From the "Comments" Medical Worker Thinks We Need "Gunsmoke"

"I'm glad you've got the problems with health care figured out. So go back to the old "Gunsmoke" days and have ole Doc have you bite on a leather strap while he pours some Redeye on you wound to sterilize it. He'll then have you lay on your kitchen table and dig out the bullet you shot yourself in the foot with. Saves a lot of health care money. And you'd probably die from infection. Good luck suing for getting what you asked for. "
Oooh temper temper! I don't have ALL "the problems with health care figured out," but this is a prime example of what a big part of the problem is! If the patient objects to being treated as sub human by sub standard employees, the answer is "...go back to the old 'Gunsmoke' days." I am not asking for Redeye instead of Keflex you moron! I am not asking for a leather strap to bite, I want pain killers and Morphine works just fine for me. What is the matter with you? That's the choice? "Let me do whatever I want to you with Versed or I will personally attack you?" You don't see anything wrong with deliberately and maliciously flouting patient wishes and this is your alternative? How very helpful. You just shot your own self in the foot didn't you!
On another of your "points" did it ever occur to you that it would save a lot of "health care money" if you quit shooting up unsuspecting patients with your control drug Versed? Thousands of dollars PER PROCEDURE!!! Versed is NOT necessary for any procedure. YOU may feel its necessary for your own selfish reasons, but most patients don't find it necessary.
I would have died from my HOSPITAL ACQUIRED INFECTION Hospital-Acquired Infections, MRSA, Killed 48,000 Americans In One Year if they didn't have sulpha drugs. You guys can't be bothered to wash your hands after all these years of KNOWING how infection is spread? Back in the "Gunsmoke" days they didn't know how infection is spread. What's your excuse? Not to mention that if this surgery had been performed the way *I* wanted it, I wouldn't have had your dirty hands on me and wouldn't have been infected. I have documentation elsewhere on this blog about how to get the best results from my particular surgery and it ISN'T general anesthetic.
"Good luck suing for getting what you asked for." I didn't ask for any of this. In fact I was adamantly opposed to sedation drugs OR general anesthetic. Lazy, hostile health care workers with the compassion of a flea and a propensity for disobeying the law did this to me against my will and very verbal expressed wishes. Thank you for your comment. It is very enlightening.

From the "Comments" Medical Worker Sneers At Fibromyalgia Sufferers

"All you do is complain and moan about how horrible these people were to you, yet you don't give specifics about what exactly they supposedly did to you. I predict from the tone of your rant that you "suffer" from fibromyalgia too. Those in health care know what I'm talkin' bout!"

First of all I have given specifics including copies of my personal medical records on this site. All you have to do is click on them to see them full size. I have hospital charts with fraudulent data, lies, ommisions and incorrect dates (as in "go back and change them...") I have correspondance from the "Doctor" in here as well. Since he refused, in direct violation of the law, to give me my actual CHARTS on demand, I am sorry but from the esteemed surgeon all I have is what he gave me. They are here though. Maybe you don't know how to click the "older posts" link at the bottom of the page?



As for the second part of the statement, here is a link to a fibromyalgia study. Video Microscopy: ‘Live’ Blood Analysis for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients – exciting breakthrough or pure hype? Honey babe, I do NOT suffer from Fibromyalgia, but I do know one person who does. The idea that you are so dismissive of the very real suffering in a fellow human being is very illustrative of YOUR mental problems. You exibit a TOTAL lack of empathy or sympathy for others. This is known as "psychopathic" behavior in its severest form. If you need the definition of this mental disorder please leave another inane comment and I will look it up for you and print it along with your post!

Thanks for leaving us this breathtaking example of the compassion of health care workers. Snide comments which prove my point are always welcomed here!

