May I launch a complaint?

[enginist]

Two years ago I had a kidney infection, an enlarged prostrate, and a rigid, unresponsive bladder.  The bladder had to be drained every four hours with a straight catheter to avoid retention.  I don't like to blame the nurses who were otherwise very good to me, but to put it generously, they were very poorly trained. As I begged them to stop, they violently jammed the catheter up the urethra, as if I was being tortured by the Inquisition.  They did this about five or six times until the doctors provided me with a suprapubic catheter.  Months went by and a doctor casually mentioned one day that I had a stricture, which later turned out to be "a complete obliteration of the urethra."  The nurses, in other words, had destroyed it, making it as unusable as a collapsed tunnel.  It's possible that it can be repaired, but strictures are notorious for recurring.  Right now, I'm satisfied with the suprapubic, because it doesn't cause me any problems, like incontinence or impotence. And I sure as hell don't want to have any further interventions below my belt. 

[Mr Ken]

Your comment seems more like a explanation of what had happened more than a complaint. I would have asked for the charge nurse and insisted they stop if you were uncomfortable having it done.

Ken
 

[Simon Dog]

Your comment seems more like a explanation of what had happened more than a complaint. I would have asked for the charge nurse and insisted they stop if you were uncomfortable having it done.

Ken

The words "I withdraw consent for this procedure" can work wonders.

[enginist]

A lot of medical procedures involve various degrees of pain.  I didn't know how badly I had been mistreated until I saw the appropriate method demonstrated on YouTube.  And the stricture didn't show up on x-rays until a few months later.

[Charlie B53]

Unfortunately this is all History.  The damage is already done.

This boarders on Malpractice.


Here again, unfortunately the Medical Industry has a lot of money behind it.  The Medical Insurance Industry has the money to Lobby, wine, dine, make Campaign contributions, and in my State of Missouri, they have managed to shorten the Statute of Limitations to only TWO YEARS from the date of the malpractice instead of the normal five years for everything else.

I recently learned this when checking into suing the eye specialist that failed to make the referral to the eye surgeon until my Wife had already lost at least 80% of sight in one eye.

We are screwed.

You have to decide if this is worth pursuing.  If not suit at least file complaint such that future procedures are done only after adequate training and supervision so this does not occur to more patients.

[enginist]

Yes, it boarders on malpractice and I did consider bringing a case.  I even talked to a lawyer.  However, when I was brought into the ER in an advanced state of kidney failure, I was supposedly 10 minutes from the grave.  The doctors saved my life.  It would have been ungrateful of me to turn around and sue them.  And, as I said, the nurses on the whole were very good to me.  I know that the statute of limitations is two years in medical cases.  I'm still glad that I didn't pursue it, although it infuriates me that it happened at all.  I have been thinking of writing an anonymous complaint to make sure, as you suggest, that an effective training program is put into place.

[Charlie B53]

I may be hard to stay annonomous as spefic issues tend to identify your case.

I wouldn't worry about it being known as you by NOT bringing suit and asking for training for specific procedures is only attempting to ensure better treatment of future patients.

If the procedure would have gone further wrong you well may not be here.  That is of major concern to everyone.

You need to choose your words carefully.  You can both praise and critic if you are careful with your words.  Write your statement, let it set on the table.  Every day read it and re-write as you feel better addresses the issue.  After enough days without making changes, mail it.

[iolaire]

I agree with @Charlie B53 its good to make your complaint to help the hospital system improve.  Especially if the time to sue has passed, they might be more willing to take your experience under advice.

Its fine to let them know that at the time you believed something was wrong, but now years latter you have medical problems from what went wrong back them then and you would like them to know about it so that they can help to prevent others from experiencing what you did. 

If it was a training issue they should be reminded of it because training takes place constantly, if just one nurse learns of the complaint and learns from it then you will have helped society.

[enginist]

Good advice from both of you.  I'd like to remain anonymous to protect the identity of the nurses, whom I don't blame entirely.  I do blame the hospitalist, an arrogant-seeming woman who is responsible for everything that happens on her floor.  If the nurses were poorly trained, then it was her fault.  I'd like to see her subjected to the same procedure, although I won't say that in my letter. 

The insertion of the catheter took only about 30 seconds, but it caused the most godawful pain that I've ever experienced--worse than burns, worse than sepsis, almost worse than death.  And then it was repeated every four hours for a day and night.

I think that the mindset of many practitioners in the medical profession is that if they must inflict pain on a patient, then it is better to get it over with as quickly as possible.  However, if a procedure is done too aggressively, then it’s possible if not probable that it will cause some damage.