(Pre-cancer diagnosis)
Over a two year period of time, his symptoms developed. He was getting tired often and having chest pains. This continued to get worse and lead to breathing and coughing problems, with increasingly severe pain as time went on. In the course of time that those symptoms were developing and getting worse, about 6 visits were made to his primary care physician. In that period of time his primary care physician had incorrectly diagnosed him with the following:
- Acid reflux, multiple times. Was prescribed zantac.
- Pulled muscles in his chest, was prescribed pain medication.
- Was ordered a nuclear stress test about a year before the cancer diagnosis, heart showed up healthy.
- 2-4 months before his cancer diagnosis, he got a scan that showed up as pneumonia, was prescribed inhalers, antibiotics and prednisone.
- About 2 weeks before his cancer diagnosis, he was diagnosed with a heat stroke and pulled chest and back muscles.
Most if not all of these turned out to be incorrect diagnosis and or scans, because as we now know, most if not all of these symptoms were being caused by the tumor that was growing on his pulmonary artery. All this with full knowledge that he had an increased genetic probability towards getting cancer, since his mother had emphysema, and eventually died of lung cancer.
Due to the failure to get ordered the proper scans and or diagnosis, he was forced to suffer the worsening pain and breathing complications for months. Eventually, the pain and breathing distress got so severe that he thought he was having a heart attack, and had to go to the hospital. It was only then that he was able to get the proper scans that he needed, and the 7cm tumor that was on his pulmonary artery was discovered. 2 days later he received his biopsy, and then was diagnosed with small-cell carcinoma.
(Post-cancer diagnosis)
After being diagnosed with the cancer, he was scheduled to get the port for his chemo installed, two days later. The original surgeon that was going to install the port claimed that he was busy, so he assigned an associate to do the procedure. On the day of the appointment, he had to wait for 3-4 hours, and by the time they got to him, it was too late. He was suffering complications due to not having access to his medications because of having to wait so long, his electrolytes were out of balance, he was having complications moving his legs, he was hungry and was in severe pain. He was doing so poorly, in fact, that they actually sent him to the ER instead of installing the port.
As it turned out...the father of the surgeon who was going to do the port installation had a stroke that day. This is the reason why he had to wait and also the reason why he had to be rescheduled to about a week later to get the port installed (this later becomes a problem).
Finally, after about a week, and his condition worsening rapidly because of not getting the chemo, he gets the port successfully installed (though poorly, as I'll explain).
However, the surgeon who did the procedure, was the same who's father was having the stroke complications. He was showing obvious emotional distress before and after the surgery, and immediately took off to catch a flight to visit his father right after he had completed the surgery. He was so distressed in fact, that he was on the brink of or possibly even was crying. Not a good emotional state to perform a surgery, obviously.
They were supposed to be able to use the port the same day he got it, but there were some hold ups and delays, so he had to return the following day for chemo. The port however, simply was not installed correctly. It bled from day one and multiple dressings of it had to be made at home. The next day, when he was supposed to get his chemo, they couldn't do it. The port was so poorly done, and was bleeding so badly that they had to cancel the chemo, and reschedule it to another day.
The port continued to get worse rapidly. It began to get infected and the bleeding continually got worse. Bad hematoma and swelling was forming around the port area, and we have photo evidence of this stored, including pictures of a nurse attempting to dress it, trying to help get it to a usable state.
The port unfortunately never did get to a state to where it could be used. Two more scheduled chemo attempts were made, but at no point was the completely botched port usable. He suffered many complications between these chemo attempts, and over the following weeks had to go to the hospital several times for multiple conditions, including a confirmed stroke and likely multiple strokes after.
Soon after his stroke(s) he was placed on hospice and within 2 weeks after hospice, he passed away.
I feel that most of this could have been avoided had he only been able to receive the chemo treatments. The goal of the chemo was to shrink the very large tumor on his pulmonary artery. Failure to do so very likely expedited his passing greatly. The tumor, and it's location with it's size is likely what caused his stroke. It's certainly what caused his severe breathing complications. Had they only been able to shrink the tumor when they were supposed to, his overall condition would have been much better, and there's even a chance he'd be with us still.
His passing has caused us a lot of emotional and financial grief. And because of the short time frame which he passed away after he got diagnosed due to non-diagnosis/mis-diagnosis/malpractice...we had no time to prepare, and it has left us in a really bad situation, including possibly losing our house.
Port installation is considered a very minor and basic surgery, and for such a simple procedure to be so entirely botched proves that the surgeon who did it was not in a proper state of mind and simply should not have been the one to do it that day.
I'd like to close by saying that from the beginning of this whole process, I can't help but feel that he fell between the cracks. He didn't once get the VERY basic scans he needed ordered by his primary care physician, which could have found the tumor much earlier. And even once the tumor and cancer were discovered, he never had a chance due to the horrible treatment he got from the beginning.
This is a condensed version of the events, we have pictures and other evidence and most if not all of these events are documented in some way.
Do I have a case? I don't see how I don't, but I would like some input and opinions before pursuing this.
