Question:
Dear Group: I’m searching for info after hearing today of a fellow chronic pain sufferer who has been so badly mistreated in the ER last night that it could have killed her. This is a woman (not part of this ng, but part of another group I participate in) who is on methadone. She has been in agony, and the methadone wasn’t helping so her doc sent her after hours to the ER last night. The ER doc told her she had a drug problem….and was acting VERY condescending. I think we’ve all gone through that, but THIS jerk really tops every bad experience I’ve ever gone through. He gave her a dose of an opiate agonist/antagonist to throw her into immediate withdrawal…and it worked all too well. She went into cramps, vomiting, sweats, agitation and thought she was going to die, and wanted to if she didn’t. To think…this smug %$&#^$ stood by and did nothing but send her home. She had no idea what he’d done to her until tonight. I’ve told her to report this to Skip with ASAP (whom she knows), and call the local medical assn’s and the adminstrator and/or ombudsman for the hospital. I seem to remember something recently (I think it was here) that was a site for gathering info like this on bad docs…and even info for referrals to kind/responsible docs. I think that this needs to be handled leaving no stone unturned. Personally, I’d like to put a vise on this doc’s privates and leave it till they fall off. It STILL wouldn’t be enough payback IMHO. I’ve told her to seek an attorney in this matter, but it’s not enough. Anyone with suggestions on how to handle this mess so that the doc suffers the worst consequences possible are welcome! Please! Jill "The unexamined life is not worth living" –Plato ICQ#9049058
Response:
Dear Group: I’ve told her to report this to Skip with ASAP (whom she knows), and call the local medical assn’s and the adminstrator and/or ombudsman for the hospital. I seem to remember something recently (I think it was here) that was a site for gathering info like this on bad docs…and even info for referrals to kind/responsible docs. Jill
Really the first step should be to contact the people at the hospital. Then perhaps the state’s board of medical examiners. You can find each state phone numbers here ( http://www.medijob.com/medexaminersnf.html ). There are many pages describing what you are looking for. Morpheus has a wonderful page of links ( http://www.ionet.net/~morpheus/links.htm ) and I have a few on my pages. If you still can’t find wht you are looking for them I suggest a search for chronic pain advocates Karen member in good standing ASAP
Response:
I have not read the newsgroup for awhile and I read Jill’s post about her unfortunate friend who was taking Methadone for pain management who was horribly abused by an ER Doctor who punished her by deliberately giving her a medication that would counteract the methadone and throw her into immediate Drug Withdrawel. Jill, thank you for reminding us that this still happens. I myself have been lucky enough to have stayed away from the ER for a very log time. The memory of the horrible and undeserved shame that you feel when a doctor who hears what you take for pain and then reacts with the condemnation of "Well ma’m YOU are a drug addict" or " Excuse me but I do not help Drug Seekers here" came flooding back to me. I was literally just flipping through messages, came upon yours, read it and started to shake. before I knew it, tears were rolling down my face and the memory of having a doctor demand that I remove my clothing so he could check for Track marks came rushing back to me like it had happened moments ago. To this very day, I cannot even drive by the urgent care facility where it happened. I am told that my behavior is consistant with Post Traumatic Stress. To my mind, denigrating a patient verbally in the ER is bad enough, but what THAT doctor did to your friend ws, in my humble opinion CRIMINAL. Jill, we have had our differences, but I would like to offer you some suggestions for her. This is some of what I did. In addition to IMMEDIATELY making an appointment to speak with the Hospital’s Patient Advocate in person, she can do the following: She can file a complaint with the Department of Health in the County where this happened. Each County has an office within the Department of health that polices Hospitals. She can file a formal complaint requesting that they investigate this incident. Once this is done, the county cannot ignore it. At the very least, someone will call the Hospital and demand that they respond with an explanation of what happened. Usually, an investigator actually visits the facility and speaks to the people involved. They then review both accounts, the medical records and determine if the Hospital is in violation of any laws or regulations. These people have the authority to cite the hospital for violations. They can issue citations and make recommendtions to the Hosptial to rectify the situation. This can result in a reprimand, a fine or even the closing of the facility depending upon the severity of the infraction. In the case of your friend, all theat will likely happaen is that the hospital will be written up and the county will have an official record of the incident. I realize that this is not much but it is something and the more complaints they get on file the more likely it is that the hospital will feel presuure to clean their act up. Second: Your friend has a right to complaint to the State licensing baord which regulates Doctor’s Licenses. I will try to find out how to o that and post it. I also have access to a few Anesthesiologists