ptsd Va Dr's Started Operating On Wrong Vertebrae

[recon13]

I underwent an L5-S1 TLIF surgery on 1-19-2013 at the VA hospital in Houston.

When I woke up my wife informed me that the Dr's told her that everything went well, except for the fact they started on L4. They told her that they had cut bone out of the way and also drilled holes before they realized they were at the wrong level. They stated that when they realized it they replaced all the bone fragments to allow them to re-fuse (hopefully).

The next morning when the Dr made his rounds he told me everything went well, my son was with me in the room. I asked him about the mix up and he said that yes, they had cut bone from the wrong vertebrae and that it would certainly cause some increased pain and that one side, the left, would someday fuse to the vertebrae beneath it. I told him of my concerns and he said that they would order a CTScan and review it, which they did.

After it was done, he returned to my room and told me that they had not cut as much bone out of the way as they had thought and that I should still have a stable spine.

That day when they got me up to walk, I noticed a large lump on my left side which was very painful, the skin around it was painful from the mid back all the way to the naval, super sensitive to the touch, it still is 5 months later.

Two days after I was released I went back into the Little Rock VA hospital for blood in my lung, they have not been able to determine where it came from, 5 months later it still hurts to take a deep breath, it feels like I have several, usually 3, spasms and then I catch my breath.

I have been to 5 VA Dr's and they all say the same thing, "Wow, that bump is not normal, but I have no idea why its there."

I have two 3 1/2" scars at the L5 level and two 1" scars at the T10 level all 4 from the surgery.

I have so much left leg pain, its almost unbearable, when I went back for my 3 month check-up the neurosurgeon brushed me off over my concerns about breathing and the soreness over the skin at the T9-10 area, he said that they had not operated in that area so it was from nothing they had done.

At this point I don't know what long term affects I will endure from the mix-up.

In the Op report they do admit to being in the wrong area, but they say they only cut soft tissue and then before they started cutting bone they checked by xray to make sure they were in the right spot, contradicting what they told me.

Oxray now it shows arthritis at T9-10, which is a new development.

My ratings are

50% PTSD

20% DDD Lumbar

20% Rt Ankle

20% Rt Femur, Hip, Knee with leg length discrepancy

10% left Knee

10% painful scar

10% painful scar

80% schedule

100% IU P&T since 1998

Do I have a case?

Edited June 4, 2013 by recon13

[jcolwell]

Yes you do.

In the private medical hospital world , this is called a " Never Event" or Sentinel Event. In the literature and on the web they refer to it as well as " wrong site Surgery ". Meaning oops we did the wrong procedure.

You can read the regulations and policies that govern org must follow for marking and assuring that right procedures are done on the right spot.It sounds like policy was not followed. Goggle JCAHO.org . wrong site surgery.

In the private world risk management and compliance staff get very involved and settlements are made as this is an injury not a complication of your procedure. I would bet they already know about this event , but this is handled in another part of the VA. The doctors are just doing their work, issues like this up the ladder to the desk jockies. I used to be one.

I do know VA is regulated by same rules as private hospitals. It is good that the physician admitted to the mistake up front , many don't. Do your research , there is a lot out there about wrong surgery. Your options are really up to you.

Take Care.

[recon13]

Yes you do.

In the private medical hospital world , this is called a " Never Event" or Sentinel Event. In the literature and on the web they refer to it as well as " wrong site Surgery ". Meaning oops we did the wrong procedure.

You can read the regulations and policies that govern org must follow for marking and assuring that right procedures are done on the right spot.It sounds like policy was not followed. Goggle JCAHO.org . wrong site surgery.

In the private world risk management and compliance staff get very involved and settlements are made as this is an injury not a complication of your procedure. I would bet they already know about this event , but this is handled in another part of the VA. The doctors are just doing their work, issues like this up the ladder to the desk jockies. I used to be one.

I do know VA is regulated by same rules as private hospitals. It is good that the physician admitted to the mistake up front , many don't. Do your research , there is a lot out there about wrong surgery. Your options are really up to you.

Take Care.

The funny part about this is the Nurse Anesthetist, checked it after the Dr marked it, some civilian checked it after the Dr marked it and when I was rolled into the OR they said its time for the time out, to make sure they knew what area and procedure they were doing.

[jcolwell]

Just because you have a process, and use the KEY words required does not mean things were done correctly. Ben there hear this many times.

Did they have your MRI or Xrays in the room posted..that is the only real way to determine ....and did they review them during the procedure or better still before they started. it is kinda like saying the sky is blue , yes it is blue , I agree it is blue...........I call it group think............they do it everyday so why would today be any different............

[Berta]

Forgot to ask......

"I have been to 5 VA Dr's and they all say the same thing, "Wow, that bump is not normal, but I have no idea why its there"

did any of them use their medical training and basic common sense ,to do an X ray, CT scan or do an MRI on the bump you have?

Do you have copies of your complete VA medical records?

An IMO doctor will want to see all of them to include drug profile records, and all blood work etc etc.

Edited June 5, 2013 by Berta

[Berta]

sorry again.....this post should have preceded the next one......I had problems editing it.

“I do know VA is regulated by same rules as private hospitals. “

I agree with that only in this respect ….. that the VA must use methods that are consistent within the “standard” or “ Usual” medical community.

When I sued (FTCAed VA) as well as when I filed my initial Sec1151 claim for wrongful death,

part of my charges on the SF 95 as well as in my 1151 claim was that VA had failed to meet 'standards' in the 'usual' medical community,in their failure to diagnose and treat my husband properly and thus caused his untimely death.

