Comments on: Monitoring medical mistakes http://blog.rogersradiointernet.com/lisabrandt/2008/03/17/monitoring-medical-mistakes/ Toronto Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:38:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.3-2.2.1 By: Howard .Lee http://blog.rogersradiointernet.com/lisabrandt/2008/03/17/monitoring-medical-mistakes/#comment-504 Howard .Lee Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:50:26 +0000 http://blog.rogersradiointernet.com/lisabrandt/2008/03/17/monitoring-medical-mistakes/#comment-504 Medical mistakes are serious, but when mistakes are made by an entire hospital,what would you call that? Systemic? That is the story of an 86-year-old female stroke victim, right here in Ontario. Keeping it short, a stroke patient gets admitted to a hospital, and from the get-go the negligence begins. Dieticians who claim that the Hospital was incapable of wieghing a patient because of a lack of equipment: The patient was admitted at a weight of 150lbs and discharged at a weight of 90lbs six months later. A psychiatrist who injected the patient with dangerous drugs, without consent, which amounted to a battery and assault of the patient. The MRP doctor discharges a patient who is not able to swallow, and lies about a conversation with the patients family physician ... proof was that he had the wrong family physician to begin with. Misdiagnosis injury, Battery, Assault, Negligence, Lies, cover-ups, Nurses who neglected thier duty on an ongoing basis and doctors who discouraged patients their right to "DISCLOSURE" based on the PRIVACY ACT. This is the short version of events ... the long one would serve as an eye opening education in regard to the health-care system in Canada. Medical mistakes are serious, but when mistakes are made by an entire hospital,what would you call that? Systemic?
That is the story of an 86-year-old female stroke victim, right here in Ontario.
Keeping it short, a stroke patient gets admitted to a hospital, and from the get-go the negligence begins.
Dieticians who claim that the Hospital was incapable of wieghing a patient because of a lack of equipment: The patient was admitted at a weight of 150lbs and discharged at a weight of 90lbs six months later.
A psychiatrist who injected the patient with dangerous drugs, without consent, which amounted to a battery and assault of the patient.
The MRP doctor discharges a patient who is not able to swallow, and lies about a conversation with the patients family physician … proof was that he had the wrong family physician to begin with.
Misdiagnosis injury, Battery, Assault, Negligence, Lies, cover-ups, Nurses who neglected thier duty on an ongoing basis and doctors who discouraged patients their right to “DISCLOSURE” based on the PRIVACY ACT.
This is the short version of events … the long one would serve as an eye opening education in regard to the health-care system in Canada.

]]> By: Julia Schopick http://blog.rogersradiointernet.com/lisabrandt/2008/03/17/monitoring-medical-mistakes/#comment-474 Julia Schopick Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:18:11 +0000 http://blog.rogersradiointernet.com/lisabrandt/2008/03/17/monitoring-medical-mistakes/#comment-474 What a horror story this is. I believe that -- even though the frightening statistics are often stated in news stories -- most people don't realize how bad the situation is. I hope that the publicity surrounding the Quaids' near- tragedy will actually bring about some changes. I think that one of the most frightening aspects of the Quaids' nightmare is the fact that the Cedars-Sinai hospital staff outright lied to them when, sensing something was wrong, the Quaids called at night and asked the nurses how their babies were doing. (The nurses lied, and told them that their babies were doing just fine. Of course, they weren't.) This kind of covering up of the truth should lead people to realize that lots of life-threatening hospital errors actually go unreported. I have no doubt that the staff was hoping that they would be able to get the situation under control by the time the Quaids arrived in the morning. Then, of course, the Quaids would never know what had happened, and the hospital would not have to admit that anything had gone wrong. Before he died two years ago at the age of 56, my husband Tim was a 15-year brain tumor survivor, who spent a great deal of time in hospitals; all were well-known, "first rate" medical centers. I cannot tell you the number of times I caught life-threatening errors-in-progress and brought them to the staff's attention. Only once or twice was anyone grateful to me. Mostly, they were angry that I noticed, and considered my input an intrusion. One final note: On “60 Minutes,” Dennis Quaid called it a “conspiracy of silence,” and said that doctors protect nurses. I actually found, during my husband’s many hospitalizations, that more often, doctors -- not really KNOWING the patient -- would give wrong “orders,” but that nurses, afraid of losing their jobs, would follow those orders – knowing they were wrong. Thank God the Quaids are determined to do something about this problem which is, as they correctly perceive, an epidemic. I wish them lots of luck with their Foundation! Julia Schopick www.HonestMedicine.com What a horror story this is. I believe that — even though the frightening statistics are often stated in news stories — most people don’t realize how bad the situation is. I hope that the publicity surrounding the Quaids’ near- tragedy will actually bring about some changes.

I think that one of the most frightening aspects of the Quaids’ nightmare is the fact that the Cedars-Sinai hospital staff outright lied to them when, sensing something was wrong, the Quaids called at night and asked the nurses how their babies were doing. (The nurses lied, and told them that their babies were doing just fine. Of course, they weren’t.)

This kind of covering up of the truth should lead people to realize that lots of life-threatening hospital errors actually go unreported. I have no doubt that the staff was hoping that they would be able to get the situation under control by the time the Quaids arrived in the morning. Then, of course, the Quaids would never know what had happened, and the hospital would not have to admit that anything had gone wrong.

Before he died two years ago at the age of 56, my husband Tim was a 15-year brain tumor survivor, who spent a great deal of time in hospitals; all were well-known, “first rate” medical centers. I cannot tell you the number of times I caught life-threatening errors-in-progress and brought them to the staff’s attention. Only once or twice was anyone grateful to me. Mostly, they were angry that I noticed, and considered my input an intrusion.

One final note: On “60 Minutes,” Dennis Quaid called it a “conspiracy of silence,” and said that doctors protect nurses. I actually found, during my husband’s many hospitalizations, that more often, doctors — not really KNOWING the patient — would give wrong “orders,” but that nurses, afraid of losing their jobs, would follow those orders – knowing they were wrong.

Thank God the Quaids are determined to do something about this problem which is, as they correctly perceive, an epidemic. I wish them lots of luck with their Foundation!

Julia Schopick
www.HonestMedicine.com

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