loop recorder, car accident.🙄

[GM1987]

Sorry this is long but it’s a strange situation, so! Mon October 10th I finished work as usual, driving to collect my son from school on my route home I pass a college, I gave way to a bus in the town centre then pulled out set off through some lights as I did a couple of young girls walked straight out into my path, my reactions was spot on & I instantly swerved them but instantly hit a static concrete boulder & traffic light! A shame for my car but Id just saved two girls lives. The impact set every airbag off in my bmw 530 estate which is a heavy well built car so impact was hard to burst one never mind all the front & roof airbags. I was knocked unconscious instantly! I was woken by a passer by so when I was woken was startled & instantly remembered the girls so I jumped out asking for the girls but they was stood there fine with their phones out recording the event on the other side of the road, the ambulance services was called straight away but was told it’s 11 hours for a ambulance! So as I was only half a mile away I was given a lift to hospital, on a arrival I explained I just wanted checking out as I was knocked unconscious due to a car accident! This is where it gets annoying & frustrating. I was checked throughly with CT scan, bloods & heart rate monitoring along with blood pressures. I was then spoken to from various doctors in which one brought up my heart condition & ablation I was asked to stay in to be monitored which I wasn’t to fused about as I was groggy & aching as you can imagine, the day after I was told they would like to look into it more incase I passed out whilst driving! At this point I was fuming & asked for what reason? are my obs saying something that could suggest such a thing or are you not telling me something I need to know? Apparently because i was in a car accident & lost consciousness it’s protocol! I explained again why that happened telling them it was unfortunately due to the two young girls reckless awareness! This didn’t seem to matter to them, they explained because I was unconscious & have a heart condition it could be something else they have to rule that out first regardless? You can imagine my frustration by now! I’m fine, I just wanted my head checking because I was smashed in the face by 4 airbags at once & knocked out Cold.

I was kept in for 5 days, having bloods taken daily, pressures done every few hours & 24 hour monitoring of my heart for the 5 days along with a echocardiogram to check if ky heart had deteriorated since last year! All of the obs & results was excellent & as they should be, heart in a health condition & back to its normal self,. I explained I’m 6 months post ablation & my heart is back in its normal health condition & I was due to come of all medications before the new year, that was the plan in may when I last seen my cardiologist! I explained this information to the hospitals doctors but everyone of them doesn’t communicate with the next! I was fed up keep asking what’s the problem if everything is showing up clear & my obs are all normal? I was told because I had been in a accident & have a heart condition I need to be monitored close incase it’s something else ? I understand that if I had passed out & crashed but this is not the case! They was all puzzled but I kept explaining it was just a crash & that’s it I was going insane! Finally after all the moaning to go home everyday I was told that a senior cardiologist would come & see me on Friday! He popped in late Friday & he said I’m a puzzle everything is showing up normal no problems but wanted to keep tabs on me longer than a 5day monitor could , the option was I’d have to have a loop recorder for 3 years but they only want to check things over for the time period of 6 month! If I don’t do it I can’t drive until they have a diagnosis! Honestly by now I felt insane. I was so angry & disappointed I felt like I had a gun to my head, Don’t get me wrong I’m happy with getting all this reassurance but not at the cost of having to undergo another operation so they can reassure themselves it wasn’t a black out or anything like that. If the doctors spoke to my cardiologists they would get all the information they needed to show them that I’ve never had any sort of problems throughout even whilst the heart problems was relevant never mind after it’s been eradicated! It’s just inconsistent communication that all this is even happening to me!

I’ve had the op now anyway because like I said it’s just more reassurance anyway for me but something that was so unnecessary, I had it two days after the ultimatum just so I could go home, I’m still waiting to see my own cardiologist to discuss this crazy event. I feel like I’ve been punished for having a underlying heart problem & have no option but to just do as they say because they can’t find a diagnosis! The real reason being it was just a accident, so there is no diagnosis! I was knocked unconscious & that’s that. I know 6 months isn’t the end of the world but it’s all been stress & problems that I don’t need after getting better from the problem regarding my heart in the first place, never mind the headache that comes with crashing a car! Does anyone know if this is even correct what they are doing to me because I feel like I’ve just been forced to have something that could have easily been avoided if they would have communicated properly & followed up on all my previous history & current state of health.

[GM1987]

👍🏽 thanks! that’s how i accepted it anyway when I went along with the procedure, the outcome could have been worse if it was the other way around & the problem really was due to something health wise, however thankfully this time it wasn’t. Now I just have to look at it like I’m getting extra protection looking out for any problems over the next 3 years 😎

[Callista]

What a nightmare for you! I feel there is an anomaly in that once you are blacklisted through having a heart problem the dvla is on your case but all those who have escaped their radar are driving when they are not safe to do so. I am currently on a 6 month ban as my ICD fired and elderly friends have been very kind in giving me lifts but often I feel I am putting my life at risk as the standard of driving leaves much to be desired. Really all over 75 year olds need to undergo a driving test. I am sure the failure rate would be very high.

[Qualipop in reply to Callista]

I disagree. YOu simply can't put an age figure as a decision when someone's not fit to drive. Statistics actually show that young people have far far more accidents.