I followed up that statement with evidence, such as a EKG revealed my husband had a heart attack while employed at the VA and sent to the ER.

He was diagnosed with sinus condition instead and given a prescription for Sudafed.He then suffered a series of transcient strokes, which VA said were due to a hole in his eardrum from a combat explosion ( but he had no hole in his eardrum and no audio problem) and then he had a full blown 100% disabling stroke, due to the initial improper treatment for his undiagnosed heart disease and these episodes of transcient brain ischemia. When he suddenly dropped dead of heart disease, after a VA cardiologist told me there was “nothing” wrong with his heart, I went after them and won.

Although the VA had attempted to cover up their malpractice and could have easily gotten away with wrongful death, I proved, as anyone must prove, that the VA did not use,in any way, established medical principles of proper diagnosis and treatment that the “usual” private section medical community would have used.

VA is not exempt from basic “ standard and Usual” medical principles and treatment at all.

However negligence/ malpractice claims are handled differently by the VA then as they might be handled against medical malpractice in the private sector.

This veterans has the option of both FTCA ( however the FTCA statute of limits means the SF 95 charges must be filed within the two years that follow their knowledge of potential malpractice and he has the option of filing a Section 1151 claim.too.

The 1151/FTCA offset is explained in this orum..

Section 1151 ,38 USC claims have no deadline at all.

I strongly suggest that you obtain an IMO (Independent Medical Opinion) from a real doctor who is familiar with the type of surgery you had.

I dont say “real doctor” lightly because a bunch of VA doctors (who OI all named as witnesses to malpractice) were negligent to the point that VA had to admit they caused my husband's death.

The IMO might well be expensive.

I didnt have an IMO for my FTCA/1151 issues. However I did get 2 IMOs from Dr. Bash when I found another malpracticed issue that was also a AO disability they malpracticed on. Because that specific cl;aim involved DMII from AO as contributing to my husband's death, the VA had to fully refund my FTCA offset.

I am the only documented case like that with the VA, that I know of, but I am sure there might be others who succeeded in both FTCA and direct SC and thus avoided FTCA offset.

I bring that up ecause an FTCA offset has to be considered when filing under both FTCA and 1151.

It is all explained somewhere in this forum.

In your case the VA did seem to mitigate some damages.... at least they appeared to do a CTA explanation.

But you stated:

“Two days after I was released I went back into the Little Rock VA hospital for blood in my lung, they have not been able to determine where it came from, 5 months later it still hurts to take a deep breath, it feels like I have several, usually 3, spasms and then I catch my breath.

I have been to 5 VA Dr's and they all say the same thing, "Wow, that bump is not normal, but I have no idea why its there."

None of the above is normal!

I wondered if they punctured your lung during the surgery,or left a piece of surgical equipment inside you.

FTCA and 1151 malpractice/negligence claims require this twofold specific criteria to succeed in:

1. prime facie proof of medical malpractice (if they buggered you,believe me it will all be in the VA medical records.... maybe well hidden but it will be there) and

2. Proof of a ratable additional disability that you did not have prior to the malpractice and that resulted directly from the malpractice.

A malpractice can have a far reaching affect. There is no time limit for 1151 claims.

I filed an additional 1151 claim last year, supported by medical evidence ,most of which was in the FTCA documents that VA released to me after they settled.

My husband has been dead due to VA health care for almost 19 years and the VA is still paying for what they did ( I got 1151 award in 1998 and then an additional 1151 award in 2012) and they still owe me more for his unconscionable and untimely death.

With a strong IMO that reveals malpractice (and we have a 1151 template here for this type of IMO)

you should have no problem in getting a malpractice lawyer to help you file FTCA,if you use that opinion.

And even more importantly, a real doctor might discover the cause of the bump and the cause of the lung blood and advise a better treatment outcome for the problems you are having now. They can also determine what additional disabilities the malpractice occurred.

I used Dr. Craig C Bash for 2 IMOs for my additional DMII AO death claim.

We have a lot of info on Dr. Bash here and he has done many SVR radios here as well, all available in our SVR archives.

To add, Section 1151 awards cannot be offset to service connected awards.

In other words, the VA must pay separately for them.

In my case last year, I expected the Nehmer 6 year AO IHD award to be the largest retro payment.

I was wrong....the additional 1151 award was the greater amount ,it was not offset to my husband prior 100 % P & T rating ,and it is still wrong so I challenged that part of the decision.

Lots of info here on these types of claims.

But in my opinion you need to see a non VA doctor, familiar with this type of surgery , who can determine if malpractice occurred.... and better yet determine what care you might still need.

Although Dr. Bash is a NeuroRadiologist, he certainly can opine on numerous types of claims involving X rays and MRIs and if he cannot provide an IMO that you need I a sure he can recommend a doctor who could.

Do I think you have a case? Yes, I concur with jcowell and please understand I am not arguing with the point he made at all........

It is just that VA malpractice claims are handled by the VA, and handled much differently then those that occur in the private sector.

[recon13]

First off, thanks for the replies, some very good advice.

I have had Xrays and a CTscan on the Abdomen, they all show pleural fluid on the left lung, the most recent was 5-17-2013, that's 4 months after surgery. But basically the reports came back normal.

The physical Therapist I'm seeing seems to think it is nerve damage contracting muscles in that area, The Neurologist thought that it was a sidewall hernia; he sent me to a General Surgeon who just shook his head and said it wasn't a hernia and he had no idea what it was. My PCP has tried to get to the bottom of t, even had 3 other PCP's come to the room to look at it, none had any idea.