Moms Mechanical Valve Replacement

[BLENDER]

My mom had a mechanical valve replaced along with a double bypass.when she was released from the hospital she was not prescribed coumadin,or given any instructions to come back for blood tests.About three weeks later she had a massive stroke.Can anyone tell me for shure that she should have been perscribed coumadin or not. please help

 

[Guest]

She absolutely should have had warfarin. This is open and shut malpractice against the doctors and the hospital. At the very least you will get her medical expenses for the rest of her life.

 

[PJmomrunner]

So sorry to hear about your mom. I'm sure you'll get responses from many more knowlegable than me, but if your mom had her native valve replaced with a mechanical valve she absolutely should have been on warfarin/Coumadiin.

All the best to you and your mom.

 

[Guest]

I have consulted on several similar cases and I can assure you that there is no defense. This will be settled without a trial.

 

[tobagotwo]

No way would anyone given a mechanical valve not be put on Coumadin.

I'm so sorry to hear that you have gone through this with your mom. I'm sure whatever settlement they come up with will not make up for the trouble this has caused your mom and your family.

If your lawyer allows it, please tell us the name of the hospital.

 

[Nancy]

I am so sad to read this post. Your poor mom--and you and family as well.

What a dastardly mistake. I have no other words, just very, very sad for you.

 

[Karlynn]

Blender, I'm am so very sorry about your Mom's circumstances. I have been sitting rereading your post with my mouth hanging wide open. I have a mechanical mitral valve and have been on Coumdin for 13 years. If indeed it is a Mechanical valve - she should have been on Coumadin starting right after surgery. I cannot believe that any physician or hospital in this day and age would NOT put someone on Coumadin for a mech valve.

How is your Mom doing and what is her prognosis after the stroke? As Al (our warfarin/Coumadin expert) said, this appears to be an open and shut malpractice case and I would add, of the most flagrant kind.

You have my prayers and best wishes.

 

[Barry]

My mom had a mechanical valve replaced along with a double bypass.when she was released from the hospital she was not prescribed coumadin,or given any instructions to come back for blood tests...

I was shocked when I read this. It's unheard of to install a mechanical valve without subsequent Coumadin, and Coumadin requires regular blood tests. This is pretty blatant medical malpractice, and I guess the only good news in any of this is that it's such a clearcut case that the settlement or lawsuit will at least allow your mom to get the best rehab available.

This is such blatant malpractice that I would presume that any attorney with half a brain would be seeking punitive as well as compensatory damages. And whoever is responsible really does need to be punished. You may want to pursue this matter with the hospital and physician licensing boards, too - but talk with an attorney before you do anything.

 

[Guest]

Barry is right.

You should go to the patient services rep at the hospital and tell that person that you expect 100% top-quality care in the best room in the hospital at no charge since they are liable for this. Tell that person that you have aready done the things that I listed below.

Go to the website http://www.jcaho.org/general+public/public+input/report+a+complaint/report+a+complaint.htm and file a complaint. This is the strongest thing that you can do without an attorney against a hospital.

Then go to http://www.tsbme.state.tx.us/complain/placecomp.htm and file a complaint against each one of her doctors.

Call the customer service number on her insurance card to and explain to them what is happening and that the hospital should be responsible for her care, not the insurance coimpany. When the insurer and you both pressure them, then they will sit up and take notice.

There should be no expenses charged to her from here on out.

Be nice but be tough right from the beginning.

 

[Barry]

One thing I would be doing immediately (although it's always best to speak with an attorney first) to have your mom get a copy of her medical records. State and Federal laws provide for this (the Federal law is HIPAA), and if they refuse to release the records to your mother that's grounds for yet more complaints and damages. Getting them released to you is more complicated - but release of copies of the records to the patient herself should be a cinch. She'll likely be charged reasonable photocopy expenses. Hopefully your mom isn't so disabled that she's unable to request that copies of her medical records be released to her. Best that she request the copies in writing so there's a paper-trail documenting that she requested them. The hospital may have a form they want her to use.

Ditto St. Allodwick's advice to be nice but tough. I'd be so upset it would be difficult to do, but you need to be polite but assertive, without being an easily-discredited maniac.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

My mom had a mechanical valve replaced along with a double bypass.when she was released from the hospital she was not prescribed coumadin,or given any instructions to come back for blood tests.About three weeks later she had a massive stroke.Can anyone tell me for shure that she should have been perscribed coumadin or not. please help

Sorry to hear of this tragic incident.
Does this hospital do a LOT of Heart Surgeries?

One observation: Your first sentence is confusing.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

OOPS, I hit the enter key before I was finished with my last post.

