Re: New to group>>>My doctor could have killed me!

[Guest guest]

Thank-god you had the brains to keep up to date with your own

results!! And caught this terrible error. This is just typical with

human error so high in the medical profession.

I am so glad you are ok!! WE must always get copies and question any

drug and always do our own homework.

I would make sure I sat down with this doctor and told him of this

extremely grave mistake they could of made on you. He has to know

what goes on in his office, it's his business.

Depending on how he behaves is how I would decide what future course

I would take regarding staying with this man or not.

I am so glad you are ok---tina

> I have known

> I had hypothyroidism for the last 8 years.

> I have felt like crud since feb 2003. My general doc had trouble

> regulating my TSH levels and sent me to a endo. My appointment was

on

> Dec. 18 2003. I had plenty of lab work in their onsite lab. I was

> finally called back about my results on the 5th of Jan '04. As she

> spoke(nurse)I wrote down what she was telling me in between the 3

> interuptions. She didn't even bother putting me on hold I could hear

> her conversations. This turned into a 20 min. call on my cell phone.

> Finally, she told me what was supposely wrong. She said my vitimin D

> level was defiencent. She called into my pharmacy six 50,000 i.u

> (normal dose is 400 i.u.) pills that I was to take one a week for 6

> weeks and return to the office on Jan. 29th. Well, since I have been

> so sick this past year I have really been keeping up with my lab

> results. In addition to the results the nurse gave me I asked her to

> send me a copy of the lab results. I almost didn't do this since I

was

> going in on the 29th. Thank God I did! I recieved them in the mail

> yesterday. Upon taking a good look at them and seeing that

everything

> was the same from what she had told me earlier on the phone I

noticed

> that this was somebody elses lab results! She had my same name but

> different birthdate. Her speciman was collected on the same day but

at

> a 11 am that morning, my appointment wasn't until 2pm. Keep in mind,

> in the normal average multivitamin there is 400I.U., I took 50,000

> i.u. and would have continued unless I hadn't requested my copy. I

> would have been DEAD before my appointment on the 29th is what

poison

> control told me. I'm still kind of stunned not understanding how a

> mistake like this could happen. AND, not only did we have different

> ages but she had a different doctor(within the same medical group)

and

> it was marked out and my doctor's name written beside it. It was a

> copy of what she read to me on the phone because she had her

> handwritten note of our conversation and my drugstore information.

> ALso, on one page it has my correct age of 33(but no birthdate) but

> has the same patient ID number as on the other pages with her age of

> 45. The doctor had handwritten on the lab report to give me the V-D

> if my calcium was not elevated. Not was underlined

> This experience has scared me so bad. I have felt worse since taking

> the Vitimin D(V-D is actually a hormone, not a vitamin) although I

> have not had the kidney pain they say I would get with an overdose.

> Please always ask for a copy of your lab results, as you can see it

is

> so important, it could have cost me my life.

>

> I'm not sure if I want to go to this doctor again. What would you

all

> do if it happened to you?

>

>

> -Dana

[Guest guest]

I would talk to a supervisor and write a note to the ombudsman of that

establishment and try to get that person fired.

----Original Message Follows----

From: " Dana " <BHD@...>

Reply-hypothyroidism

hypothyroidism

Subject: New to group>>>My doctor could have killed me!

Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 14:07:12 -0000

I have known

I had hypothyroidism for the last 8 years.

_________________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

Hi & welcome! I agree with what Tina said.

I work in a doctor's office and know that sometimes mistakes are made, no matter

what lengths we go to try to make sure they don't happen.

I've been working in medical records lately, and we have a lot of people with

the same names & we have a lot of built in alerts, but sometimes it happens.

