I told you a few weeks ago that I had a severe episode of chest pains and went to the hospital. I truly thought that I was having a heart attack. After an agonizing night in the ER, X-rays showed that my band was to low. I said I would share the doctor's name if I found out that it was put in the wrong place and had not slipped. Well, I had my original surgery with Dr. Wood at the Cori Center in Warren, MI. According to the original X-ray he placed the band in the wrong place and now I have to have it repaired. I am going to Dr. Behsania in Port Huron on Monday and am scheduled for a surgery again on Friday, July 7th with him in Port Huron. I pray that he can replace the band but there is no guarentee. He said that it is a high risk surgery. I have had to wait for a few weeks because he was going to be gone and he didn't want to leave after he did my surgery.

I had to wait four days before I could get in to see Dr. Wood but I wanted to give him a chance to help me. I called the office the day I was released from the hospital and tried to get some direction on what I could eat until my appointment and I couldn't get anyone to even talk to me. The office manager wouldn't come to the phone and said I should do what they told me in my discharge instructions which was to contact my doctor for direction as to diet. I called back twice and finally the dietician talked to me. I don't think she knew what was going on.

When I got there I had to wait in the lobby for over an hour and another hour in the treatment room. I asked to speak to his P.A. but she wouldn't come in to talk to me. Dr Behsania wanted me to give Dr. Wood a chance to help me but all he said was that it didn't look to bad and I should stay on liquids for 2 or 3 weeks and get back with him. I didn't argue but I knew I wouldn't be back.

Dr. Behsania is a lifesaver. I was so afraid that I would not be able to get him to help me.

Let me say that I live 25 minutes from Port Huron and almost 2 hours from Cori in Warren. My stupid Blue Cross told me that P.H. was not an approved bariatric center and they wouldn't approve the surgery there. I have since found out that is just not true. I knew that the Port Huron doctors had done over 1000 lapbands. I asked at Cori and was told that Dr. Wood had done over 3000. Well, he has done over 3000 bariatric surgeries but not Lapbands. I feel terrible because I really liked him but I am really mad that they lied to me about the number of surgeries he has done.

Needless to say, I really don't look forward to doing this all over again. But there isn't a question in my mind that I still want it. I only hope that Dr. B can replace it and do it laproscopically and not an open procedure. I hope this makes sense. It has been a truly frusterating experience.

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.

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.

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

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!

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

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

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