Really Angry And Just Want To Vent

My father was dx w/ GBM IV on Oct 31st last year and had resection that same day. 7 days later he was back at work full swing, no deficits. July 7th they found him at work unconscious and unresponsive...another seizure, which is what lead to the dx of the first tumor. So, the tumor came back the Neurosurgeon said he needed a right temporal lobectomy and we could do that on tuesday and go home on thursday (13th). Well, here we are 16 days later and he had a massive stroke during surgery and is paralyzed on the left with a complete neglect for that side, he threw a pulmonary embolism on the 18th (saddle embolism on the pulmonary artery) and just got out of ICU yesterday. He has a bed sore that he never should have gotten. They said they weren't turning him because he refused. HE'S ON MORPHINE...HE CAN'T REFUSE!!!!!!!! What are they gonna do, just let him get covered in bed sores and say oh well he has terminal brain cancer!!!! I'm mad!! Someone didn't take care of him like they should have. I asked them to turn him, I aksed them to put him on a specialty bed if they weren't going to turn him. So what happened? I'll tell you what happened...they wrote him off. But that is still my Dad and I'll never write him off. He deserved better. He always told the doctors "I trust you. I'll do what you tell me to." They let him down and I'm angry!

Sir for every success story in cancer treatment
there are 10 nightmares that never get told.You
should be raising hell.E-mail me and you and I have alot to --- Message edited by CancerCompass staff: for personal protection, email address removed. Please review CancerCompass Member Guidelines at http://www.cancercompass.com/common/guidelines.html ----

Yes, you have every right to be angry......please be at the hospital as much as possible and see to it that your father receives the care he deserves. Let the doctors and nurses know how you feel! Never, never should anyone be written off.....no matter the age or diagnoses. I am in the medical profession and this is unbelieveable, but it does happen, especially if the family does not become VOCAL!! Let them know. Take care and God bless you. LA

I had a similar experience with my 26 year old son. I am curious what hospital was your father
in? I can identify. Even though a patient is in the hopital, if they have a serious condition such as cancer, family must be there at all times, as they don't get they proper attention.

We were in United Regional 11th st. campus in Wichita Falls, TX. Currently he is at the Texas Speciallty Hospital across the street. However, he is not getting any better, nor will he. Now we are just sitting and waiting. We are looking for a malpractice attorney. We knew he wouldn't live forever, but we certainly didn't expect to be misinformed and have the complications that we did. I'm an RN and so is my dad. This is gross substandard care he received and someone will take responsibility.

Thanks for resonding. We were in Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. My son was under the care of MD Anderson Cancer Center (Melanoma) in Houston. We live in Metro Atlanta .His doctor there decided to have him take the next treatment at home at Emory and report back to MD Anderson for testing.

He had 2 rounds of treatment at Emory, then he got an infection, which went to his heart and then he had endocarditis, part of the infection broke off and caused a small heart attack.(damaged valve) Emory would not operate on his heart said he was too weak (low nutrients) he had previously had treatment for the last several months. They told him he would either die from the cancer or his heart. We were fighting the cancer and were no where near death with the cancer.

After 2 days being hospialized we noticed his left are had swollen, they did not insert his I.V. correctly and caused a blood clot. Now with his heart problem and being full of fluid, he has a blood clot. The nurses were sitting next to him, he fell off the bed between 2 nurses and fell on his head. Now another c-scan. No problems from the fall. They had him on Morhpoine for his heart. After a week he was talking as if he had a mouth full of cotton and not alert. So drugged up. I said can't you give him somthing else. They changed to something else and he was normal as should be. If you go in the hospital for something else and they know you have cancer they write you off.

He was not under the care at Emory ,only at MD Anderson. We were trying to get him stronger and get back under MD Anderson's care, we thought from what they said he would be ok, he died 7 weeks later. Because Emory is a teaching hospital we had so many doctors it is unreal. They change every few days.

I would certainly like to file suit.

I certainly encourage you to file suit. Remember, with medical there is a statute of limitations. I believe it is around 2 years. We aren't looking to file suit for monetary purposes, all though I believe they owe us!, but for someone to admit responsibility and hopefully prevent another family from experiencing this same thing. My dad also got a blood clot from his picc line. They didn't have him on any blood thinners after surgery. People (some doctors) tend to forget or overlook the fact that cancer causes hypercoaguability so I'm extremely angry about the clot. But mostly, I'm angry because we weren't informed by the doctors as we should have been. There was a time when his white count was over 20,000. We should have been told about his numbers. If nothing else my experience with my dad has made me a better nurse. I try now to tell my patients everything no matter how insignificant it may seem. I am so sorry for your loss. My love and prayers are with you and your family. Thank you for being a part of this board.