Ask Me Help Desk - Patient Rights Violated

I am permanently disabled due to severe and chronic migraines. I went to an ER in Indiana twice in one day. Each time I begged the ER doctors to please contact my PCP in California. Both times I was refused and told that they would take care of me. I am allergic to morphine and normally receive Demerol (my PCP gives me a prescription to show to any provider). They refused to look at my prescription, refused to call my PCP and eventually admitted me to the Neurological ICU. However, I never saw a Neurologist and after almost 24 straight hours of severe pain and vomiting, the attending nurse called the Neurologist on-call, who ordered the medication every four hours. After I was released I saw that the admitting physician stated "Do Not Call Me Regarding This Patients Pain Medication." This note was made about 40 minutes after I was admitted to the floor. Also, they gave me injections all day of Dilaudid and Nubian, both morphine derivatives. I believe that my Civil Rights were violated, I was violated per the ADA standards and the Patient Bill of Rights says that I have a right to have my Primary Care Physician contacted. When I returned home to California, my PCP said no one EVER contacted her and my records had no notes that they called her. I was sure that I was going to have a stroke or heart attack simply from the pain. I spent the entire week of Thanksgiving in bed thanks to this discriminatory treatment. I am preparing complaints for the ADA, OCR and have already sent a letter to the hospital. The Patient Care Advocate said that she would contact me in 30 days. While I was in the hospital, both the ER Manager and the PCA asked me why I was treated in this manner. I asked them to please tell me the answer to why I was chosen for such substandard care. Are there any other entities that I should contact? Thank you for your responses in advance.

:eek: -:) dealicious - how about this( MALPRACTACE BY BOTH HOSPITAL & DOCTOR AND NURSE IN ICU ) FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS ( TALK TO LAWYER ABOUT THESE) #1- YOU told them you were ALLERGIC to MORPHINE <and normanly received DEmerol. -- #2 They refused to contact your primary PCP( TWICE ,asked to ) AND NEVER DID .:: #3 - Refused to look at your prescription from your primary pcp.;; #4 Made a statement on your records ( DO NOT CALL ME REGARDING THIS PATIRNTS PAIN MEDICATIONS :: #5- Laid IN ICU UNIT FOR OVER 24 HRS Before THE NURSE CALLED FOR THE NEUROLOGIST ON DUTY, and during this time I was in VERY VERY MUCH in PAIN & VOMITTING A LOT > I believe that I have a real good case for ( MALPRACTACE) DO TO the reasons stated above;;; Signed DATE I AM GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER PERSON TO COME TO THIS POST< BECAUSE I BELIEVE SHE IS A LOT MORE SKILLED IN THIS DEPT THEN I AM SHE GOES BY " JUDYKAYTEE GOOD LUCK &GOD BLESS :::F.B.E.:) ;) :D

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Originally Posted by Flying Blue Eagle

:eek: -:) dealicious - how about this( MALPRACTACE BY BOTH HOSPITAL & DOCTOR AND NURSE IN ICU ) FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS ( TALK TO LAWYER ABOUT THESE) #1- YOU told them you were ALLERGIC to MORPHINE I believe that I have a real good case for ( MALPRACTACE) DO TO the reasons stated above;;; Signed DATE I AM GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER PERSON TO COME TO THIS POST< BECAUSE I BELIEVE SHE IS A LOT MORE SKILLED IN THIS DEPT THEN I AM SHE GOES BY " JUDYKAYTEE GOOD LUCK &GOD BLESS :::F.B.E.:) ;) :D

Wish I could help in this case but this is beyond my knowledge. My feeling is that standards of care/treatment were different between States; what your usual Physician prescribes is not what the treating hospital prescribes; I also know if you go into a hospital and request specific drugs - whether another Physician has prescribed before or not - they question you. I would think the note on the file about "do not call me" is because for whatever reason the Physician felt he had put enough time and effort into your treatment and was not going to do anything further or change any orders.

Yes, I would write the letters you have suggested and see what they say - I don't know that this rises to a lawsuit level because the damages aren't that severe in the eyes of the law (not to say you didn't suffer for a lengthy period of time).