Wages and Health Care

I think a lot about what happened to me at the Medical Center. Why did this happen? What kind of people would do this? Why did they think it would be OK on ANY LEVEL to completely disregard my wishes, inject me with poison (Versed) to gain obedience, give me general anesthetic which I had specifically forbidden, then laugh at my unhappiness afterwards? Why would they fail to protect me from something as simple as a hospital acquired infection? Why was my surgery so sloppily performed? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE AND WHY ARE THEY WORKING IN THE HEALTH CARE FIELD?
I think it all revolves around MONEY. Back in the day, doctors and others in the health care field became doctors and nurses because they wanted to help people. They made a good living and saved lives. Over the years this has changed. Now these people make salaries way out of proportion to their skills. No longer would somebody have an altruistic desire to help people as their main objective. Obscene salaries would be the main interest. This has led to a decline in good people going into the health care field. Now "the money" has become the main reason. This absurd amount of money has attracted a bad element into health care.
Look at what CRNA's make. They are not worth it. The anesthesiologists make much more than they used to as well. After all they make money for "supervising" now, instead of actually performing procedures. The surgeons are careless. Hospital acquired infections are rampant. according to studies, DOCTORS et. al. are the THIRD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN THIS COUNTRY! Why are we being slaughtered like this by the health care professionals?
Look at the lack of expertise my surgeon possessed as far as my surgery was concerned! It is a complete botch job. Look at his "concern" for me as shown in his notes elsewhere on this site! Is this the warm, caring person YOU want? Should he make enormous amounts of money for performing at this level? Does he care that he wrecked my arm? Not a bit. This person, along with everybody else where I went had one thing in mind, make this simple surgery the most expensive possible. We patients are just rubes to be duped, lied to, dismissed as inconsequential and viewed as a necessary EVIL to make money.
This whole thing is caused by too many substandard people choosing health care, not because they love people, but because of the wages. You can't trust these people at all with this new mentality. Health care MUST be the next bubble to burst. We just can't have people whose only concern is money to continue bleeding us dry while killing us.
Tort reform won't work. We need lawsuits to kind of keep these demons in line. If the people where I went were worried in the slightest bit about lawsuits, do you think that they would have treated me in such a cavalier manner? Not only do they make many times as much money as we patients do, they are immune from lawsuits as well. Tort reform does NOT bring down the cost of health care, it just allows money grubbing sub-standard caretakers to operate with impunity.
Money and power over us in that order is why we patients are being abused in the health care system. Get rid of Versed, put some teeth in the informed consent laws and force these cretins to at least follow the law. Get rid of redundant positions in health care. We don't need so many people doing minor variations of the same job. I counted 18 people involved in my care in the time I was in the out patient area. That's just outrageous. We don't need to pay all those people!!!
Anesthesiologist, 2 CRNA's, OR nurses, cast nurse, radiologist, scrub nurses, circulating nurses, the doctor AND his physicians assistant, what the hell do we need all these people for? They are all making huge salaries... They are all intent on maximising their profit while performing bad care. Can we just have ONE good person instead of three losers for each job? In all of these people there was not one single one who was interested in the patient, at least where I went. They were all there to make the most amount of money for the least amount of work and I, the hapless patient was there for THEIR needs not vice versa!
I admit that I would be a grape eater if I could. I don't work very often without being paid. However I *DO* work on occasion without pay. I CHOSE a profession that I love without worrying about making millions of dollars. I don't torture people. I pay attention to my clients wishes. I don't do what I do grudgingly and with animosity towards the people who pay my bills. Why can't health care people do the same? Too much money. Too much control. They are corrupted by it.

Yet Another Person Drugged Against Their Will

Anesthesiology - Sedation & General Anesthesia without consent

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Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 11/20/2009

