Failure to Connect Pain Pump After Surgery

[Allty]

My question involves medical malpractice in the state of: Utah

My father had a spinal surgery a few days ago where they removed portions of the bone off of the spine to relieve pressure off of his spinal cord. They surgery went fine and he was moved to a room to recover for a couple of days. When he arrived in the room he was in some pretty extreme pain. The nurse explained how to use the pain pump then left the room. My dad said to me that he had no idea that it would be this painful. He was holding back the tears when he said this. After a couple of hours of him suffering in pain all the while pressing the button every 10 minutes for some relief his wife went to the nurse to see if he could do something for it. The nurse came in and gave him some pills that he takes daily for other pain. This did little to relive his pain. We left at 800pm when visiting hours where over he was still in a lot of pain. The next morning I showed up at 1100 and my dad told me that the physical therapist just discovered that his pain pump was never hooked up to his IV. So after spine surgery where they removed bone he went over 24 hours without pain medication and the nurse did not even try to see what the problem was. I think he has a case. any opinions?

[Dogmatique]

My question involves medical malpractice in the state of: Utah

My father had a spinal surgery a few days ago where they removed portions of the bone off of the spine to relieve pressure off of his spinal cord. They surgery went fine and he was moved to a room to recover for a couple of days. When he arrived in the room he was in some pretty extreme pain. The nurse explained how to use the pain pump then left the room. My dad said to me that he had no idea that it would be this painful. He was holding back the tears when he said this. After a couple of hours of him suffering in pain all the while pressing the button every 10 minutes for some relief his wife went to the nurse to see if he could do something for it. The nurse came in and gave him some pills that he takes daily for other pain. This did little to relive his pain. We left at 800pm when visiting hours where over he was still in a lot of pain. The next morning I showed up at 1100 and my dad told me that the physical therapist just discovered that his pain pump was never hooked up to his IV. So after spine surgery where they removed bone he went over 24 hours without pain medication and the nurse did not even try to see what the problem was. I think he has a case. any opinions?

Without some kind of permanent or tangible damages, your father likely has no recourse other than to make sure he isn't charged for that first night's worth of pain medication.

[Allty]

So there is no case against the hospital for negligence on the nurses part for not looking to see if his medication is hooked up? At the very least a I would think a law suit could get the hospital to look at there procedures on how to deal with a patients hooks up of pain medication ensuring a two sets of eyes procedure is used. It seems like the hospital is doing everything to keep a lawsuit at bay. We have had multiple hospital administrative personnel come in and apologize while stating that there would be administrative actions taken on all employees involved.

[Dogmatique]

So there is no case against the hospital for negligence on the nurses part for not looking to see if his medication is hooked up? At the very least a I would think a law suit could get the hospital to look at there procedures on how to deal with a patients hooks up of pain medication ensuring a two sets of eyes procedure is used. It seems like the hospital is doing everything to keep a lawsuit at bay. We have had multiple hospital administrative personnel come in and apologize while stating that there would be administrative actions taken on all employees involved.

Medmal cases are about damages - by all means, complain to the hospital but I just cannot see a lawsuit here, unless your father actually suffered permanent damages.

Trust me, they're used to dealing with irate customers - they're not trying to keep a lawsuit at bay