Wow thats sad Ghost. Do you think that technology has changed enough that they just now know its better to use a bigger one? or did they truly just screw up? I know years ago they said that most people only lived on average 10 years after a surgery like that. Was it a tissue valve or mechanical?
His is a mechanical one AC. He didn't opt for the tissue one because the cardiologist said those only last 10 years, then you have to be opened up again and have it replaced.......my dad was 60 when they put the valve in, and the doctor told him it would be really risky to open him up again at 70 to repeat the surgery. So my dad choose to have the mechanical valve, even though that means being on Coumadin for the rest of his life.
for a 60 year old I think the average life span is 7 years. I would see another heart doc....see what they say before getting a lawyer. If he want getting enough o2 right after surgery he wouldnt have been released. Its just to bad that they didnt listen to him before damage was done.
Well, he wasn't getting enough O2 right after the surgery. They had to go back in three days later because he had a whole bunch of fluid build up around the heart, so they opened him up again to drain it all off. Then his lungs started filling with fluid....they gave him Lassix (sp?) for that. He spent 3 weeks in the cardio unit, and once they sent him home, he still couldn't breathe right, so they put him back in the hospital and tapped his lungs. It was a living nightmare. Anyway, they kept prescribing Lassix, thinking it was fluid built up in his lungs.....then they eventually told him to stop taking those, that he should be able to breathe ok.......but he continued having problems and they continued brushing it off.
Oh, in the hospital, the morning they released him, they said his oxygen levels had just come up enough that morning so that he could go home. They didn't keep him an extra day to be sure the levels stayed where they were supposed to be. It was a mess AC; we thought at the time they should've kept him an extra day or two just to be sure before they sent him home.
And yesterday, the cardiologist pulled out the card that had all the valve info on it, and he told my dad his valve was a number 23.....he said it should've been a bigger valve.
But yeah, I'm going to tell my dad to go see a different cardio dr, and also have him call the pulmonary guy and see if we can get in to see him to ask about those breathing exercises Fuzzy mentioned.
WOW, Ghost! That is truly horrible news. I certainly hope there is something that can be done for your dad. Like Fuzzy said, there are lung strengthening techniques that could perhaps be helpful. 8 years is a REALLY long time to hold out from admitting a mistake like that when someone's life is in the balance. Being PIST is completely justified.
Mz... bummer on the fall. I hope your hand gets better quick.
It's Wednesday. I'm here... slept well and the day started out fairly good. We will see how it progresses.
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MM
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
WOW, Ghost! That is truly horrible news. I certainly hope there is something that can be done for your dad. Like Fuzzy said, there are lung strengthening techniques that could perhaps be helpful. 8 years is a REALLY long time to hold out from admitting a mistake like that when someone's life is in the balance. Being PIST is completely justified.
8 years IS a long time to have held out. Is there a statute of limitations on malpractice?
Seems like since the issue has been repeatedly brought up and subsequently brushed off by the doctor, one could argue continuing malpractice. I'm not sure how it would be legally viewed, but I'd sure check it out.
__________________
MM
That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable.
