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

[Berta]

"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."

Good, I am rethinking ,with that info, that this might not be a case of negligence.

It still seems to me however, that you need a non VA doctor's opinion on the bump.

And this concerns me:

"I have so much left leg pain, its almost unbearable,"

and

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

Another good reason to get an independent opinion.Or at least a non VA consult ,which should not be as expensive as a formal IMO,I hope.

Depending on that consult , you could best determine what way to go here.

[Berta]

One other thing I forgot:

“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. “

That concerns me too.....

As Jcolwell stated:

“.I call it group think. “

He is right!....I called it Mind Set (shades of the Bay of Pigs fiasco)

when VA doctors ,in my husband's case, never pursued his initial ER certificate properly and gave him Sudafed for 6 years ( compounding his HBP and IHD) and I found hidden well in his med recs, a Sinus X ray that showed his sinuses were clear.

Even the VA Central OGC doctor stated that this 6 year long prescription was given to the veteran for no good cause at all, and it contributed to his untimely death.

When a VA cardio doctor lied to me in 1992, I sure didnt know he was lying at the time....but the way he paused before he answered my question bothered me a lot.

I had asked the wrong question and that is the very day the VA tried to cover up at one VAMC the malpractice they knew had occurred at another VAMC.

Something does seem wrong here ,even though VA mitigated some of the damage.... or did they?

Only a non VA doctor with expertise in this type of surgery would know for sure.

[Vync]

The blood in your lung could possibly have been a result of being intubated or a reaction to anesthesia gas, if it was used. I was intubated when I was hospitalized in ICU and remember how bad it hurt during and after removal. About three weeks later I finally stopped coughing up crap.

The operative report is essentially a legal document. It is supposed to provide details of the procedure. It does not include things like how many times they had to use suction, sponge counts, and things like that. However, it is supposed to include any errors or abnormal findings during the procedure.

Regarding the big mistake they made, it reminds me of an old episode of the TV series E.R., where one of the surgeons had his arm amputated by a helicopter blade. Before going into surgery, he forced the surgical staff to write "wrong arm, you idiot" on his good arm. Even with something so obvious, even a TV surgeon did not want to take any chances.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. I hope you are able to get some relief soon. Don't let up the pressure on the VA.

[jcolwell]

Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 24: A follow-up review of wrong site surgery

OK, I could not stand not to share this info to all of you. I worked with this kind of stuff for 30 years in hospitals. While many elements are involved , in this case, forgetting everything else the veteran has experienced a wrong site surgery event , which may or may not have anything to do with his current problems. no nexus needed. It happened. I would be all over this one.......JC

"In August 1998, the Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert examining the problem of wrong site surgery, including a review of 15 cases that had been reported to JCAHO. Today, the sentinel event database includes 150 reported cases of wrong site, wrong person or wrong procedure surgery, of which 126 have root cause analysis information. Of the 126 cases, 41 percent relate to orthopedic/podiatric surgery; 20 percent relate to general surgery; 14 percent to neurosurgery; 11 percent to urologic surgery; and the remaining to dental/oral maxillofacial, cardiovascular-thoracic, ear-nose-throat, and ophthalmologic surgery. Fifty-eight percent of the cases occurred in either a hospital-based ambulatory surgery unit or freestanding ambulatory setting, with 29 percent occurring in the inpatient operating room and 13 percent in other inpatient sites such as the Emergency Department or ICU. Seventy-six percent involved surgery on the wrong body part or site; 13 percent involved surgery on the wrong patient; and 11 percent involved the wrong surgical procedure.

[tanker2]

Berta you are a very strong and caring person. i know how hard it is to relive tradgic events. god bless you.