Would you sue?

[rudeguy]

A rare serious thread from me...I know.

My sister had to have emergency surgery on Monday to remove parts of her gall bladder and rebuild her bile duct. She apparently had a stone stuck and it caused gangrene in her gall bladder and shredded her bile duct. She is ok now but she has to wear a nasty drain tube for a week or so.

Here's where the suing comes in: She went to the ER 2 weeks ago for the same problem (pain in her abdomen). They gave her morphine (YIKES) and sent her home. So the problem persisted for 2 weeks and I assume because of the morphine, she didn't realize how bad it had gotten. The initial hospital completely missed what was going on, caused her 2 weeks of suffering and made it so she had to have emergency surgery and wear a stinky drain tube.

Would you sue? Neither my sister or myself are lawsuit kinds of people but this is a rather big deal. I would hate to see what the emergency surgery alone cost, let alone the hospital stay afterwards.


Serious replies are appreciated.

 

[atotnine]

Nope... blaming drugs for not going back to the doctor if something hurts is stupid.

 

[Vdubchaos]

no

She should've went to a doctor after 1st emergency visit.

Remember, troubleshooting or trying to figure out what the issue is, is NOT easy.

 

[highland145]

Is incompetence grounds? And I'd imagine there's a long line ahead of your sister.

 

[Doppel]

Nope... blaming drugs for not going back to the doctor if something hurts is stupid.

This is glib and really not helpful.

Whether you sue or not has to do with subsequent direction you've received from doctors. Not getting a diagnosis correct happens constantly and is common and expected. Incompetence is not, though; would any competent doctor have diagnosed her correctly when she first presented? Was she given clearly incorrect medical advice, based on what was known then and accepted medical practices? There isn't enough information to say either way whether you have a case.

 

[diesbudt]

A rare serious thread from me...I know.

My sister had to have emergency surgery on Monday to remove parts of her gall bladder and rebuild her bile duct. She apparently had a stone stuck and it caused gangrene in her gall bladder and shredded her bile duct. She is ok now but she has to wear a nasty drain tube for a week or so.

Here's where the suing comes in: She went to the ER 2 weeks ago for the same problem (pain in her abdomen). They gave her morphine (YIKES) and sent her home. So the problem persisted for 2 weeks and I assume because of the morphine, she didn't realize how bad it had gotten. The initial hospital completely missed what was going on, caused her 2 weeks of suffering and made it so she had to have emergency surgery and wear a stinky drain tube.

Would you sue? Neither my sister or myself are lawsuit kinds of people but this is a rather big deal. I would hate to see what the emergency surgery alone cost, let alone the hospital stay afterwards.


Serious replies are appreciated.

No, I had a gullbladde inflammation issue after losing 100lbs in 5 months, and anytime I would eat anything that had a few grams of fat in it, my all lower back/stomach would hurt. Finally 1 time it was so bad went to the ER. They ran all the tests, saw no problems, sent me home.

I did not give up, there was an issue so next day I tell the doctor about my visit and the pain I have been having (have visited him 4 weeks prior and he couldn't really diagnose it). When I told him the serious pain I was in, and how they couldn't find anything, he agreed it possibly is the gullbladder. So we scheduled surgery.

When I came out of surgery the surgeon told me my Gullbladder was 3x the size of a normal one, it was permanently inflamed. I just didn't give up after the ER (which are usually not full fledged doctors but residents and stuff) basically raised their hands in confusion and didn't know what to do after all the tests.

 

[diesbudt]

This is glib and really not helpful.

Whether you sue or not has to do with subsequent direction you've received from doctors. Not getting a diagnosis correct happens constantly and is common and expected. Incompetence is not, though; would any competent doctor have diagnosed her correctly when she first presented? Was she given clearly incorrect medical advice, based on what was known then and accepted medical practices? There isn't enough information to say either way whether you have a case.

ER also isn't really doctors, but usually interns and residents with a Doctor somewhere in the room. One needs to go to a real doctor with issues, ESPECIALLY after an ER visit and nothing was determined.

 

[z1ggy]

What did they do the 2nd time to find it as opposed to the first? I might sue if the 2nd check was what really should have happened on the 1st check. Otherwise, you probably don't have much of a case.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't believe in lawsuits excepting extreme circumstances, and this falls way below extreme. Shit happens. Humans are complicated machines, and expecting perfection is unreasonable.

 

[rudeguy]

What did they do the 2nd time to find it as opposed to the first? I might sue if the 2nd check was what really should have happened on the 1st check. Otherwise, you probably don't have much of a case.

They actually ran tests the 2nd time.

The first time they told her it was from taking Ibuprofen and didn't even bother to run any tests. No follow up, just don't take IB and here's some morphine.

It doesn't add up to me. If there wasn't a problem other than IB, why give her morphine?

 

[dabuddha]

If they ran a bunch of expensive tests the first time and found nothing and nothing happened, would you consider suing them for running the tests?

That answer should be the same one used for this situation.

 

[Doppel]

They actually ran tests the 2nd time.

The first time they told her it was from taking Ibuprofen and didn't even bother to run any tests. No follow up, just don't take IB and here's some morphine.

It doesn't add up to me. If there wasn't a problem other than IB, why give her morphine?

Who knows.

What did your doctor(s) say now? The people who found it and treated it, were they shocked/dismayed at her earlier experience? Did they say "Wow, she really got fvcked at the ER, that is terrible what happened." or did they not? Because I can tell you most people at some point in their life get a bad diagnosis from a physician. This may not be incompetence, but rather the body is complex as hell and with limited resources it can be difficult to divine what the problem is.

 

[Anubis]

talk to a lawyer that specialized in this stuff but my guess is she does not have a case. people are miss diaganogsed all the time and its often not worthly of a lawsuit.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

She should consult with a dedicated medical malpractice attorney. As far as I know nobody here has the medical expertise to intelligently opine on whether this was malpractice.

 

[rudeguy]

She should consult with a dedicated medical malpractice attorney. As far as I know nobody here has the medical expertise to intelligently opine on whether this was malpractice.

Thanks!

Was hoping one of you scum sucking lawyers would pop in

 

[Texashiker]

Would you sue?

No, I would not sue.

She should not have waited 2 weeks. She and the family needs to take responsibility for their own delay in taking action.

 

[jaedaliu]

Sounds like she's going to be okay. Be happy with that.

A lot of practicing medicine is CYA with disclaimers. And if they failed to do that, you can probably sue. But suing is expensive and takes a long time. Up to you to pursue it.

 

[TwiceOver]

No. But then again I would have went back to the doctor after a few days rather than weeks.