To Flu Shot or Not to Flu Shot?

[jeannie1970]

Cardiac arrest, renal failure acidosis and sepsis.  I spoke with a VA rep today and he immediately went to Agent orange Ischemic heart disease.   I need to get a letter from his VA doc to say that it is relevant to his death.  I do not know how I am going to do this; as I have to meet with his Dr. at the VA, to explain everything that happened.  I do not know how or if I can meet with his Dr.  Any help there would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Berta]

Yes, it is possible he had ischemia heart disease. If the acidosis was metabolic acidosis, did he have diabetes mellitus ?

If so that too could be claimed as due to AO exposure.

My husband died from both of these conditions.  (FTCA/1151 Awards and also direct SC awards)

They Never appeared once as diagnosed or treated by the VA ,his sole medical care provider.

Your husband's medical records will reveal if the VA should have diagnosed and treated these two conditions.

Every medical record will be important-blood chem results, any EKGS and ECHOs, and definitely any records on the fairly recent endoscopy- colonscopy procedure.

You mentioned they said the EKG was OK.

An abnormal EKG ,that revealed ischemic event ,the same day they gave my husband the EKG was never followed up on at all by the VA and they never told him or me it had been abnormal.It proved that the "sinus infection" they diagnosed him with after he collapsed on his job at VA, was, in fact a heart attack.

When I got his records and was able to decifer the EKG,  it was the second piece of my evidence for my FTCA wrongful case.The first piece was the ER certificate. Full of malpractice.

You said 

"Blood work shows infection.  After an hour of being on antibiotics his stomach started to go down.  Surgeon come in saying they might need to remove gallbladder. so another CT was done focusing on gallbladder.  This CT shows enlarged gallbladder but no stones.  The CT also shows what looks like part of his intestines and colon look dead. "

"I told them my husband had a endoscopy and colonoscopy Jan 2, 2017 at Lake Nona The New VA hospital.  The told him they found something and took a biopsy of it and said it was negative not to worry. "

I think something went drastically wrong at that point or maybe for sometime prior to these procedures. But VA doesn't care what I think.

Your vet rep can always file a Section 1151 claim in addition to any claim for SC death.

Feel free to print off my replies here to give to the rep,if you wish.

 "I need to get a letter from his VA doc to say that it is relevant to his death.  I do not know how I am going to do this; as I have to meet with his Dr. at the VA, to explain everything that happened.  I do not know how or if I can meet with his Dr.  Any help there would be greatly appreciated. "

Was his VA doctor part of his very last care before he died? I had VA doctors blatantly deceive me   ,after my husband was transferred to a different VAMC,when they discovered the local VA had malpracticed on my husband and did all they could to cover it all up.The medical records revealed ( in hard to read long handwritten notes, one or two detailed conversations I had with the cardiologist at Syracuse,identifying what I thought was important to his condition, in records they had that were already 4 years old.The cardio doc went through the med rec to the exact dates I gave him and then said "Oh my God! Yes yes I see it"

Everything could have changed that day!

But Instead of reacting to what I remembered , because I had no med recs at all at that point, the cardio doc did verify what I told him,as it was in the medical records,  but that is when  they ( a team of cardios and neuros) chose to try to cover up everything.Only one doctor knew what he was doing. His diagnosis was crossed out but I figured out what it said.He left VA and then after it took me many long months to find him, he gave me a free brief IMO that Dr Bash incorporated with his IMos when I proved my husband had died also from undiagnosed and untreated DMII.

" I need to get a letter from his VA doc to say that it is relevant to his death.  I do not know how I am going to do this; as I have to meet with his Dr. at the VA, to explain everything that happened.  I do not know how or if I can meet with his Dr.  Any help there would be greatly appreciated. "

I think the main questions you need answered is if your husband had IHD or DMII. I dont think you need to ask more than this at this point.

The VA doc would need to review his med recs to answer that. They did tell you his EKG was "normal" but the top right hand side brief narrative of the EKG will tell exactly what the leads diagram below it mean. He might even give you a copy of it right then and there - maybe not.If the doctor has no expertise in Endocrinology ,he might be unable to offer any opinion on DMII unless this is fully documented in his medical records.

 

I guess my long point is that I believe any VA doctor would try to get out of writing anything that would help you,unless his medical records reveal he was definitely diagnosed and being treated for ischemic heart disease and/or DMII but had never filed a claim for them.Those diagnoses and records will help with the DIC claim for direct SC.

