Re: Re: Refusing To Treat

[Guest guest]

Roxanne,

><<In terms of a doctor breaching his medical code for " refusing to give

>treatment " , this statement is all up to interpretation. Many times not

>choosing a conventional route of treatment, because of a patient's risk

>factors, is still considered " treating " the patient. >>

>When I mentioned the laws I'd read about physician refusal to treat, I

>wasn't referring to anything I'd read about the type of treatment they

>choose to use. It had to do with a doctor refusing to see or treat a

>patient at all.

Here's an example of " refusal to treat. " My Dad did not have a known heart

condition but he'd been sick for a number of years, partly due to losing a

lung to an earlier misdiagnosis for lung cancer (the lung was removed and

ooops, no cancer after all.) He lived alone and one night he began having

terrible shortness of breath. He called a neighbor and she and her

boyfriend came to his apartment and called his doctor. By then it was

almost 2:00 AM. The doctor told the neighbor to bring Dad to his office in

the morning. By then, Dad's feet were turning visibly blue and he was

gasping for air. It took him all night to die, but the doctor told the

neighbor, each time she called (3 times) that she shouldn't bring him in

until morning. He was dead the 4th. time she checked. She was young and

she didn't know what to do. This happened in a very small town on the

Oregon Coast. Just one small hospital in town.

When I was called to handle his affairs, the neighbor told me what had

happened. I saw a Portland attorney who took a written deposition from the

neighbor. I learned later that the doctor who didn't want to get out of

bed was nicknamed " D.O.A. O'Donovan " in that small town. Anyone wonder why?

No, I didn't sue. I was busy retrieving the money the doctor and his

retired mortuary owner friend had drained out of my Dad's checking and

savings account (by law, these funds can be taken from an account for final

arrangements if a family member doesn't step forward. I lived in Seattle

and D.O.A. didn't know I existed.) I have had nightmares since 1980

thinking about what those hours must have been for my Dad. But my

nightmares are nothing compared to what Dad went through. Doctor's cannot

be allowed to be indifferent to a patient's distress and if the only thing

that makes them responsive is fear of litigation, tough. Laws are written

and should be enforced to be certain that we all receive the care we

contract for. We're at the mercy of our doctors and God help us if the

physician we trust turns out to be a D.O.A. O'Donovan.

Take care,

Geri

[Guest guest]

Geri,

Just one question- why wasnt he taken to the emergency room?

J

>From: Geri Spang <spangs@...>

>Reply- onelist

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>Subject: Re: [ ] Re: Refusing To Treat

>Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999 01:42:54 -0800

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>Roxanne,

>><<In terms of a doctor breaching his medical code for " refusing to give

>>treatment " , this statement is all up to interpretation. Many times not

>>choosing a conventional route of treatment, because of a patient's risk

>>factors, is still considered " treating " the patient. >>

>

>>When I mentioned the laws I'd read about physician refusal to treat, I

>>wasn't referring to anything I'd read about the type of treatment they

>>choose to use. It had to do with a doctor refusing to see or treat a

>>patient at all.

>

>Here's an example of " refusal to treat. " My Dad did not have a known heart

>condition but he'd been sick for a number of years, partly due to losing a

>lung to an earlier misdiagnosis for lung cancer (the lung was removed and

>ooops, no cancer after all.) He lived alone and one night he began having

>terrible shortness of breath. He called a neighbor and she and her

>boyfriend came to his apartment and called his doctor. By then it was

>almost 2:00 AM. The doctor told the neighbor to bring Dad to his office in

>the morning. By then, Dad's feet were turning visibly blue and he was

>gasping for air. It took him all night to die, but the doctor told the

>neighbor, each time she called (3 times) that she shouldn't bring him in

>until morning. He was dead the 4th. time she checked. She was young and

>she didn't know what to do. This happened in a very small town on the

>Oregon Coast. Just one small hospital in town.

>

>When I was called to handle his affairs, the neighbor told me what had

>happened. I saw a Portland attorney who took a written deposition from the

>neighbor. I learned later that the doctor who didn't want to get out of

>bed was nicknamed " D.O.A. O'Donovan " in that small town. Anyone wonder

>why?

>

>No, I didn't sue. I was busy retrieving the money the doctor and his

>retired mortuary owner friend had drained out of my Dad's checking and

>savings account (by law, these funds can be taken from an account for final

>arrangements if a family member doesn't step forward. I lived in Seattle

>and D.O.A. didn't know I existed.) I have had nightmares since 1980

>thinking about what those hours must have been for my Dad. But my

>nightmares are nothing compared to what Dad went through. Doctor's cannot

>be allowed to be indifferent to a patient's distress and if the only thing

>that makes them responsive is fear of litigation, tough. Laws are written

>and should be enforced to be certain that we all receive the care we

>contract for. We're at the mercy of our doctors and God help us if the

>physician we trust turns out to be a D.O.A. O'Donovan.