Question
QUESTION: On October 19, 2009, I had TriVex surgery to correct Varicose veins in my leg. I consulted with the surgeon before even being a candidate for surgery and asked for a regional anesthetic. The surgeon said that would be too much anesthesia and suggested spinal anesthesia. I said I wanted to remain awake and not be sedated and wanted to have a similar experience as I did
during the C-Section birth of my child. The surgeon agreed. This is well documented in my medical record. The day of surgery I spoke with the first nurse who started my IV and told her that I was going to be awake because I was having spinal anesthesia. The nurse checked my medical record and said “You're right, you‘re having a spinal". I then consulted with the anesthesiologist, who said that he was going to put medicine in my IV to make me go to sleep. I told him no you’re not, I am having a spinal. The anesthesiologist said, ”Who says“? I told him my surgeon and I also said, “I want to be awake“. He confirmed that I was having spinal anesthesia in her medical record. The surgeon came in and marked my leg and I asked him if I could watch the procedure. He said no. The nurse anesthetist then came into the room and I told her that I wanted to be awake and made reference to my experience during child birth. I went to the operating room at 10:00 A.M. and at 10:02 A.M. the nurse anesthetist administered 1.5 mg of Midazolam and I weigh 112 pounds. The anesthesiologist told the nurse anesthetist give her ____ she is allergic to Morphine. The nurse anesthetist said I am. The last thing I remember, is the nurse anesthetist putting up a curtain near my waist and I said, “Well I guess I won‘t be able to watch“. I woke up 50 minutes later and discovered that I had been put to sleep against my consent. According to my medical record, the spinal was in at 10:09 A.M. and right after that it says Propofol was administered. TriVex is a new “minimally evasive procedure“. I also talked with a medical doctor about this incident and he said, “It is highly unlikely they gave you Propofol for varicose veins”, but it is in my medical records and they agree they gave me Propofol. On the pre-anesthesia report it says, "Patient wants SAB" spinal anesthesia and the block for Versed is not checked. All documents in my medical record list spinal and nothing else. The next day I complained to the surgery center saying that they sedated me and put me to sleep without my consent. The head nurse said they give the Midazolam because they don't want people to hear noises. The nurse anesthetist then called and I complained to her. The nurse anesthetist said she gave the Midazolam so I did not hear noises because it is too traumatic on people. I then asked why they did a spinal and used propofol and the nurse anesthetist said, “You were moving your leg“.
During a follow up visit with the surgeon he apologized and said he does not know why they sedated me. He said there were some "Oohs and Aw's" so they used propofol. The surgeon said he could have performed the surgery with only spinal anesthesia and no sedation as planned. I also got a letter from the administrator of the surgical center saying that he spoke with the anesthesia team and they agreed I wanted to be awake and apologized. I see from many articles that Midazolam is a pre-medication for Propofol. Based on the dose of Midazolam did they intend on administering Propofol all along and did the spinal to appease me and said that they tried the spinal anesthesia? I never agreed to anything other than spinal anesthesia without sedation. Why didn't they administer the spinal anesthesia and if not successful, tell me that they would have to put me to sleep? Since I am in Pennsylvania, I filled out private criminal complaints against the anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist and have an appointment with the prosecutor on November 30, 2009, to see if he will accept the criminal charges. These acts were intentional and deliberate and I feel they violated criminal law and have alleged in the charges that they provided drugs as a practitioner beyond the scope of their authority and without my consent. Could you please answer my questions so I am clear on everything.

ANSWER: Let me try to answer your question understanding that I have to speak about the hypotheticial since I was not present for your procedure. I will try to address all of your concerns.

First some definitions. Midazolam is a anxiolytic (like Valium but shorter acting) that, in addition to its anti-anxiety effects, also has amnestic effects. Propofol is an anesthetic, but in smaller doses, is a sedative, anxiolytic and also has some amnestic properties. MAC (monitored anesthesia care) anesthesia can mean anything from no drugs at all to as much drugs as possible so long as the patient is arousable. Spinal anesthesia is a regional anesthesia technique. I assume you had the spinal done (a needle in the back). The anesthesiologist, as part of his consent, should have mentioned that there is always a possibility that the spinal may fail and they'd have to convert to general.

