To sue or not to sue?

[Tristelle]

If so can you tell me about the process?

I have been umming and arring about this for a few years and always just let things go behind me in terms of what happened to me 4 years ago, but the more i think about it the more things start sending alarm bells to me,and the more my current situation seems to have stemed from the original surgery screw up. And Dr's all saving each others ass and when I ask for there opinions they keep hushing me up, funny that they are all under teh same hospital, even down to my pain specialist who works at another hosptial is friends with the surgeon in question...

So i guess first things first I will get my medical notes... then the next step I am not so sure about.... that's where I need the help.. I know it's going to be years and I know this is what everyone says, but I am not after money..

I am after someone to tell me what the friggen hell went wrong, and why after two operations 3 days apart I was on death bed, why I bleed in parts of my body no one should have touched and the only reason I am here today is because of 11 blood transfusions, why I was so sick for 10 months with internal bleeding that was too risky to operate on, why I then had to go on to have 2 more operations before I was ok. Then skip forward 2 years and i go on to get a problem with a major organ that has a connection to the organ in mention and where surprise surprise one of the major "unknown" bleeding location was!!! sounding a bit suss?? Add to that the original surgeon "dismissing me" as a patient and handballing me - without my knowledge mind you... to his "second in charge" who then went on to take on my case, who I thought I trusted, who I went back to with all of this, and when I asked him what went wrong (he was in both surgerys) he said the hospital "investigaged it" ummm sure...

So do you think it's worth the money? the time and etc... to maybe or maybe not find out what went wrong?? is it worth getting up in front of a lawyer and explaining how the last 4.5 years of my daughters life has only resulted in 1 full year not on morphine or higher pain medications just to keep a smile on my face to lie to her? The constant hospital trips, some of which have both my kids 3 months later still thinking my November ambo trip was for me to visit heaven!!! Not to mention the in excess of $150+k in medical bills it has so much cost? (that is total medicare. health and me bill).. not to mention the chemist bills, the depression it caused the PND it caused, the phobia of my own death everytime I went into a risky operation, the idea that my Husband, mother and father where all told to say goodbye to me when my daugher was only 3.5 weeks old... the fact I went to hosptial breastfeeding and returned home crying into a machine trying to regain my milk flow in the hope it would return after weeks of her on the bottle.. *this is so hard to type*... then thinking I finally had it all with my son and that all my problems had gone away, when wham not even a week before her 3rd birthday (she was nearly 1 when I was given the all clear) so 2 years later there I was again being rushed to hospital...

I could give the full story again and again with more detials, but that isn't the point, the point is I am not going to get better, it's enevitable meds forever unless i can do something else, which failed as well.

So to fight or not fight for an answer?? please be honest....

[mybabymonsters]

I think the first step is to contact a lawyer. They will tell you if you have a case.

All the best if you decide to go ahead.

[Tristelle]

I guess there are medical lawyers out there, might have to investigate this more. Thanks for ya help

[Cantwait]

(((big hugs))) Tristelle, I couldnt begin to imagine how hard that was for you or your family, I really hope you do have a case or can at least finally get an answer. Best of luck!

[mishy]

((HUGS)) I know what you have been through and I would want to do the same thing too, as Kaz said perhaps a lawyer can shed some light on how to go about this...I can find out my bro-in-laws lawyer's details if you want, even if he doesn't deal with it himself and knows someone else good...and DH's cousin is a lawyer but not sure what she specialises in and she may also know someone too...will keep you posted!

[kalgirl78]

I did try and pursue something similar after having DD1, I started by writing a letter to the hospital explaining everything that happened and that the midwives were told different things to what was actually wrotten in the notes etc by the Doctor. Basically they wrote back saying everything is fine the docotr was right to do this and that because of this fact and that fact ( which were all lies) and said if I wanted it investigated further I would have to contact the Medical Board etc and it will end up costing thousands. So I decided to leave it.