Sometimes you pull the wrong chart.

everybody makes mistakes. fortunately, most of the time the doctor will catch

it. not always though, and that's the scary part.

we're all human and we all make human errors. sometimes they can be deadly.

thank God you're okay.

i agree with you that it's so important to get a copy of all your labs!!!

anyway, if it were me, I would talk to the doctor and see how he/she reacts

before i would decide whether to stay or go. but that's just what i would do.

listen to your gut.

keep in touch, sheila

tina83862 <tina8386@...> wrote:

Thank-god you had the brains to keep up to date with your own

results!! And caught this terrible error. This is just typical with

human error so high in the medical profession.

I am so glad you are ok!! WE must always get copies and question any

drug and always do our own homework.

I would make sure I sat down with this doctor and told him of this

extremely grave mistake they could of made on you. He has to know

what goes on in his office, it's his business.

Depending on how he behaves is how I would decide what future course

I would take regarding staying with this man or not.

I am so glad you are ok---tina

> I have known

> I had hypothyroidism for the last 8 years.

> I have felt like crud since feb 2003. My general doc had trouble

> regulating my TSH levels and sent me to a endo. My appointment was

on

> Dec. 18 2003. I had plenty of lab work in their onsite lab. I was

> finally called back about my results on the 5th of Jan '04. As she

> spoke(nurse)I wrote down what she was telling me in between the 3

> interuptions. She didn't even bother putting me on hold I could hear

> her conversations. This turned into a 20 min. call on my cell phone.

> Finally, she told me what was supposely wrong. She said my vitimin D

> level was defiencent. She called into my pharmacy six 50,000 i.u

> (normal dose is 400 i.u.) pills that I was to take one a week for 6

> weeks and return to the office on Jan. 29th. Well, since I have been

> so sick this past year I have really been keeping up with my lab

> results. In addition to the results the nurse gave me I asked her to

> send me a copy of the lab results. I almost didn't do this since I

was

> going in on the 29th. Thank God I did! I recieved them in the mail

> yesterday. Upon taking a good look at them and seeing that

everything

> was the same from what she had told me earlier on the phone I

noticed

> that this was somebody elses lab results! She had my same name but

> different birthdate. Her speciman was collected on the same day but

at

> a 11 am that morning, my appointment wasn't until 2pm. Keep in mind,

> in the normal average multivitamin there is 400I.U., I took 50,000

> i.u. and would have continued unless I hadn't requested my copy. I

> would have been DEAD before my appointment on the 29th is what

poison

> control told me. I'm still kind of stunned not understanding how a

> mistake like this could happen. AND, not only did we have different

> ages but she had a different doctor(within the same medical group)

and

> it was marked out and my doctor's name written beside it. It was a

> copy of what she read to me on the phone because she had her

> handwritten note of our conversation and my drugstore information.

> ALso, on one page it has my correct age of 33(but no birthdate) but

> has the same patient ID number as on the other pages with her age of

> 45. The doctor had handwritten on the lab report to give me the V-D

> if my calcium was not elevated. Not was underlined

> This experience has scared me so bad. I have felt worse since taking

> the Vitimin D(V-D is actually a hormone, not a vitamin) although I

> have not had the kidney pain they say I would get with an overdose.

> Please always ask for a copy of your lab results, as you can see it

is

> so important, it could have cost me my life.

>

> I'm not sure if I want to go to this doctor again. What would you

all

> do if it happened to you?

>

>

> -Dana

[Guest guest]

Thanks to all of you for your comments! I do agree everyone makes mistakes

but it should have been caught by someone. Either the lab, doctor or nurse

who relayed the information and verified my DOB. So how could she not

notice!?!?

But the twist is we have the same patient ID#. One page and I guess it could

have been the page the nurse was looking at had everything correct but the

other 4 pages had a reported time of collection at 11.am. I was not there at

that time. Had a birthday of 10/18/1958, my DOB is 12/01/70 and had a

different doctor's name that had a line drawn through and my doc's name

written out to the side. Wouldn't a person double check things before doing

that?!?

Anyway I left a message to Speak with the doc only yesterday. About an hour

later the medical director over the group called me to find out what

happened. As I explained, he was shocked that it happened, apologized, asked

me if I was going to be at my number for a little while and told me he would

investigate right then and call me back. Well, he never did call me back

yesterday. I'm disappointed, but understanding. However, if he doesn't call

me back today with an explanation my niceness will wear off rapidly! I'll

let you know what happens.