The procedure you had was likely done under spinal (SAB) but they did give you the Versed for the anti-anxiety properties (1.5 mg is not a large dose). While spinal anesthetics are very reliable, they don't always work and we sometimes have to supplement them when they only partially work. The easiest way to do this (while still giving a MAC anesthetic) is to use propofol. The sedative effects of Propofol along with the partially working SAB is usually enough to finish the procedure. If that fails, then general anesthesia is the only option. If your anesthetic record does not note either an endotracheal tube or an LMA, then you did not have a general anesthetic. Midazolam is not a premed for Propofol but rather an anxiolytic usually given before entering the OR. I speak from experience in that I have had wisdom teeth taken out under Midazolam and although the dentist (a friend) said I moaned and groaned, I have no memory (thankfully) of the procedure. There is no indication that they intentionally put you to sleep and I can't imagine an anethesiologist putting in a spinal just for show. In fact, anesthesiologists prefer regional anesthesia because patients can tell us if they are having chest pain, etc so it is easier to treat them. The difference between this procedure and your c-section is that for your section they wanted you to remember holding your baby for the first time so they didn't give you the Midazolam. Most anesthesiologists are hesitant to agree to a completely awake patient primarily because many patients think they want to be awake but when they get to the OR and they hear the noises and see the blood, etc. they aren't so happy any more but now the anesthesiologists hands are tied and he can't give sedation (even though you are awake and now ask for it, you are under stress and the validity of your consent may have some medicolegal implications later on).

You are certainly free to pursue legal action but my feeling is the prosecutor will be reluctant to accept the case as he will have a small chance of a conviction (if what I have said is true).

Hope this helps you and sorry for your unplesant experience,

Ronald Levy, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dr. Levy don't you see a problem with informed consent? I specially told every medical employee (I will not call them professionals) that I came in contact with that I was only consenting to a spinal with no sedation and I wanted to be awake like I was during the birth of my child, which would include not consenting to amnesia from Midazolam. After I complained, all medical employees agreed that I wanted to be awake and apologized. I never agreed to any type of sedation, either Midazolam or Propofol or any other sedative. I was given the Midazolam and then told. Don't you see a problem with consent there? According to proper informed consent in Pennsylvania I was suppose to be told of the risks and benefits of the anesthesia. I was never advised of any risks or benefits and alternatives of any anesthesia, let alone the spinal. You don't see an ethical issue here? If you took you vehicle in for an oil change and a hour later the mechanic spoke with you and told you that your bill would be $1,200 because while it was on the lift they had to put a new transmission in and did not it without your consent. The mechanic is an expert in his field like doctors are experts in the medical field. I am sure you would be highly upset with your mechanic and that issue could be dealt with either in civil court or the mechanic could be arrested for fraud or deceptive business practices, which would be handled by the criminal justice system. This is the same issue, I did not consent to anything other than the spinal and consented to and agreed to be fully awake since I was consenting to a spinal only. They did not have a right to sedate (Midazolam) me against my will and without my consent or permission. Also I see that people who are allergic to eggs can have an allergic reaction to Propofol. They never checked this with me. It certainly seems that doctors and other medical employees do not have have ethics and feel that they can do whatever they want to their patients without being held accountable. Can you name any other profession where employees could treat the consumer like I was treated and not be held accountable or disciplined? All of this comes from someone who has worked as a medical professional for over 25 years. I appreciate your response.

Answer
As I stated in my previous response, I was not justifing what they did, I was only commenting on what likely happened. I do take offense when you say doctors and medical personnel do not have ethics, etc, based on this one event you had. Let me try to answer some of your comments and ask you a question. As for the consent, if they did not talk to you at all about the type of anesthesia, risks, complications and alternatives, then they were clearly wrong (not just in PA but throughout the world). With respect to eggs and Propofol, they should have certainly asked if you had any allergies (I'm sure someone asked you that question) and the problem with eggs has to do with the yolk and some recent studies have shown that the formulation of Propofol doesn't have the proteins common in the allergy (http://www.anaesthesia-az.com/search/?itemId=2136494) but they still should have asked and many anesthesiologists probably wouldn't use it. As for other professions where employees take advantage, I think every profession has people who do that. There are bad apples everywhere but it should not speak against all people in that profession. As for suing them, you are certainly within your rights to do that. I don't think you have grounds for a malpractice suit (you don't meet the 3 criteria). A criminal suit would be tough to get a conviction (the best charge might be battery but it would be hard to prove) so your only hope would be a civil suit which may get you money but I don't think that is what you want. You could certainly notify your state medical board and they can investigate (which is probably the right thing to do) but that is up to you.