Now this year I have found out that another 3 ladies took the same doctor to court and had a win. SO in a way I guess it is a very long and drawn out, not to mention expensive process to enter into so you need to make sure you have every relevant piece of paperwork etc. It just depends if it really will get you some closure or if it is going to be alot more draining on you physically and emotionally than it is really worth???

In the end it is your decision and I wish you luck with whichever way you decide to go. xx

[Christie84]

I would get in contact with a lawyer for sure. I know of a really good one, he helped my dad sue Woolworths and a large mining company for compensation due to a back injury, he deals with all medical cases and he will have a chat with you on the phone too before pushing you in for an appointment and having to pay a fortune, really nice guy (I have called on him a few times).

I will hunt his number out and pm you tomorrow.

[DarkAngel]

I am not sure what I would do in your situation hun. But ditto to what Kaz said. Worth getting an opinion but obviously a lawyer will want your business so do your research and then make a decision. Good luck.

[ranz]

I dunno Tristelle. All I can say is that I find it quite hard to believe that a Doctor(s), a hospital, a specialist or any medical system would go out of their way to harm you or cause the dramas that you had (have). These people do their best, the medical world is not perfect, and sometimes things go wrong.

I always remember back to wartime notes of field hospitals and what they did to keep people alive. The lawyers of today would have a field day with some of the techniques the doctors used. However, we all fail to remember that they are doing the best they can with the limited knowledge and resources available.

When one wants to put blame, or punish people for the trauma that they've been through - it is hard to find a right or wrong.

My advice would be as indicated above about seeking a legal opinion, but I would also take a step back and think about it from their side too. Were they just trying to help you?

I'm not saying that you're wrong in taking this view, just pointing out some other aspects of the bigger picture.

[Tristelle]

Thanks everyone,

Trust me this is why I have aksed for opinions because obviously it's happeend to me, and I am too involved, so without being able to step aside that's why I asked.

My biggest "hmm" moments with my cases are going to stem back to over worked Dr's, out of my 4 operations on my "original" problem the earliest one was done at 9pm at night, one at 11pm, one at 1am and one at 4.30am!!!! All on a Dr who Nurses used to joke around as "the Dr who lives here"... strike no 2, the fact that I suddenly went as a "chance of bleeding post surgery" to bleeding in my entire stomach area, having to abort surgery after 3 hours due to my life being at risk. I went from a team of few to a team of 10, and I thank that team of 10 or I woudln't be here, especially thankful to the Bleeding specialist who's job it was to stop me bleeding. Take my hat of to him. He was told to investigage if I had any bleeding problems because it is an easy anwer and easy to put down as a cause... but since I had had 28 operations previous to this (cs included) and had no single bleeding problem and I even had my stomach cracked open for major stomach surgery and even then had no blood product given at all) but no, no problems with my blood.

I know it probally sounds wrong that I am even considering this, and I wonder the same myself, but I think back and I want what I should have had, I lost so much of my daughters life, I missed her first smile, her firsts that I can not get back, when I was at home I was maxed out on morphine. I know I should be thankful I got to expecience it with dyaln and yes I am thankful, but now look at me, I feel like I have hit an even bigger brick wall. this one can't be cured by surgery. I have lost the ability to look after my kids, I went though a phobia of hosptials thinking I was going back to die, and evey operation I went though panic attacks. I became obsessed with documenting my life incase it was my last days on earth.

Sure I appear to have an amount of "bad luck" or being that "1:5" but this can't all be bad luck surly!!

If I could avoid all this and get a simple answer from the Dr I would.. but who in there right mind is going to defeat loss really and jepodise there career? but money is not what I am after, I just want to know as simply as I can what happened. If that means getting my notes - which I still can't bring myself to making that call, until I am sure I am going to do it... and going to see a Dr who has nothing to do with the cases well then I will...

I hope this all makes sense, hey I might have left it all too late, but who knows, maybe not.