who can advise me as to what they would do had it been their patient. I would honestly say that this woman ought to try and get help from an attorney, not necessarily to file a lawsuit, but to act as an advocate in any meetings she may have with the hospital. When she speaks to the Hospital Administration she can ask them for an investigation into what ocurred and she ought to write a letter specifically and concisely describing the events of that ER experience and ask that this letter be placed in his/her personnel file. You never know, they might do it. That letter should copy in the Hospital’s Chief of Staff and whomever it is that is the department head of Ermgency Services. This letter should also be CC’d to her family Attorney. If the doctor who prescribed the methadone is comfortable with getting involved, he or she should draft a seperate letter to all the same people, describing how this ER fool’s actions were not in the best interests of the patiet and how his/heractions were not within the boundaries of sound medical practice. In addition, if your friend had to seek Counsleing to help her deal with this traumatic experience, she might want that counselor, be they a MFCC or a Psychiatrist draft a letter with their diagnosis and explaining how this doctor’s callous disregard for her safety ad wellbeing was traumatic. Finally, she can contact her insurance company. If she has an HMO, they very often WANT to know when one of their contractors has failed to supply appropriate care. She may even be able to get them to conest the Bill on the grounds that the doctor did not supply her with reasonable care. I did this once in the case of the Doc with the desire to make Migrainors take off their blouses and bras so he could check for track marks and he was told by my insurance carrier that he could lose his privilege to be a preferred provider. It’s a long shot, but it could work. The key is for her to remain calm and reasonable as hard as that is when asking people to advocate for her or to examine this person’s actions. Lastly is prevention: What can she do to avoid this? Please let your friend know that thousands of people with Chronic Daily headaches are currently being treated with Daily Opiate therapy and that Methadone has become a very popular drug to use in such cases because it’s long half life permits people to dose once a day and it provides the longest relief of any opiate other than Kadian, the new form of Morphine that lasts 24 hours. Methadone last up 36 hours and longer. So, since Methadone is a valid therapy, she should never let anyone allow her to feel shame. If they try to shame her or use shaming language, that’s their problem. To avoid this she may wish to utilize the brand-name for methadone when listing what drugs she takes. That would be: Dolophine. When explaining that she is taking it, she may want to say "My doctor is treating my Chronic Daily headaches (or transformed Migraines or whatever else) with conservative care and as part of that care he has decided that the best option at this time is for me to utilize Daily opiate Therapy. My Doctor feels that Methadone/Dolophine is the most effective choice and therefore that is what we use. However, my docotr and I have seen that *I occasionally experience severe acute breakthrough pain which must be addressed with another medication. here is a treatment protocol letter from my doctor describing what medications are most effective for acute breakthrough pain" That’s a mouthfull, but it’s worked for several people I know. Also: She may wish to have a Medic Alert Bracelette custom engraved listing the most common Opiate Antagonists as well as the agonist/antagonists as allergies. At the very least she should have those meds listed as allergies on her intake papers. Really Jill, many many people who don’t even take opiates very often simply get terribly ill on things like Talwin and Stadol, so it would be extremely valid for her to list them as meds to stay away from. I think you have a protocol letter from your doc if memory serves so perhaps you can help her figure out how to get one or how to ask for one. You were a good friend to have posted this and I hope my suggestions were of help. I will be asking the pain specialists that I have email realtionships with to give me some feedback about this disgusting abuse of an innocent pain sufferer. I hope that she has recovered from this ordeal and I ferevtly hope that she never ever has to go through this again. Ana
Response:
I’m in the wrong country (yet again). I just wanted to lend my support to this person. I wish her all the best. Suzie Melbourne, Australia There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood and the crown of royalty; but the crown of a good name exceeds them all. Pirke Avot 4:19.
Response:
I missed the first message. But I wanted to just say thanks to Ana for posting a very thorough and well thought out message on how to effectively deal with ANY doctor who treats a patient in a less than appropriate way. Bravo, Ana! Georgia (who hasn’t been hassled by an ER doctor since college but still remembers the condescending attitude "What do you mean that didn’t help your headache? Are you sure you don’t just want a fix?" grrrr)
Response:
Ana, Welcome back. I’ve been thinking about you lately. How are you? Suzie Melbourne, Australia There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood and the crown of royalty; but the crown of a good name exceeds them all. Pirke Avot 4:19.
Response:
oops His name is Tyler Morgan Counts.
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