As for my 2 questions, the first is "Why are you so insistent to be awake for the procedure?" and the second and more important question is "What would you want the anesthesiologist to do if he did only the spinal and it didn't work or it did work but you had second thoughts and were now nervous and wanted sedation?". As I mentioned earlier, the only "legal" option you give the surgeon and anesthesiologist is to abort the procedure (if possible) and come back another time.

I hope I have cleared up some of your concerns,

Ronald Levy, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston

Doctor Hater? Well, no...

I am not a Doctor hater! As you read this blog, it may seem so. However, nothing could be further from the truth, at least BEFORE this debacle. My former step father is a Doctor of internal medicine in San Jose, Ca. I love him dearly as well as his new wife. My sister works for him in his office and I myself have worked in his office. We kept him after the divorce, although I would hate for my mom to find out that I am still friends with him!

The surgeon who performed the 4 open reductions on my femur when a horse kicked it clean in 2 back in 1986 is truly a wonderful man. His name is Dr. Paul David Levin, retired. I developed rotational instability twice which needed to be corrected. At no time did Dr. Levin doubt my words. His entire staff was kind and caring even though I was a difficult patient. (I tried to do too much after the surgeries, which may have contributed to the second rotational instability and I couldn't deal with casts.)

When I just couldn't face another general anesthetic both Dr. Levin and the anesthesiologist were more than happy to have me awake. In fact the anesthesiologist (that's right, a DOCTOR NOT A GLORIFIED NURSE) was relieved that I had broached the subject of being awake myself as he wasn't sure how I would take it... They had so much trouble with me under general anesthetic that nobody wanted to work on me and this particular Doctor was the only one who would do it. This was all before Versed became the drug of choice.

These kind Doctors went so far as to put up mirrors so that I could watch without craning around to see what was happening. No surgical drape. I need to know what happens to me. I heal better, faster etc. This is a proven fact and my Doctor marveled at how fast I healed up after the 3rd surgery when I was awake and aware. He called it astonishingly exuberant bone growth, which had been lacking after the previous 2 surgeries.

When I had to have an arthroscope procedure due to knee injury from this accident, they also had a screen up so I could watch the little drill thingy zip around taking out the stalactites or stalagmites under my knee cap. I had this done at the same time they took out all the pins, nails, screws and plates. Since medical people are now saying that the SOUNDS of an operating room are traumatic, let me say this; the sounds of the drill, the sounds of something like a clam opening, a wet popping noise etc. the sounds of the drill, were not alarming in the slightest bit. There is no need for Versed so that we don't HEAR the surgery.

Likewise I heard the entire surgeries on my femur, the drilling, the slide hammer, the wet noises, as well as the crunch of the nippers biting out a chunk of my iliac crest for a bone graft... The conversations were pleasant and I spent most of the time talking to my anesthesiologist about what was coming next, why they were doing it, how was the weather, what all my horse was doing, the anesthesiologist's airplane, just all kinds of interesting subjects. Nothing scary or traumatic about any of it. I could ask the anesthesiologist to give me more or less drugs depending on what level of pain was acceptable, and at the end I had him taper down the drugs, allowing more pain, so that I could get out of recovery faster. I was starving after 12 hours of surgery and couldn't wait to eat. The anesthesiologist explained that Domino's Pizza couldn't go through the autoclave...

What WAS upsetting to hear were the nasty comments made about me in the operating room when my so-called caregivers had knocked me on my keester with Versed in 2006. They imagined that I would have amnesia and were very candid about their opinion of truck drivers, my physicality etc. I was horrified and this probably contributed somewhat to my PTSD. I have never heard such snide comments in my life. They were all laughing at my expense. Since I had no idea that I was supposed to have amnesia this was quite a shock. I couldn't BELIEVE what I was hearing! I couldn't speak coherently or defend myself in any way, I was unable to leave etc. completely helpless. These were the people that were going to knock me out against my will and perform surgery and they had ZERO RESPECT for me as a person and were callous and uncaring, careless, NASTY, evil... Their conversation about me was the noise that traumatized me, the noise of the surgery itself would have had no impact on me at all.

