Tragic Mistake (s)?

This is why you should always ask questions and never stop asking.

If you aren't happy with the treatment you're receiving, you have a legal right to request all of your medical records (though they will try the "We lost them" ploy) and if need be ask for a second opinion.

Please ensure you have a family member or an advocate, who can and will ask all those awkward questions you can't or are too ill to ask, before and after a procedure is carried out, and always have someone to support and be with you.

This really in more than a Tragic Mistake and no apology is every good enough!!

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-k...

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I paid £10 to get my medical records a few years ago. I don't know if anything was withheld though x

[katieoxo60]

Hello Bajer, yes what happened is a tragic result of a mistake that should never have occurred, and highlights the need to know what an op entails. Nobody should be disallowed from asking questions and getting answers and medical records should be easy for patients and carers to access. But having said that medical mistakes will still happen as medical staff are human like ourselves. I feel as in any other job they should be accountable for mistakes and praised for good results.

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I asked for my medical notes after a very long spell in ICU in 2008 and my small local hospital had a £10.00 charge for so many pieces of info but I ended up paying more because of the amount. It was dealt with well and did not seem a problem. However the main University hospital was a nightmare I had to send a formal request to their legal department first to see if they would allow the request. The ICU Sister did see me to discuss my time there and was very informative!

I found some interesting things out. In my early days there they did a needle drain on my lungs and only got 100ml of fluid out but found a 1cm blood clot! The first chest drain they put in they got 3.5 ltrs of fluid off my lungs in the first day, when they put in another it settled to 1 ltr a day. I also found when it was at its worst and my lungs were bleeding I had 6 units of blood. This must of hit there stocks as I am O Neg.

It did answer many of my questions and I now understand why my consultant and GP's quote of "You do not know how lucky you have been do you" I do now!

Be Well

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There's a lot goes, on we don't know about, and decisions made that affects us in so many ways.

We may be at 'end-stage' but then every human being on this planet reaches 'end-stage' ..we just get there a little sooner and I; for one want to stay there for a good while longer, if you don't mind. I demand to know what's it happening to my body so it me in control, no one else.

The only time I didn't and there was no one to play advocate, the hospital took charge and I ended up in a Coma and shuffling off this mortal-coil a couple of times. Those who were supposed to know better advised my children that as I couldn't breathe unaided (they'd flicked the switch twice; so they said) and there could possibly be horrendous brain damage that....well you can imagine the rest of it.

So family around the bedside..and Switch OFF....my response was to try and breath..so they'd no option but to switch my life back on. My Son was told later by the ICU Consultant that it cost just short of £250,000 to save my life...my Son smiled and quipped "Cheap at half the price...if my Mother decides to sue it'll cost a damn site more than that!!"

I didn't sue the NHS, back then litigation was something that happened in the USA ..maybe today I would, though I doubt they'd find any of my records...they'll have been left on a bus or in a taxi, or burned or just disappeared into thin air!!

Bev

[undine]

How tragic and frightening my heart goes out to the poor man's family - an awful, unnecessary thing to happen. Thank you for the wake up call. x