Wrong Surgery Performed, False Documents

[slocumjared]

My question involves medical malpractice in the state of: Michigan

I went in to bronson for an appendectomy it was desided that I would get a laparoscopic appendectomy. when I awoke I had blood all over my side and an open incision with a huge hematoma with out an incision for the scope to check and see if they could do the laparoscopic. if you look at the med documents before the the surgery it says that they will be performing a laparoscopic appendectomy but then think it was written the next day, there's a med document saying "after talking to the patient's girlfriend and mother and himself we have desided to do an open incision and he has been breifed on the risks involed" well he never talked to me or them about it and they didn't have power of attorney! I also spent 5 days in the hospital the doctor said it was because of my cronic back pain. I went back to that doctor for a check up he said I had blood under my incision but it would be absorbed back in my body but didn't ended up rotting and causing a severe infection and I had to go back in to another surgen to get the infection removed and still get a wick installed I have talked to lawyers "they just tell me its not worth enough or it was my fault" I have talked to the local news they just say "its not interesting enough" what can I do? it is coming up on the 2 year marker soon and no one is willing to help me! what was done to me was wrong and should not happen to anyone ever.

[Dogmatique]

If you have talked to attorneys and they won't take your case....then you really don't have a case.

I'm sorry.

[slocumjared]

they tell me it's not worth enough, that the damages done are less than 15,000 "out of pocket" for the first surgery and so they wont do anything. I just can't believe that this can happen and no one can help me with it. the doctor lied on the documents and did a surgery against the will of the patient without any medical reasoning. its not like the only option they could do "if it was going to burst or too inflamed" was an open incision. the thing is too I get this surgery may 25th and was unable to do anything till September it took me that long to recover and was well enough to get a job in october.
my major problem with this is I don't want to see this doctor get away with such a hanus disregard to the hypocritical oath.
so I guess I will change my question then:
does anyone know a lawyer in the state of MI that does free consultations that is a good medical malpractice lawyer?

[jk]

I just can't believe that this can happen and no one can help me with it.

If you are willing to pay hourly for an attorney, I am sure you can find somebody to help you sue the doctor. The fact is; it is not, financially, a winning case so lawyers that might take it on contingency won't because they will actually lose money by doing so. So, if you are willing to pay a lawyer, I'm sure you can find one that will represent you.

If you don't want to see the doctor get away with this, file a complaint with the Michigan licensing board and if he is an AMA member, with them.

So, what was their reasoning for performing and open surgery instead of a lap?

[Dogmatique]

they tell me it's not worth enough, that the damages done are less than 15,000 "out of pocket" for the first surgery and so they wont do anything. I just can't believe that this can happen and no one can help me with it. the doctor lied on the documents and did a surgery against the will of the patient without any medical reasoning. its not like the only option they could do "if it was going to burst or too inflamed" was an open incision. the thing is too I get this surgery may 25th and was unable to do anything till September it took me that long to recover and was well enough to get a job in october.
my major problem with this is I don't want to see this doctor get away with such a hanus disregard to the hypocritical oath.
so I guess I will change my question then:
does anyone know a lawyer in the state of MI that does free consultations that is a good medical malpractice lawyer?

"Heinous disregard of the Hippocratic Oath"

I hate to say this, but it's NOT uncommon for a planned laparoscopic surgery to become a regular open surgery. It happens. Every patient and situation is different. And despite the best planning, some patients just aren't suitable for lap surgeries once they get into the OR.

I have not seen any malpractice as of yet...and again, that's a very low number as far as damages go. It would cost far more than that to litigate.

[slocumjared]

there was none. I wanted a lap cause I would be back on my feet sooner it was only an appendix. on 05/25/09 3:01 PM the doctor wrote " The plan at this point will be to do a laproscopic appendectomy by Dr. Ertl..." then 05/26/2009 10:02 AM the doctor wrote "... after discussing with the patient the risks and benefits and meeting with his mother and his girlfriend he agrees to proceed with open appendectomy..." the first thing is I was on some heavy meds but I kept telling him and my mother and girlfriend kept telling him that I wanted a lap surgery no matter what and to only do an open surgery if it is the only option after it has been checked out by the scope, but there is no reason stated other than cronic back pain. that and he never even checked with the scoped he just wanted to do an open surgery and forged some documents to allow him to. I think the surgery was around 7 pm on the 25th

[jk]

why were you on heavy meds when speaking with the doctor?

and how do you know he didn't check with the scope first? While there are standard cuts that are used for the scope during surgery, it is quite possible he made an initial incision for the scope in the area that then became part of the incision for the open surgery.

and the biggest problem is this:

The plan at this point will be to do a laproscopic appendectomy by Dr. Ertl

when you can whip out a contract that says if he can't do it lap he won't do it, you have a winning suit. Other than that, plans can change for a variety of reasons. Unless you have asked the doctor why he converted, you really have nothing other than your guesses. Those won't win your case.

[slocumjared]

Yes I was on heavy meds when talking to the doctor because of the pain. and I know he didn't put the scope in because 1st It isn't stated in the med records and 2nd I asked him why he didn't do the lap, and if he even looked with the scope and he said, "no,because we all agreed on an open 'lie'"

why were you on heavy meds when speaking with the doctor?

and how do you know he didn't check with the scope first? While there are standard cuts that are used for the scope during surgery, it is quite possible he made an initial incision for the scope in the area that then became part of the incision for the open surgery.

and the biggest problem is this:



when you can whip out a contract that says if he can't do it lap he won't do it, you have a winning suit. Other than that, plans can change for a variety of reasons. Unless you have asked the doctor why he converted, you really have nothing other than your guesses. Those won't win your case.

[jk]

so, get out your wallet and hope there is enough to finance such a lawsuit. If you cannot find a lawyer willing to work on contingency, it is either not a winning case or there is not enough financial reward for them to take it. That leaves you with paying out of pocket.