagnosed "human error has occurred". I have never returned to work again.
I think these Dr's should have been held responsible. Am I wrong?

Beth

[Sam Rush]

Responsible in what way? You had very complicated surgery for a complicated problem, and were told the 5th nerve was cut.  Perhaps there was a communication error w/ you that someone should apologize for. What else do you want.?  The Dr's did not give you the AN, and you were informed before surgery that many complications were possible. 20 or 30 yrs ago you would have died from the tumor you had.

Try and move on, the blame game won't help your present status.

Good Luck

Sam

[HeadCase2]

Beth,
  I'm sorry to hear you've had a tough time with your complicated AN.  I hope with time you'll be doing better.   This forum is a good place to vent when things seem overwhelming.
  I've also heard good things about Dr. Steiner.
Regards,
  Rob

[tony]

I saw your post and understand how (and why) you may feel in this regard
I guess that 95% of these AN type surgeries are
predictable/uncomplicated/no alarms etc
However I may quote the best there is/was
"You make look at 1,000 MRIs - but until you
go inside and look - you never really know what you are going to find"
So true...
An AN may do untold damage over 5 or 10 years before
its existance is diagnosed - in some cases the damage is already
too far gone to be easily repaired
In this case the surgeon/team is left with some very hard
choices to save life - but at a price.
Sure - many may wish a 100% recovery - but sometimes 99%
is just about all that is possible
- and even that takes some effort
The important thing is still to have a good life
- and do your best with the extra time that you have been given ?
Best Regards
Tony
(8-9 OPS/2xGamma/month in a chair/NF2 etc etc etc ?)

[badkins]

I am so much better than this time last year. Its a slow recovery for me. My headaches never stop , they are controlled by medication. I no longer can work because it cause extreme headaches. I am on SSD. I was only told of the facial paralysis, death, etc.... never of this never warned on this headache thing. I even was on this website before my surgery. I blame myself also . My docs said it was okay to put the surgery off. So I did, when they went in the tumor had almost taken over in just 4 months. They did no MRI to see if any growth had occurred. I guess they didn't need to.
I just want to earn my income again!!!!!!!!!!

[OMG16]

Badkins sometime in order to move forward you need to exhaust all possibilities.  The only way to know if you have a case is to talk to a lawyer.  I will say once again do not go to any lawyer.  You need to find out who is excellent and then listen to what they say.  You may want to contact your local bar association or find a mediator in your state they wiil know of a good one.  I was told by many Doctors that this is sometimes the only way these Doctors can be stopped. 

As for returning to work.  My son is on SSDI at 19 years of age.  They have a program called DVR I believe this is Nationwide.  You can go on the SSD website and they should have contact numbers.  They maybe able to help you retrain and maybe go back to work either full or part time.  We are in the beginning process so I don't have much info yet.  Take care 16

[Sam Rush]

"THESE DOCTORS"   Do you mean like the ones who operated on her for 14 hours!!!   Those terrible Drs who would operate so long on a difficult and complicated case. Why those Dr's need to be stopped. Maybe lawyers could do the surgery better.

[danijake]

WELL, my surgeon told me flat out the headaches were not caused by the surgery...HMMMMMM? I tried to explain to him that I didn't have any symptoms to lead to AN and he stood his ground on the headache issue. I'm sorry, but I was told by my Dr that I would only experience balance problems and here I am with severe pain... So what now?

[badkins]

Sam,

I'm assuming you're in the medical profession? Tell me why my neurosurgeon failed to do any pre-op? How about post-op? How about 4week follow up , 6 week or 6 month? Okay. Don't get angry until you really know what has really happened. Files were pulled out of his office he got scared and he never called me , never returned calls. I didn't even pull the files. UVA did. My tumor grew back at such a rapid rate Dr. Steiner didn't know what he was treating .

The ENT also did the same thing. I was one of the few in Norfolk Va. they only do a hand few of these procedures that slipped threw. Don't be nasty. Some people do slip true and don't get treated like you think. Like it or not.
Beth

[tony]

I was sad to read of your troubles
I guess the real questions centre around what you really want to do
Headaches are real enough - there are whole threads/titles here on the list
that go through the options in terms of medical and "self" treatment
(we have our own headache wizard who I am sure will help)
My thoughts are: it will not really be possible to go forward until
you have some control over the pain
I think this is the key to going forward
Best Regards
Tony

[nancyann]

When I 1st got home from surgery, I was so elated just to be alive.  Then the ordeal of facial paralysis sunk in, with no improvement, & I started getting really angry & looked to blame... someone....  of course I got angry at the surgeons, wanting to blame them;   but then, after awhile, I realized, like Tony said, they don't know what's really going on until they get in there....    I was going thru the stages of loss....   of my old self.   Granted, there are cases where there is neglect, downright poor care (look at Kanye West's mom);  but after I was able to look at things I realized my doctors did their best, my facial nerve shutting down wasn't their fault.