>

>Take care,

>Geri

>

>

>

>

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[Guest guest]

Geri,

I am sooo sorry for what your Dad had to go through! Damn that doctor!

You poor thing... However, it doesn't suprise me, I've run into a few

doctors like that myself. You have my deepest sympathy.

Hugs,

[Guest guest]

,

The girl was young and didn't know what to do. She asked the doctor if she

should call an ambulance. He told her that wasn't necessary, that my Dad

could come to his office in the morning. Later, as Dad got worse, the girl

told the doctor she thought she'd just put him in her car and bring him to

the hospital. The doctor said " do you want to end up with a dead body in

your car? " Horrible, isn't it? I could be upset at the neighbor for not

just calling an ambulance on her own. I don't know why she didn't. I

can't let that haunt me anymore. It already has for too many years. I

take comfort in the fact that at least she was there with him part of the

time and she continued to check on him through the night, until the last

time she checked and he was dead. My Dad was the same age my husband is

right now when he died. He wasn't an old man and he was mainly sick

because of a spinal injury (crushed disks) years earlier. But he insisted

on living alone and even paid one of my kids to take him back to Seaside

after we'd had him living with us for a few months. He managed to live the

life he wanted to live and he didn't deserve to die terrified and alone

like he did. No one does.

This and an equally terrible set of circumstances surrounding my Mom's

death are some of the reasons I am so rigid in my views about the need for

doctor's and the medical community to be responsive to a patient's

complaints. We know our own bodies and I think that we can sense when we

might be dying. Doctors need to listen and put their priorities in

order. But, to be fair, many of them are under pressure to treat us like

something on a production line - in and out as quick as possible - they are

between a rock and a hard place. Our system has to be looked at long and

hard and we have to stop " throwing away " those who are most sick and

vulnerable, usually the elderly and chronically ill.

Take care,

Geri

[Guest guest]

,

God help us all if there were more doctors like " Dr. D.O.A. " . There's a

problem - I hope not major - with the unspoken view that there is a

" throwaway " segment to our society. They include the poor, the elderly and

those without family support. We want to be decent people, but the fact is

that the patient who makes the most noise often gets the most attentive

treatment and a patient with a large, concerned extended family will not be

ignored or brushed aside. My Dad was well insured, but several years before

he died I found him in intensive care after surgery, regurgitating and

choking - once a too frequent cause of post-surgery deaths. If I hadn't

walked in, he probably would have died and I had to search for someone to

help him. Later that same week, he was left unattended in a wheelchair on

an elevator and the chair tipped over, putting him back into ICU. This

could happen to any of us. We have to be alert and aware that things happen.

I haven't been hospitalized many times, but I have never had a negative

experience due to inattention. Hopefully, most of us never will. With

hospital nursing shortages, though, anything can happen and it's not always

due to lack of caring.

Take care,

Geri

[Guest guest]

Geri,

I'm not sure if they actually do consider some people " throw away " or not,

but it wouldn't surprise me, but then I'm kinda jaded as far as hospitals go.

I had a real nightmare of a time at one after my hysterectomy and it's

following infection. I almost died, and was left in excruciating pain for 19

hours without any meds, not even a tylenol. I never want to go again, I'd be

terrified!

[Guest guest]

,

I've heard some terrible stories about what can happen to people in a

hospital. Fortunately, these are probably exceptions. When my

mother-in-law was hospitalized in Palm Springs, we watched someone bring a

tray to the elderly woman in an adjoining bed. They placed it at the end

of the bed out of her reach and left immediately, without raising the bed

or anything. The woman was too weak and frail to help herself, so we did

it for her. Same hospital, same day, as we were walking down the hall we

heard someone calling " help " . My sister-in-law went into the room where

the calls were coming from and found another elderly woman who had been

left on a toilet for - she said - more than an hour. Judy helped her back

to her bed since she couldn't find anyone else to do it.

As I've mentioned, I can't bring myself to talk much about the

circumstances surrounding my Mom's death, but it was directly due to

hospital negligence of the worst kind. Someday I'm going to have to open

that box in my mind and look at it again, but I still can't handle it and

it happened in 1993.

I can't stress enough how important it is for each of us to stay with a

family member or friend every possible minute while they're

hospitalized. Hospital workers are overworked, often underpaid and

hospitals are often understaffed. When my husband had back surgery at

Green Hospital at Scripps, the surgeon's PA came to his room to check his

level of care and progress several times every day. That was possible

because the doctor's offices were in the same building, but I was impressed

by that level of care and attention. I remember my Grandmother asking me

for a container for her dentures, which were hurting her, after she'd been

in the hospital several days. I was flabbergasted that no one else had

thought to take care of that for her. And, she had visitors all day every

day! We simply can't take anything for granted when it comes to medical care.

Geri