But you might have potential for the 1151 DIC instead and that will take a strong IMO from a real doctor.

I have many questions on all this---what was the endoscope and colostomy for?

What type of acidosis did he have?

I had sepsis once. What did they attribute that too?

What did you sign when some infectious disease doctor was called in?

But those answers are within the medical record I hope, and hopefully too that if something went wrong they did not try to delete  any entries.

This will all be very difficult without an autopsy but Nothing is impossible.

Do not tip off VA as to any possible malpractice or negligence concerns you have.Try to obtain his VA medical records and any private med recs as well ASAP. 

I do not believe this death has anything to do with the flu shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2017 by Berta

[Berta]

I just re -read your post and realized you did not put a comma after the renal failure so that would mean the type of acidosis was surely Hyperkalemia. (renal failure acidosis)

A patient with diabetes and/or  an abnormally high potassium serum level are at risk for this type of often deadly acidosis.

Did your husband have chronic kidney disease? ( AKA renal disease?)

Did he have abnormally  high levels of potassium? ( this would be found on blood chem reports)

 

https://www.kidney.org/sites/default/files/02-10-6785_HBE_Hyperkalemia_Bulletin.pdf

What is potassium and what does it do in the body?

Potassium is a mineral that controls nerve and muscle function. The heart beats at a normal rhythm because of potassium. Potassium is also necessary for maintaining fluid and electrolyte balance and pH level.

In order for potassium to perform these functions, blood levels must be kept between 3.5 and 5.5 mEq/L. The kidneys help keep potassium at a normal level.

 

 

https://www.davita.com/kidney-disease/diet-and-nutrition/diet-basics/potassium-and-chronic-kidney-disease/e/5308

You stated: “The CT also shows what looks like part of his intestines and colon look dead.”

The VA could have ruptured his colon,or intestines  during the colon ostomy which, in turn ,caused the infection and then full blown sepsis.

That was how Patty Duke died.Her death brought aware to the medical community of this type of sepsis.

I am so sorry for what you are going through but this will all take a strong IMO doctor to do a full review of all of his medical records.

Probably an IMO doc would be needed even for any direct AO SC  issues such as IHD and.or  DMII.

I am not  doctor, these are just my opinions, but I feel when a spouse has a bad feeling that something went wrong medically at VA in cases like this, they sure might be right.

I didnt think my husband had been malpracticed on in his lifetime( I was aware of a major misdiagnosis that they changed when I threathened them with a call to my Congressman...but after that I thought he would get better care when he was transferred to the Syracuse VAMC) The day he died he was upset because the 800# told him his 2 pending claims had not moved at all at the RO.He made me promise to continue to help his veteran brothers and sisters if he died and then to promise I would continue his 1151 claim ( if the VA killed him) and higher PTSD rating claims after he died- I promised to do both but I said Honey the VA isn't going to kill anyone.He seemed to be doing so much better but while we were in my barn he collapsed 4 hours later, and died as I gave him CPR.(Sudden death syndrome) As I began the reopen of his 1151 ( no substitution regs then) I knew, based on the death certificate ( the 6 page autopsy took a few months to get here) I knew without a doubt he was right-the VA had killed him.

Some here probably think I am paranoid that VA could create so much horrific negligence with vets but I sent proof of the VA malpractice pay -out stats and also where their hidden stats are to be found, to the H VAC (Chairman Miller), and wrote to President Trump recently that if he could prevent more VA malpractice, ( with severe consequences for negligent VA doctors)who often get away with it )( I told him how they do that) the VA would save enough $$$ that they could pay for the Wall he wants to build.

Malpractice happens even at the best private hospitals in America but a lot of it can be prevented at the VA, and worse yet many vets die of malpractice yet their families take no action at all against the VA and/or  are often completely unaware that anything went wrong.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2017 by Berta

[jeannie1970]

He did not have chronic kidney disease.  His potassium was high when he was in the hospital they could not understand why  so I told them the story once again.  I now have his VA medical records as I was going through it and Noticed he received Prevnar 13 vaccination.  What I also noticed was he had stage 3 liver disease,  he was told fatty liver.  With liver disease there are a lot of medications and vaccinations you cannot have due to the dangers.  His dr. will not talk with me at all so I am to assume the VA had its lawyers talk to him and tell him that under no circumstances he should talk to me.  I went back down to see my VA rep and he filed a DIC for me I hope I can get it because my financials could use the boost to ensure I can keep my house that I owe $16,800 on,  I am also working with my mortgage company to see if they can help.  MY mortgage is $640 a month I pay mostly principle but I could use the help.  I only receive now $2900 a month for my VA disability.  I am at 100% but it is not permanent it is tdiu.  I need to go for a comp and pen in Nov to see if I can keep the 100%.  So I am financially terrified.  I am not old enough to collect widows benefit from social security because I am 46 years old.  I am grasping at straws to and trying everything I can I even went to the Vaccine Injury Compensation program to see if they can help me.    