However I do think free driving assessments should be available for anyone over retirement age but voluntary. When I started taking a very strong opiate for a spinal problem, I was concerned that it could be slowing my reactions ( plus my age) Many medications have warnings about causing drowsiness and say if affected do not drive.. I was lucky to see an advert that the Institute for advanced motorists was offering free driving assessments so I immediately booked one for my own peace of mind and also to have some proof that the medication wasn't adversely affecting me. Then if I were to have a bump I could prove I wasn't driving dangerously because of my medication or under the influence of drugs.. I wish my husband would go for an assessment. At 77 he just refused to take our son to the airport. It took a long time for him to admit that he no longer feels his reactions are good enough to cope with the heavy traffic on the motorway

[Callista in reply to Qualipop]

Thank you for your comments but I cannot agree that voluntary testing would work. As you yourself indicate your husband is reluctant to be retested as he suspects he might fail. Those who are competent would be willing to volunteer while the unsafe drivers are hardly likely to volunteer as losing one’s licence can make life impossible. This is why they continue to get behind the wheel. Perhaps if we had a comprehensive public transport system it would not be such a problem especially as pensioners have a free bus pass.

[Qualipop in reply to Callista]

If it was simply an assessment rather than a test I think they would use it. The one I went for was an assessment with just advice on any bad habits I'd developed.I know a lot of people don't like criticism of their driving but it did make me more aware that I wasn't paying enough attention to signs on the pavement such as school ahead or hospital and such. I do agree that risking having your licence taken away would make life extremely difficult.

[MountainGoat52]

Darn protocol... it will be the death of the NHS. I ran across it after my bypass op when I was put on the "standard" diuretic despite me having informed them that I was allergic to it. Thankfully someone in authority put 2 and 2 together and made 4 and after a dose of Amiloride (potassium sparing diuretic) I recovered.

As I was reading your post I was getting annoyed as though it was happening to me. I do hope that you are going to put a letter of complaint in to the hospital management with a copy to your MP. Mind you, having suggested that, when I wrote a letter of praise to the hospital where I was treated at the time of my heart attack, a copy of which I sent to the MP, I received a terse letter from the MP asking what it was to do with him! And we vote for these goons!

I hope you get some sort of satisfaction after this fiasco.

Gerald

[GM1987 in reply to MountainGoat52]

😂 tickled me that. Thanks for the reply! the hospital staff are great I know they are doing their jobs correctly but majority of the time it’s the lack of communication which always seems to fail. I mean I wasn’t even on medication but every night the nurses changed shifts the next one would come through with doses of bisoprolol & ramipril even tho I signed a form to say I take my own medication each night which I brought in with me! It’s a good job I’m copos mentis or I’d be swallowing pills for nothing just because they failed to communicate. some of the poor blokes in there was out of it taking whatever they brought through so god only knows if they needed them. This is why I was angry because communication was abysmal throughout.

[Qualipop]

I Must say I was utterly shocked when I first read you rpost and would have felt exactly the same as you. HOwever I am just watching a neighbour trying to park his car right across from my window. He had a stroke last year b ut must have been given permission to dr ive again and quite honestly he's a nightmare. At first he'd try up to 8 times to reverse into his little drive. It's about as long as his car and 6 feet wider. After a few months he gave up reversing and drove straight in. However when he now reverses out into the road, he has 4 times hit cars that have been parked outside our garden. I dread to think how many he's hit on car parks. He can sit for ages staring into space like having a mini stroke or a petit mal. Hospitals have to be so careful that patients are completely safe; they failed in his case. You could hurt someone else or badly injure yourself if they didn't double check everything.

[GM1987 in reply to Qualipop]

Sounds like he needs this loop recorder more than myself. I understand that they are doing what protocol asks so I can’t really moan. Obviously myself & the witnesses know it was a car crash caused by the two girls not paying attention. Just unlucky for me I guess.

[Esentepe]

I so get your frustration. My daughter fit healthy 24 year old flipped her car over. Freak accident, only doing 25 miles per hour. Car written off. No one else involved. She climbed out. No injuries went to A&E as ambulance called for precautionary check. She was very lucky. What followed was shocking she doesn't have any health issues, not knocked unconscious. No drugs or alcohol involved. Kept in hospital for 3 days, scans xrays etc. banned from driving for 6 months and told she had to have a loop recorder. Ironically she waited 10 months for the loop recorder to be fitted. Got it for 3 years. I was diagnosed a few years ago with av block decided by cardiologist that would have a loop recorder to monitor (now have pacemaker). I had to wait 10 months same hospital for a loop recorder. Can't help thinking if they just gave loop recorders to those that really needed them may be ill people could get timely treatment. Sorry I appreciate that is quite simplistic.

She has a friend who is training to be a cardiologist and told this is gold standard care! I am grateful she was fully checked out but seems so excessive.

So frustrating for her and me. Seems inappropriate use of NHS resources also. Sorry for the rant, your post hit a real chord with me.

[GM1987 in reply to Esentepe]

I feel the frustrating but if the recorder did find a problem then it thankfully served its purpose. My frustration was because I was already at the finish line with all the problems solved only to be thrown back into one with no real cause for it. Hopefully 6 months won’t drag to much & I’ve got the extra cover incase anything flares up untoward. Take care ❤️