Your first sentence states: "My mom had a mechanical valve replaced"

Does that mean the she ALREADY had a mechanical valve and IT was replaced?

If so, WHAT was it replaced WITH?

Even if that is the case, and it was replaced with a tissue valve, she should have been on Coumadin for several weeks.

OR, did you mean that her own original valve was diseased and it was replaced with a mechanical valve?

In either case, I agree with the previous recommendations:

1 - Get a copy of her records from the Medical Records Office of the Hospital. Also get copies of her records from the SURGEON and any other Doctors who treated her during this period.

2 - Get an attorney to guide you.

Good Luck! I hope that your mother will have some recovery.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[bvdr]

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. Mechanical valve recipients need to be on warfarin. This is not a secret or something that has just recently been introduced for valve patients. The blood testing is to check coumadin levels so without being on it there would have been none ordered. Does you mom have any other type medical problems that could have made her case different? She isn't a hemophiliac or anything like that is she?

 

[BLENDER]

Moms mechanical valve replacement

Moms mechanical valve replacement

Thanks for all of your advice.The hospital she had the replacement at is a new heart hospital.That is all they do.After her stroke she lost all movement of her right side of her body.she can only move her left arm.she can speak only repeated words. The words are there, but she can't get them out.for the last five mounths she has been in a nursing home getting some rehab,but like most it is not the best place in the world to be.A nurologist told us she will not get any better. we do have power of attourney and have talked to a lawyer.We just got the medical records and sent them to him to go over. I kind of thought it is a open and shut case, but he wants to make shure before he will take the case. he is supposed tobe the best in that town.All i want is the best care for my mom.

 

[Guest]

I'd still do all of the things that I recommended. You might even ask that they take her back and put her on their own rehab floor at no charge. Money is what talks to administrators.

I'd recommend an attorney from outside your area. Midland is the size that there is a good chance that a prominent attorney knows at least one of the following, a doctor involved, a hospital administrator, one of the hospital's board members. This could prevent an aggressive stand on your part.

I consulted (and there was a settlement very favorable the doctor) on a case where the plaintiff's attorney made only a very mild charge against the doctor. The doctor was clearly in the wrong but the attorney did not allege the right thing. I was hired to defend the doctor and told the attorney what the weakest part of the case was and to be careful not to raise the issue that would cause the suit to be dropped and refiled with a stronger allegation.

 

[Karlynn]

I'd recommend an attorney from outside your area. Midland is the size that there is a good chance that a prominent attorney knows at least one of the following, a doctor involved, a hospital administrator, one of the hospital's board members. This could prevent an aggressive stand on your part.

I will second this suggestion. Some attorneys don't want to burn bridges in the cities they practice in. They don't want to make enemies because they never know if they'll need a favor from that particular person in the future. You would not want an attorney representing your Mom to hold back for fear of his future cases in the city's court system. Now if this attorney has a reputation that let's you know he/she won't do that, then that is another matter.

I also have to say that this new heart hospital shouldn't be calling themselves a heart hospital when basic protocol that any cardiac physician and nurse knows, isn't being followed. I can't believe that the nurses didn't question why she wasn't on Coumadin.

 

[Barry]

...We just got the medical records and sent them to him to go over. I kind of thought it is a open and shut case, but he wants to make shure before he will take the case. he is supposed tobe the best in that town.All i want is the best care for my mom.

What they said. And...

If an attorney agreed to take the case without first reviewing the medical record, I'd look for another attorney.

 

[catwoman]

I'm mind-boggled:

1. no discussion prior to surgery on type of valves, with pros and cons?
2. no mention during hospitalization about warfarin or getting shots in the belly and no questions as to why in the belly? (Most shots are in the arm or hip)
3. no scrips given at discharge at all -- none for pain, no vitamin recommendations, post-op care at home?

And this was a hospital that did ONLY heart surgery/procedures???

Perhaps it's a matter of one person assuming that another was doing all of this?????????????

And you know what ASSUME means ...

 

[RCB]

Make sure you save any discharge notes that she should have come home with. This is very sad. Best of luck to her and you

 

[catwoman]

Question for Al Lodwick:

Question for Al Lodwick:

You posted something from a medical journal in the last year or so about a woman -- somewhere in SE Asia, Africa?? -- who had a mechanical heart valve yet had never taken warfarin. I think perhaps she was pregnant? She'd had a mechanical valve for quite a few years, never a problem despite not taking warfarin?

And someone can go probably 3 weeks without warfarin and suffer a stroke?

Any thoughts on the first case, the one from the medical journal?