Dr. Placed Band In The Wrong Place

mwillis · July 11, 2006

Thanks Josette,

I never thought to post on the Michigan page but I will do that.

I can't say enough about The Lapband Center and the staff at Port Huron Hospital. I had my surgery on Friday and they were wonderful. I came home on Sat. I was running a fever on Sunday and called the pager. Dr Bout called me back within minutes. The staff followed up first thing this morning. Dr. Behsania made me feel comfortable right from the start.

Good Luck!

Josette · July 11, 2006

Thank you. I'm so glad things went well and you're on your way to a better life finally! keep in touch and let us know how things are going.

mwillis · July 11, 2006

Josettte,

My mother also died of ovarian cancer in 1991. She was 65 but she had it from the time she was 59.

I was looking in the Michigan area but it doesn't appear that many people are in that section.

NancyRN · July 18, 2006

Mwillis,

I'm so sorry this happened to you, and I wish you well with your next surgery.

I'd be pissed, too. However, don't be surprised if you have trouble finding a lawyer to take the case. My general surgeon operated on me to remove breast cancer and told me he'd gotten it all and I was cured. I'm a nurse, so I knew to have an expert doublecheck the pathology slides. And guess what?? The surgeon had missed the cancer completely, and left it inside me!!:omg:

A later surgery by another doc removed the cancer, but in the meantime I'd had to consult many experts about what was best to do. I contacted several lawyers, but most wouldn't touch the case because in their eyes I hadn't been harmed (yeah, right) and because the first surgeon has a good reputation in this area. I found one lawyer willing to evaluate the case, filed a lawsuit, and then learned the lawyer didn't want to go any further. The expert he consulted argued that even though it wasn't the standard of care I would have received at a university hospital, the first surgeon had functioned within the local standard of practice. At least 3 experts -- including the malpractice attorney himself -- told me I'd received substandard care, but it didn't make any difference because the case would be costly and hard to prove.

Malpractice cases are notoriously hard to prove. IMHO, malpractice lawyers want only cases where the damage is severe and cannot be argued, ex. the surgeon took off the wrong limb.

The whole experience was extremely upsetting. I'm pretty disillusioned about the legal system and a patient's ability to get justice when mistreated.:angry

NancyRN

mwillis · July 18, 2006

Thank you Nancy! I had my surgery on Friday, 7/7/06. So far, so good. And yes, you are right. I talked to a lawyer just today that told me that had I been in a car accident and not able to eat solids since 3/30, that it would be a substantial case. He said the problem is that it is difficult and costly to prove medical malpractice. I guess what upsets me most is that the office staff blatantly lied about the number of lapband surgeries that he had done. Although he had done well over 3000 bariatric surgeries, only a handful were lapbands. He is a well respected surgeon and to be quite honest, I really liked him. I just was not treated well after he found out there was an error in the placement of the band.

Fortunately for me, I have a doctor that was williing to correct it that has had extensive background in this procedure and he has been wonderful. The staff is so kind and caring that I feel very grateful that he agreed to make the repair.

As for any kind of compensation for the first one, well, that remains to be seen. One of the people on this site said she will help me fiind someone that will take the case and I guess I go from there. The bottom line is that you can never do to much research!

pplqueen · July 18, 2006

Mary,

Have no fear... I have experience in Legal nurse consulting. We will find you someone. you do have damages and you have a doctor that says your other doctor screwed up..... The way malpractice works is if you line up 100 doctors and 99 say, I could have made the same mistake... then you do not have a case. However, if 99 say.... He should have known better.... You do have a case.... As we discussed.... You will not have a case if the change in placement leads to the same result. ie. sick, can't eat........ once you have proven that the placement corrected your months of torture you will be on your way........... Most attorneys will not listen to you right now..... It is too soon. They will listen to me. Hang in there for a few more months and stay in touch

mwillis · July 18, 2006

Thanks. My son-in-law is a patent attorney in Ohio for a large firm and I was talking to one of the guys he works with this weekend. I was telling him about you and he did tell me to stick with it. So, we wait. You have been a great help!

Mary

NancyRN · July 20, 2006

Pplqueen,

I wish I'd known you when I was trying to get justice for my botched operation. I still feel bitter I couldn't get a lawyer to help me. I even had an MD expert in my disorder telling the lawyer the surgeon had screwed up, but as soon as the lawyer found out another expert disagreed with the first one, he was outta there. The lawyer told me that he thought I did receive substandard care -- but without a lawyer to fight for me, I was dead in the Water.

NancyRN