Over a two year period of time, his symptoms developed. He was getting tired often and having chest pains. This continued to get worse and lead to breathing and coughing problems, with increasingly severe pain as time went on. In the course of time that those symptoms were developing and getting worse, about 6 visits were made to his primary care physician. In that period of time his primary care physician had incorrectly diagnosed him with the following:
- Acid reflux, multiple times. Was prescribed zantac.
- Pulled muscles in his chest, was prescribed pain medication.
- Was ordered a nuclear stress test about a year before the cancer diagnosis, heart showed up healthy.
- 2-4 months before his cancer diagnosis, he got a scan that showed up as pneumonia, was prescribed inhalers, antibiotics and prednisone.
- About 2 weeks before his cancer diagnosis, he was diagnosed with a heat stroke and pulled chest and back muscles.
Most if not all of these turned out to be incorrect diagnosis and or scans, because as we now know, most if not all of these symptoms were being caused by the tumor that was growing on his pulmonary artery. All this with full knowledge that he had an increased genetic probability towards getting cancer, since his mother had emphysema, and eventually died of lung cancer.
Due to the failure to get ordered the proper scans and or diagnosis, he was forced to suffer the worsening pain and breathing complications for months. Eventually, the pain and breathing distress got so severe that he thought he was having a heart attack, and had to go to the hospital. It was only then that he was able to get the proper scans that he needed, and the 7cm tumor that was on his pulmonary artery was discovered. 2 days later he received his biopsy, and then was diagnosed with small-cell carcinoma.
(Post-cancer diagnosis)
After being diagnosed with the cancer, he was scheduled to get the port for his chemo installed, two days later. The original surgeon that was going to install the port claimed that he was busy, so he assigned an associate to do the procedure. On the day of the appointment, he had to wait for 3-4 hours, and by the time they got to him, it was too late. He was suffering complications due to not having access to his medications because of having to wait so long, his electrolytes were out of balance, he was having complications moving his legs, he was hungry and was in severe pain. He was doing so poorly, in fact, that they actually sent him to the ER instead of installing the port.
As it turned out...the father of the surgeon who was going to do the port installation had a stroke that day. This is the reason why he had to wait and also the reason why he had to be rescheduled to about a week later to get the port installed (this later becomes a problem).
Finally, after about a week, and his condition worsening rapidly because of not getting the chemo, he gets the port successfully installed (though poorly, as I'll explain).
However, the surgeon who did the procedure, was the same who's father was having the stroke complications. He was showing obvious emotional distress before and after the surgery, and immediately took off to catch a flight to visit his father right after he had completed the surgery. He was so distressed in fact, that he was on the brink of or possibly even was crying. Not a good emotional state to perform a surgery, obviously.
They were supposed to be able to use the port the same day he got it, but there were some hold ups and delays, so he had to return the following day for chemo. The port however, simply was not installed correctly. It bled from day one and multiple dressings of it had to be made at home. The next day, when he was supposed to get his chemo, they couldn't do it. The port was so poorly done, and was bleeding so badly that they had to cancel the chemo, and reschedule it to another day.
The port continued to get worse rapidly. It began to get infected and the bleeding continually got worse. Bad hematoma and swelling was forming around the port area, and we have photo evidence of this stored, including pictures of a nurse attempting to dress it, trying to help get it to a usable state.
The port unfortunately never did get to a state to where it could be used. Two more scheduled chemo attempts were made, but at no point was the completely botched port usable. He suffered many complications between these chemo attempts, and over the following weeks had to go to the hospital several times for multiple conditions, including a confirmed stroke and likely multiple strokes after.
Soon after his stroke(s) he was placed on hospice and within 2 weeks after hospice, he passed away.
I feel that most of this could have been avoided had he only been able to receive the chemo treatments. The goal of the chemo was to shrink the very large tumor on his pulmonary artery. Failure to do so very likely expedited his passing greatly. The tumor, and it's location with it's size is likely what caused his stroke. It's certainly what caused his severe breathing complications. Had they only been able to shrink the tumor when they were supposed to, his overall condition would have been much better, and there's even a chance he'd be with us still.
His passing has caused us a lot of emotional and financial grief. And because of the short time frame which he passed away after he got diagnosed due to non-diagnosis/mis-diagnosis/malpractice...we had no time to prepare, and it has left us in a really bad situation, including possibly losing our house.
Port installation is considered a very minor and basic surgery, and for such a simple procedure to be so entirely botched proves that the surgeon who did it was not in a proper state of mind and simply should not have been the one to do it that day.
I'd like to close by saying that from the beginning of this whole process, I can't help but feel that he fell between the cracks. He didn't once get the VERY basic scans he needed ordered by his primary care physician, which could have found the tumor much earlier. And even once the tumor and cancer were discovered, he never had a chance due to the horrible treatment he got from the beginning.
This is a condensed version of the events, we have pictures and other evidence and most if not all of these events are documented in some way.
Do I have a case? I don't see how I don't, but I would like some input and opinions before pursuing this.