[Berta]

I am stunned that you got his medical records so fast.............you stated here he passed away on February 2, 2017.

Most of us wait for Months to get copies of medical records.

You might be eligible for SSDI since you  have TDIU:

https://www.ssa.gov/disability/

The eligibility criteria is at the SSA site and also the application for benefits. 

There is a lot involved in trying to interpret medical records. I know because I have done that many times ,particularly with my husband's stack- mostly all hand written entries in those days and I needed medical texts to figure out the acronyms and also what the blood work and other test results meant. It was a lot of time consuming work.I also studied cardiology, and neurology (which I already had a partial background in) as best as I could for my 1151 DIC and FTCA case.I could not find an IMO doctor in those days ( pre- internet as we know it now) and no lawyer would help me. Plenty of them are available now who specialize in malpractice. For my DMII death claim I definitely wanted an IMO because IMO docs were available when I filed that claim.I prepared a lay medical opinion and based it on specific medical records, as a cover letter for my IMO doctor.I enclosed all of the med recs he needed, but tabbed the specific ones I referred to, in th cover letter ,because I knew Dr Bash would read everything and he also found 2 other disabilities in addition to proof of the undiagnosed and untreated diabetes.I also studied as much Endocrinology I could,to combat 2 denials from a VA endocrinologist.

IMOs are expensive but often the only way to succeed in these types of claims.

You seem very willing to study your husband's VA medical records and could perhaps present a very valid case that an IMO doctor would not find difficult to opine on.I am sure my IMO costs would have been much higher,if I had not gone over the medical records carefully , after years since the FTCA case, and I prepared a cover letter showing instances of malpractice at the VA my husband worked at, and then to include a VA cover up at the additional VAMC they sent him to.

We cannot get hooked into one premise for death due to possible malpractice.It narrows our focus.

I proved IHD ,HBP, TIAs, and CVA were malpracticed on, never considering diabetes might have been as well. (1997)

My daughter however, a veteran, insisted years later that   I file for AO diabetes too,because of things she had noticed about her dad ,similar to symptoms a deceased diabetic friend of mine had.(transcient ischemia, which VA misdiagnosed as an auditory problem))

I had to review every single VA  medical  record and the autopsy in  a very different way.The internet made that very easy,this time. (2003) I found considerable evidence of malpracticed DMII. She was right.

I know any IMO doctor you get will want to focus on a lot more than the flu shot.They would want to determine what caused the sepsis.And they will carefully study the med recs from the January 2017 procedure,to see if that was the cause of his death.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Berta]

forgot to add.....do not overlook anything in the medical records that appears to have been crossed out.

This goes for any vet who might have older VA handwritten med recs

I imagine some med recs still contain some handwritten entries. Not sure. A CT scan result I had a few years ago was all handwritten..a recent CT however result was all done by computer.. The reason I never considered DM in my 1995 FTCA case was that one handwritten entry had been crossed out so I disregarded it.When my daughter insisted I review those records again in 2003, I had a better PC and magnified the entry until I could read it.It said "conf.Diag DM".

I flashed back to the very day this entry happened and remembered something the doctor had said to my husband while hopitalized.  in  1992, ......11 years  had passed  until I magnified it.

"Confirm Diagnosis diabetes mellitus."  Bingo.

The neuro doc who wrote this left the VA and it took me sometime to find him in private practice and he prepared a brief but free IMO for me, as he remembered my husband and had asked for some of the med recs. His brief IMO ,in email to me ( but Dr Bash called him asking that he put it on his letterhead) was a co-boration of the IMOs from Dr. Bash and the BVA gave it equal weight when they awarded. This neuro didn't cross out his own entry...but .this is when the medical cover up began.

We cannot overlook a single thing when going through VA medical records.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2017 by Berta