Here is a link which puts forth the argument that the SOUNDS of surgery are traumatizing. What a crock. Is there no end to the excuses for the use of Versed? Anesthesiology - Medical Specialists - Health/Fitness - AllExperts.com Thanks again Paula.

"Consultations"

I want to say a word about "consultations." This is a code word for "charge a bunch of money for an ordinary office visit!" Dr. X, my wannabe surgeon charged me 250 dollars for the privilege of allowing him to con me into an ill advised surgery which subsequently ruined my life. I got nothing but scare tactics, the "consultation" consisted ENTIRELY of him telling me how horrible my life would be if I didn't get the surgery. He didn't listen to a thing I told him about anesthesia, prior experiences etc. For his part he failed (purposely) to tell me about risks, his lack of expertise, the fact that he only works on unconscious patients, failed to tell me of common (his word) side effects like my whole hand being numb etc. His office lied to me about the cost of this surgery as well. Maybe the whole surgery should have been free, seeing as how I was a practice dummy?

So what did I get for $250.00? I got maybe 10 minutes of Dr. X's time. I got lied to about the NEED for surgery, I was NOT told of any side effects, the site of the surgery or any substantive risks, other than the usual infection and bleeding. Since I had already refused any general anesthetic, this was never discussed. I was not willing to risk my life (and mental well being) with general anesthetic for something as ridiculous as a broken arm. The word "sedation" was never, ever mentioned at any time by anybody, here at the expensive and phony consultation or any time thereafter. Sedation is a huge secret, to be kept from the patient at all costs. Once it is done, you have no recourse... and they can proceed with other dangerous but moneymaking procedures without your consent. I guess that this is all a plan to maximize profit.

Don't ever let a Doctor get away with charging you hundreds of dollars for a "consultation." This is a rip-off. All this is for is so that the Doctor can terrorize you into accepting very expensive and risky procedures. This being so, then this "consultation" is only for the Doctor's benefit, not yours and you as the hapless patient should NOT be charged this exorbitant fee, just so the Doctor can con you! It's a freakin office visit with some coercion thrown in for good measure. Why should the patient pay for something that is only in the DOCTOR'S BEST INTEREST, not theirs?

Dr. X also insisted on taking another x ray to go along with the "consultation." This was $95. The x ray machine was obviously faulty as it was vague, grainy and there were splatter marks all over the edges of the x rays. They didn't even bother to give me a lead apron when they used this dangerous machine! The reason for the x ray? So that Dr. X could use it to show me a miniscule additional "collapse" of the fracture in order to coerce me into allowing him to get some experience doing this particular surgery. The x rays are on this site and most people couldn't find this "unacceptable collapse" with a magnifying glass. Another spurious charge designed to maximise profit. This x ray was for HIS benefit, not mine. I was understandably skeptical about his marvy surgery... I wanted a non surgical intervention. So Dr. X freely spent MY money in his quest to con me into doing what HE wanted to do, not what was best for ME!

And they wonder why health care has become so expensive? These people are searching for tricks to charge more money for ordinary things. "Consultation fee," my foot!

Chart from Dr. V

Here is the entire chart from Dr. V. (2nd opinion) Please do NOT get the idea that I dislike this Dr. in any way. He is absolutely wonderful, kind and caring. However, in trying to calm me down, he told me a story about bones shrinking and settling, (last page) this without ever having seen ANY previous x rays. I think he imagined that if he told a little white lie, that it would make me feel better. All it did was alarm me. I want truth, honesty, and full disclosure. That is how I deal with things. I don't want to be placated, I find it insulting! If my surgeon Dr. X had been truthful, if he had paid the slightest bit of attention to what I said, if the CRNA Aaron hadn't thought that I was so stupid that he could proceed against my wishes, if ANYBODY had been up front and truthful I wouldn't be here this morning typing on a computer! On this chart, besides the final paragraph, I would like to point out just how forthright I am about anesthesia. Dr. V "heard me" (loathsome term) and actually wrote down what I said about anesthesia and Versed! Do you believe that I never said a word about it to Dr. X?