Approximately two weeks ago, I woke up from sleeping experiencing some minor abdominal pain just above the umbilicus that was painful upon palpation. The next day, after returning home from work, I was in severe pain, so much so that I very limited in movement. I decided to go to the ER the next morning to get things checked out.
Once I was triaged and the ER doctor came in to check on me, he preformed a focused physical examination of my abdomen. His initial diagnosis was an umbilical hernia. He ordered 50m of Fentonyl and proceeded with an attempt to force the hernia back into the abdominal cavity. After several attempts he found that he could not do so. He then discharged me and referred me to a GI specialist.
When I met with him (a few days after my ER visit) he collected a past medical history and then briefly palpated the site of pain. Due to the pain that I was experiencing, he did not palpate much and came to the same determination that it was in fact an umbilical hernia. He then scheduled my surgery out approximately a week and a half.
September 8, 2009, the day of the surgery, I was taken into the OR and administered general anesthesia. His method of surgery was laparoscopic and as he made his two lateral incisions and insufflated my abdominal cavity, he could find no abnormalities within the abdominal cavity. Finding no abnormalities with the abdominal wall, he proceeded to make a third incision at the site of pain. In doing so he found a cyst. During the removal of the cyst and also created a small hernia which he repaired with sutures.
When my surgeon met with me post procedure, I asked him why there were no diagnostic tests preformed on me, his response was, "because it would not have been cost effective." I think that the patient care given from both the ER doctor, and the Surgeon was careless and negligent. This is my complaint.
What I would like are some competent answers on if I should proceed and if so, how to proceed.
Thanks,
Joshua
forgotten_serenity
If you have the time and money to sue you can. I don't think you'll win. The surgery was not completely pointless. They did remove a cyst which could have been worse than a hernia so there's really no point.
Gary C
Josh,
While your vocabulary clearly shows your intelligence and knowledge about the subject, realize that the vast majority of us on Y!A are neither medical professionals nor attorneys.
It might be best to seek professional legal consultation due to complexity of the situation.
Good luck sir.
evilattorney
Bottom line - You were not injured by any negligence. No injury - no med mal case. Even if you consider the 3d incision an injury, it's not worth anything and no med mal attorney would even consider taking such a case.
Orignal From: Tips: Medical Negligence Malpractice?
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