When you are the patient you get your choice of either carrying copies of medical records around with you (and sounding like you have addiction problems if you get sick) or carrying bottles of pills and sounding like a hypochrondiac. I don't know what the answer is.

JudyKayTee- I was so sure you would be able to help her with some good advise, you did say for her to send letters about what I had sugested though, I hope that this will help her out. Thanks for doing what I had asked and came to this post, Thanks, Maybe next time .:::: your friend F.B.E.. GOD BLESS

Dealicious - I hope you read ( JUDYKAYTEE"S) POST on your problem,I still think you should talk to a layer about this, they don't charge on stuf like ,it comes in the end if there is a law suit and you win, then he/she gets a percentage, talk to one that handles malpractice, Good Luck & GOD BLESS>::: IF I HAVE HELPED WITH YOUR QUESTION <IF I HAVE RATE MY ANSWER BELOW :::: F.B.E.

Dear Flying Blue Eagle and JudyKayTee, thank you so much for your response to my questions. I actually sent letters to the Chief of Staff, the Patient Care Advocate and the hospital's Medical Malpractice Attorney's two weeks ago. I think that I neglected to say that I NEVER saw another physician after being transferred to the Neuro ICU. I was told by the second ER physician that the Admitting Physician would be abe to dispense the Demerol on the floor. However, once I conceded to admission, the Admitting Physician informed the floor nurse that he would only order more Dilaudid or Nubain for my pain. I didn't know of the admitting MD's order to the nurse to "Not Call Him Regarding Pain Medication" until after I was discharged and obtained a copy of my records. Furthermore, I did not see the admitting physician until almost 4:00 p.m. the day after I was admitted. Lastly, the next morning after admission, the floor nurse came into my room with my daily medications, however she did not have my blood pressure medication (which is simply a maintenance medication to ensure that I didn't have episodes such as this. Instead of the Verapamil that I take daily, the admitting physician ordered Toprol XL. I have never taken this medication and asked the nurse if this could be a clerical error. She said it had to be since I had never seen the admitting physician. However, when the admitting MD came to discharge me the next day, the first thing he said was "I see you refused the medication I prescribed." This was the first thing he said when he walked in my room. I asked him who he was and what medication he was referring to. He said he was the admitting MD and that he was referring to the Toprol XL. I told him that both the nurse and I was sure this was a clerical error, as no doctor worth his salt would change a patients maintenance medication without EVER seeing the patient, speaking to the patient's PCP or at the very least, reviewing said patients prior medical records. I am currently awaiting a response from the Patient Care Advocate, but fully intend to file complaints with the ADA, Medicare and the State of Indiana's Health and Human Services Department. Lastly, can you believe I received this treatment from a hospital with both A Headache Clinic and a Pain Management Clinic??

Well I think if you have been treated in the manner that you described, complaining to the various regulatory agencies is the way to go. The thing that you have to realize about a potential medical malpractice lawsuit is that such suits are driven by damages. Meaning, you must being able to show, in monetary terms, how you have been damaged as a result of the conduct.

There are many, many instances I come across in my line of work where a medical provider departs from the standard of care, however the patient doesn't have a case that is economically viable because they are essentially "ok" now.

One of the more frustrating cases that I have had on the malpractice side was a failure to diagnose appendicitis in a 25 year old male. It was a case of flagrant malpractice, that could have resulted in the patient's death. However, the patient didn't die. So now what?

How has he been damaged? Regardless of what time the correct diagnosis took place, he would have needed the surgery anyway. Our argument was that the rupture brought about a need to have an open appendectomy (bigger scar, longer hospitalization, possibility of adhesions, etc.) whereas if caught on time, there was a chance that he could have had it done adhesions? Now what is that worth? In this case, $100,000.

This particular client was a personal friend of someone at the firm, which is the only reason we took the case. As a general rule, given the cost of taking a malpractice case to verdict (minimum of $30,000-50,000) and the success rate (over 70% of malpractice verdicts are for the defendant) most firms I deal with won't consider a case where the damages don't reach at least $250,000.

New York has something called OPMC or Office of Professional Medical Conduct. If you are looking for people to complain to, you should see if there is something similar in Indiana.