-Dana

-- Re: Re: New togroup>>>My doctor could have killed

me!

Hi & welcome! I agree with what Tina said.

I work in a doctor's office and know that sometimes mistakes are made, no

matter what lengths we go to try to make sure they don't happen.

I've been working in medical records lately, and we have a lot of people

with the same names & we have a lot of built in alerts, but sometimes it

happens. Sometimes you pull the wrong chart.

everybody makes mistakes. fortunately, most of the time the doctor will

catch it. not always though, and that's the scary part.

we're all human and we all make human errors. sometimes they can be deadly.

thank God you're okay.

i agree with you that it's so important to get a copy of all your labs!!!

anyway, if it were me, I would talk to the doctor and see how he/she reacts

before i would decide whether to stay or go. but that's just what i would do

listen to your gut.

keep in touch, sheila

tina83862 <tina8386@...> wrote:

Thank-god you had the brains to keep up to date with your own

results!! And caught this terrible error. This is just typical with

human error so high in the medical profession.

I am so glad you are ok!! WE must always get copies and question any

drug and always do our own homework.

I would make sure I sat down with this doctor and told him of this

extremely grave mistake they could of made on you. He has to know

what goes on in his office, it's his business.

Depending on how he behaves is how I would decide what future course

I would take regarding staying with this man or not.

I am so glad you are ok---tina

> I have known

> I had hypothyroidism for the last 8 years.

> I have felt like crud since feb 2003. My general doc had trouble

> regulating my TSH levels and sent me to a endo. My appointment was

on

> Dec. 18 2003. I had plenty of lab work in their onsite lab. I was

> finally called back about my results on the 5th of Jan '04. As she

> spoke(nurse)I wrote down what she was telling me in between the 3

> interuptions. She didn't even bother putting me on hold I could hear

> her conversations. This turned into a 20 min. call on my cell phone.

> Finally, she told me what was supposely wrong. She said my vitimin D

> level was defiencent. She called into my pharmacy six 50,000 i.u

> (normal dose is 400 i.u.) pills that I was to take one a week for 6

> weeks and return to the office on Jan. 29th. Well, since I have been

> so sick this past year I have really been keeping up with my lab

> results. In addition to the results the nurse gave me I asked her to

> send me a copy of the lab results. I almost didn't do this since I

was

> going in on the 29th. Thank God I did! I recieved them in the mail

> yesterday. Upon taking a good look at them and seeing that

everything

> was the same from what she had told me earlier on the phone I

noticed

> that this was somebody elses lab results! She had my same name but

> different birthdate. Her speciman was collected on the same day but

at

> a 11 am that morning, my appointment wasn't until 2pm. Keep in mind,

> in the normal average multivitamin there is 400I.U., I took 50,000

> i.u. and would have continued unless I hadn't requested my copy. I

> would have been DEAD before my appointment on the 29th is what

poison

> control told me. I'm still kind of stunned not understanding how a

> mistake like this could happen. AND, not only did we have different

> ages but she had a different doctor(within the same medical group)

and

> it was marked out and my doctor's name written beside it. It was a

> copy of what she read to me on the phone because she had her

> handwritten note of our conversation and my drugstore information.

> ALso, on one page it has my correct age of 33(but no birthdate) but

> has the same patient ID number as on the other pages with her age of

> 45. The doctor had handwritten on the lab report to give me the V-D

> if my calcium was not elevated. Not was underlined

> This experience has scared me so bad. I have felt worse since taking

> the Vitimin D(V-D is actually a hormone, not a vitamin) although I

> have not had the kidney pain they say I would get with an overdose.

> Please always ask for a copy of your lab results, as you can see it

is

> so important, it could have cost me my life.

>

> I'm not sure if I want to go to this doctor again. What would you

all

> do if it happened to you?

>

>

> -Dana