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Date Posted: 18:40:39 12/26/01 Wed
Author: Rita
Subject: Surgical Pain Statistical Figures

Merry Christmas 2001

I would like to complain about "Watching Father Die". If Dad's doctor was
a regular person and Dad was a dog, animal cruelty charges reported to the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) would be easier than
medical exploitation-cruelty charges to the Michigan Health Department.

In February 1984, my husband's father, Sherman, died. The month before
his death, Sherman was walking across the street and fell. He was taken
to the hospital. He had a broken hip and needed surgery. After the
surgery,
complications appeared, and Sherman was no longer able to make his own
health care decisions. One doctor told Sherman's wife that he would be
recovering; then a second doctor told her to prepare herself for the worst.
How could two doctors read the same medical records and arrive at two
different conclusions?

The situation was chaotic. Sherman knew that his grandchild had an
unnecessary surgery in 1977. So I thought that he wouldn't mind if I
offered the suggestion of comparing his blood tests. Blood test comparisons
would assist Maxine in identifying Sherman's present health state in order
for her to make what she felt was the best decision.

"Oh, my God," I thought, as Sherman's doctors threatened to walk off his
case. The hospital and doctors made Maxine feel as if they were ready to
throw Sherman into the street if another medical test was asked for.
Sherman died shortly thereafter, so his medical records were no longer
needed. Maxine didn't sue because she was age 64, and she felt that the
additional stress and expense wasn't worth the effort. Meanwhile a family
feud was created. I complained about the treatment that Maxine had received
when medical records were asked for in order to assist in assessing the
patient's health.

The question from then to now remained "How could blood tests assist with
assessing a person's health?"

A few days before father's December 2001 amputation, I spoke with a tall,
dark-haired doctor about the possibility of gangrene that brother had
mentioned. The doctor held out his hand, fluttering his fingers motioning
that it was borderline gangrene, while saying, "Borderline uncertainty."

The people (friends, family, and doctors) who know me know that if I had
heard that father definitely had gangrene...they would know that I would
have
asked for father's blood tests, simply to see how gangrene affected the
blood!

Dad was in more pain after the hip surgery than when he had entered the
hospital. First it was a hip surgery, then an amputation to the knee. I
was not aware of the amputation. The day after, visited Dad. When I saw
Dad sleeping, I began chatting with the people visiting the patient in the
next bed. A short, foreign speaking doctor entered the room to see dad. I
asked about the possible gangrene that my brother Bobby mentioned. The
doctor said, "Let's see," and he removed the sheets to look at dad's foot.

All I could see was one foot. I asked, "Where's his foot?"

The doctor replied, "Foot?"

Since I don't speak clearly, I have to say several times, and sometimes
with my hands and feet. "Yes, foot," I said while tapping my feet, saying,
"I have two feet, you have two feet.dad had two feet.those things at the
bottom of your legs."

The doctor moved from the foot of the bed to the center, saying, "Let's
see," and he pulled the sheets from dad's body.

My first thought was that his foot was tucked under his body. Then the
light bulb clicked, "Oh my God, it's been amputated!"

The doctor motioned with his fingers, as if to say, "Come with me retard."

I followed him into the hall where he pointed to father's room and said,
"What for you do that?"

Immediately, I knew that he was referring to the amputation. Any retard
could tell that both surgeries were an example of Human Exploitation.
If there were gangrene, it would have showed up with the first blood test.
It was like a game of charades where we talked with our hands and could
understand each other perfectly. "Well," I said, "I have an 81-year-old
mother-in-law," I turned pointing to Room 555, "who would like to know
all the details about that."

We both knew that I was talking about father's amputation.

"I understand," the doctor said, while placing his hands behind his back,
and continuing, "I am only talking to myself. If that were my father, he
would have died at home with some kind of dignity. Huhhhhh, nothing like
that."

The doctor's advice about what he would have done I relayed to Maxine.
I quickly discovered that if I wished to spread news faster than the radio,
all I have to do is tell mother-in-law.

Mother-in-law wished to see Dad's will. "Sure," I said, "When you see the
zero savings, that figure will be divided three ways. And when you see the
$150-per-hour attorney charge...I will be dead before I gathered enough money
to pay for an attorney to read all the pages, trying to decide if there is a
slight problem here! (See website
http://www.voy.com/43243/)"

For Christmas 2001, I thought I heard God ask, "What is it you would like
for Christmas?"

I would like to see my husband have a doctor like the one that his mother
has. Yes, a doctor that would read your last medical tests and then simply
give you a copy.

My husband has a doctor's appointment in January 2002. The St. Joseph
Hospital policy is to store the medical records, then when the patient
wished a copy there's a charge. In 1997, the prescribing doctor did NOT
receive a copy of the medical test. When we asked for a copy of the test
that the doctor prescribed to be done, the copy cost was waved, enabling the
doctor to read the test for the first time. It would be a blessing, if my
husband's doctor would hand him a copy of all his most recent tests.instead
of asking, "Did you get yourself another doctor, yet?"

All summer long my husband had been sick...the sicknesses ranged from
blowing green-brown snots (sinus infections) to his having extremely
swollen feet. If the Michigan Heart Clinic doctor would hand my husband
his last medical tests, we would not have to pay an additional charge to
receive the test copies...and follow the doctor's advice.
Merry Christmas 2001.

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