[badkins]

Thanks Tony,

Thanks I am under control for the most part. I do have break thru headaches almost daily but they are kept down to a low roar for the most part. I sleep more than ever and definitely don't have energy. I used to run 5 jewelry stores and do all the buying. I would travel a lot and sell over 1million dollars a year with my own private clientele. I had a thriving career. I tried several times to go back. The headaches were intolerable. I could not put the hours in, look at jewelry in focus or travel. I had company disability, a small private disability policy policy, and SSD. I pay a COBRA insurance of almost 500.00. Add Mortgage, life ,Oh yea I get medicaid or whatever in Feb 2008. So The questions again is  asked why aren't the Dr's responsibly at all for any damage left behind and a life and career ruined?
 
I understand I could have died... I'm glad I didn't I thank GOD I didn't. Even if they said Sorry about this would be okay. But.....They have not acknowledged a thing..............They never even followed up. Not Until my ENT got a letter from my new Dr. stating my Trigeminal Neuralgia. They called for a appointment and he asked to be my Dr. Again at that time did he state it was a risk. Never before.
Oh well. I have my Life , My teenage BOY who is trying to kill me  , and my dogs who are always company. I have Great Friends I'm just tired of all of this 2 years later.

Beth

[OMG16]

Sam I'm sorry if I implied her Doctors.  I certainly did not mean you.  Humbily Apoligizes to Sam and offers popcorn and diet pepsi.  I meant the one or two bad apples that give Doctors a bad name.  I think even you can say that there are horrible cases out there that should not happen.  The Doctor that operated on my son can no longer practice on Pediatric patients due to my son and is no longer at the well known hospital any longer.  He was denied priviledges at another hospital and now practices with another hospital.  He had many lawsuits that were not available on the web.  He checked out fine.  He physically changed his informed consent.  He also charted that he saw him in his office when he had not.  He changed biopsy results.  We were lucky we had copies of everything.  We were told by all of our sons Doctors that we needed to pursue a lawsuit and believe me when I say I was sick to do it, but we had to do it for my son and future patients.  I work for Doctors and bringing a suit was the hardest thing I've had to do, second to almost losing my son.  The Dr is still practicing but with time and 4 new lawsuits hopefully not long.  16

[yardtick]

I too have had terrible experiences with drs.  I was so frustrated with the care from the ENT and Neurosurgeon.  The two of them never had any time for me, never returned any of my phone calls and the neuro got me mixed up with another patient because his internet was down.  I need a nerve graft.  I really do not think this is the dr for me.   They both made me feel like my headaches were a non-issue.  Neither could explain why I had them so frequent and so severe.

Drs, lawyers, bankers, teachers, preachers and parents, some are good, some are so-so, some are excellent and some are just bad.  When it is you who has had a terrible experience and it has effected your well being it is hard to move on.  If my ENT had done the MRI back in May 06 he would not have operated on me blindly to repair a bulging ear drum.  I realize Dr are only human but some like the neuro I was seeing have a "God like" complex and when you are dealing with human lives, you have to understand the emotions your patient is going thru.

Pass the buttery popcorn please.....tonight I'd like a glass of zinfandel wine.

Anne Marie

[tony]

Many folk here desire to get back as "soon as possible"
its the natural reaction ?
It is vital that you (and they) have got some of the strength
and stammina back first - and have some control over any lasting side effects
- before a full return is attempted .
Basically the setback that follows (if they dont), can be a real downer
If you can understand the time frame here
May - 2005 - I was in a wheel chair and had to sleep mid-day to get through
By July 2005 - I could play three holes - just
By summer 2006 - a full 18 holes was possible
Now 2007 I can do 36 Holes - back to back
(I often out-stammina non-OPs)
I combined a balance/exercise programme
(that got gently harder)
with short breaks to off-set the fatigue
Basically the damaged balance can fatigue you
on a New York Marathon scale
- yet the short 10 min breaks (with eyes shut)
will set everything back to normal
I have now returned to work
- and can do a 14hr shift.
The point is - YOU CAN DO IT
but it may take some time
(and some effort on your part)
My suggestion is sit down and work out a programme
Any exercise from your past (that you enjoy)
ie Yoga/Gym/walking/Swimming/Ballet ?
and resolve to gently extend yourself
It will tire you ....initally
(so plan to have somewhere to crash out ...safely)
But over time your body/brain will correct
and you will get stronger
OK 100% maybe  unrealistic - but 99% of your old self is possible
Good luck in your quest
Best Regards
Tony