Is this malpractice??

[ihateariz]

I hate to sound like a drama queen, but I'm a little traumatized from an experience I had at the hospital recently.

I've had a recurring perianal abscess. The first two occurrences, I had to be admitted to the OR and they completely anesthetized me. Since the abscess itself was so painful, I was actually in LESS pain post-operation.

The doctor did the typical inspection of the area. He asked at one point if I had ever participated in receiving anal sex from another man. I thought this was odd because the other times it happened they never asked that.

This time, though, the doctors determined that the operation could be done in the ER. When the doctor explained that they'd be doing dissociative anesthesia, I told him that I wasn't comfortable being awake for the procedure on any level and would prefer to be "knocked out".

Later, I reiterated that concern to the nurse administering the anesthetic. She assured me that I was "getting the good stuff" and wouldn't be awake for the procedure.

Before she had even finished pushing the anesthetic into my IV, the doctor was flipping me on my side and man-handling the area. I said "Ouch, I can feel that!" but he continued what he was doing.

As soon as he started with the incision, I started crying and repeated that it hurt and I could feel everything. The anesthetic was starting to kick in, though, so I didn't feel like I could move my body. His response was "Don't worry. This will be quick and painful."

I sat through the procedure, which took (I'm guessing) about 15-20 minutes repeating my complaints and crying. The anesthetic finally kicked in and I passed out after they applied the bandage to the area and rolled me back over.

I'm home now and I'm in more pain than I was before I went to the hospital, which is saying something.


Am I overreacting or does this seem wrong? If so, what can I do??

 

[medic1]

YES this is tottally unacceptable as soon as you ask a doctor or nurse to stop
they must STOP because as soon as you say stop basicaly you have
withdrawn consent.
If thet carry on their actions move from treatment to assault every doctor as
part of their training has to study Medical Juriprudence which is medical law.
There are times when a dr can overide their patients requests but this usually
only is ever used in mental health issues and even then the normal practice is for
a minimum of 2 doctors to agree that what they are doing is for their patients
own good.
We have to take an oath and the first part is do no harm if that doctor blatantly
ignored your repeated request,s to stop then yes i think you should see a lawyer
who specialises in medical law.
I am also quite surprised that this op was carried out without a GA i think that
they gave you a mixture of drugs which basically make you forget the pain you
have gone through.
As you know we are not talking about removing a toenail,the abcess that you are
talking about basically has to be scooped out and cut out until only healthy
tissue can be seen. I am sorry that you had to go through such an experience
as in any proffesion you have good and bad . On a more personal level that dr
sounds like a complete asshole (which is quite ironic) i hope that you are feeling
a little better take care.

 

[ihateariz]

Thanks for the info.

I don't know how to explain why this affected me so intensely, but I've been having really detailed nightmares about it. Kinda like reliving it.

 

[medic1]

Buddy you may well be re-living your experience as i said in the last post it sounds
like they have giving you a mixture of hypnotic drugs and either Ativan or Diazepam (valium) in some cases like this there are recorded notes from doctors.
They are called Breakthrough memories and this is a recognised medical condition
which is why like you i was really surprised that like the previous 2 times you were
not given a General and having the procedure done in theatre rather than the ER room . Which if nothing else is not exactly aseptic (sterile).
Now if they were just draining an abcess then yep that can be done in the ER.
Though the abcess you had has to be debrided and you have to really make sure
that there is no Necrotic (dead tissue) left or you would more than likely end up
with a massive infection which can lead to sepsis.
You dont say where you are from i am assuming the States just by the language
that you used ,eg ER instead of casualty things like that.
If so there is no shortage of lawyers though be carefull that you do not end up
with an Ambulance chaser.
Normally you will find that medical personell hate fucking lawyers but what you
described sounded horrific(spelt wrong soz am tired) so yes the dr should have
stopped especially if you made repeated requests for him to do so.
Again i hope you are feeling a lot more pain-free now take care.

 

[racer2438]

I would have insisted they stop immediately and or call someone else. That to me was uncalled for. I would check for some legal help, but in the end not sure what would happen.

But I would be raising hell right now if it were me....

 

[thermodynamics]

I agree that your concerns need to be escalated. Exactly how to do that, I don't know. Maybe start with a letter to the Director of Internal Medicine.

 

[ihateariz]

Holy.shit.

I guess I'm the wrong person to ask, as I would've done something to get me put in prison by now.

But for the love of god, do SOMETHING about this. They should pay.

If I was in my right mind when I left the hospital I probably would have done something too. But the anesthetic didn't wear off until three or four hours after I left, and I was too disoriented to really evaluate the situation. I have a follow up appointment this week and I'll definitely be voicing my concerns.

 

[KaraBulut]

Hmmmm...
......

 

[medic1]

Now i am confused i cannot think of any hospital allowing a patient who
has just had what amounts to quite a major procedure to leave the hospital if they were still that affected by the drugs that were given.
Even here in the UK there are protocols in place that must be followed both for
the patients safety and the legal obligations for the hospital.
Are you positive that it was exactly the same thing that you had done twice before
under a general in theatre?
Even so all that aside if you ask or tell a dr to stop and you withdraw consent
and that dr carries on then they are in the wrong.
As before i hope that you are feeling more pain-free take care.

 

[ihateariz]

Now i am confused i cannot think of any hospital allowing a patient who
has just had what amounts to quite a major procedure to leave the hospital if they were still that affected by the drugs that were given.
Even here in the UK there are protocols in place that must be followed both for
the patients safety and the legal obligations for the hospital.
Are you positive that it was exactly the same thing that you had done twice before
under a general in theatre?
Even so all that aside if you ask or tell a dr to stop and you withdraw consent
and that dr carries on then they are in the wrong.
As before i hope that you are feeling more pain-free take care.

Yes, it was an incision and drainage of a perianal abscess. The first two times I was admitted overnight. This time, they had me call my ride shortly after the procedure. In fact, I was too "loopy" to operate the hospital phone, so the nurse had to call my ride for me.

This whole experience has been shady as hell. Last night I called the ER because I had developed a fever and the pain in the area was getting worse. The nurse I spoke to was appalled to hear that I had been instructed to leave the same packing from an already-infected wound in for 4 days. Just minutes after replacing the nasty gauze with fresh sterile gauze, I felt great.

 

[bendted]

He asked at one point if I had ever participated in receiving anal sex from another man. I thought this was odd because the other times it happened they never asked that.

I smell homophobia on his part and that would explain his rough treatment during the procedure.