ok I have to rant here! 12 days ago I sliced my knuckle really gud workin on the truck. Went to the ER and had it stitched up splinted everything... The ER Doc told me the capsule was cut but the tendon was fine, "just dont bend it for a week" is what he said.. I go to a specialist yesterday and he says the tendon is severed and I have to have surgery, says no big deal I will be able to go to work on monday. I get out of surgery and now he says there was a lot of damage and I may need another one in a few weeks, till then I dont want you working at all...
Now I have been out of work for almost 2 weeks now and cant work for another 3!!!! I just cannot believe the ER Doc said everything is fine and didnt send me to a specialist in the first place!!!!! Is this malpractice, or an accident???? I am not the type to sue but my Lord am I wrong in being upset?????
Aaron
p.s. never use a knife to open spark plug wire loom clips.......

 

Was greater damage done by not treating right away?

Doesn't seem like malpractice to me.

 

It is not unusual to find an intern in an ER that is overworked, tired, inexperienced, that makes mistakes.

One of my in-laws does malpractice suits. The one with the highest reward yet was when an intern gave a kid that looked Asian (who was America born) a malaria drug (malaria in MA is not exactly a common disease...) when all he had was the flu (in the middle of December) and killed him right in the ER.

Maybe the ER doctor was right and the specialist made a mistake or was wrong. It is called X-rays and 3rd and 4th opinions. Maybe my a malpractice lawyer that was a doctor at one point.

 

Well if you consider 10 days off work just to start over damage yes. I wont know the extent of the damage until I get the cast off in 3 weeks. They still dont know if I will be able to use my thumb because they had to cut some of the tendon cause it was already healing while being seperated.
I really am just sick of being helpless right now and had to whine!!!!
Aaron

 

Wow!! I really dont want to sue or anything, heck acidents happen thats how I ended up like this.... I guess I trusted a Doc and what he said and shouldnt have....
Aaron

 

Is this a workman's comp injury? If so, you may have a partial explanation of why such extensive "care" is necessary. Sad, but true.

 

The ER of today is not the same as it was ten years ago. They pretty much just give you a bandaid or coughdrop, if your injuries are not life threatening. And they expect you to follow up with your own doctor, even though they don't tell you to. I learned my lesson two years ago.
I twisted my foot getting off a tall stool, and I heard my knee pop. I couldn't walk or stand on the leg. I went to the emergency room, they did Xrays, and said that they see nothing, and it was just a sprain. They told me to stay off my feet for the rest of the day, wrapped it up, and ice it, and I should be fine in a couple of days. Well the next morning, I was in the shower. The leg still hurts, and my knee just gave out on me, kinda like bending the opposite direction. Well, I fell and I heard a crunch. I called my doctor right away, and I had an MRI done within a couple of hours. What started as a slightly torn ligament, ended up being a shredded apart ligament. I had to have it replaced, and I was out for 10 weeks from work.
Lesson learned is that I couldn't trust just one doctor for taking care of my health. I'm much more aware, and vocal about any health issues now.
Good luck GOBoy. It really rots staying home for a long period of time. Fortunately I had short term disabilty from work.

 

Thanks for the well wishes....
Its not Work Comp, I did it at home. And I dont have any short term disability insurance either... Thats what stinks.....
Aaron

 

I got charged nearly 900 dollars for an hour in the ER after I rolled over a truck and broke 3 of my fingers, where they did terrible service and because of the service I recieved at that place I had to have surgery on my fingers. NEVER I repete NEVER goto the ER in Normal Oklahoma. Worst service I have ever recieved. I would of been better off never going at all.

 

About 15 years ago I cut my hand at work one night. A150 lb steel bar fell on it. They took me to the hospital and a nurse came in and cleaned it up a bit and told me she was gonna put a few butterfly bandadges on it and come back in the morning. This was about 1 in the morning. Well I knew I was hurt pretty bad. I told them I was gonna leave and go to another hospital and they would be talking to my attorney. It wasn't untill then that a doctor even looked at it. I was immediatly admitted to the hospital, surjury the next morning, 3 days in the hospital. Cut many tendons. To this day I have a very crooked finger. My point is a doctor wouldn't even look at me untill I threatened them with an attorney.

 

There is usually a spot checked on that wad of papers they give you when you check out of the ER that says check with your regular Doctor. The Doctor treating you probably mentioned it also. All they do in the ER is try to get you stable so that you can see your regular Doctor during office hours. The ER is not a total care operation...

 

Right, the ER is not a totla care operation, But as an EMT I see see them not doing their jobs all the time. Brought a person in today, I cannot give any specifics but brought someone to the ER today that definately needed a hospital stay and some seriouse help. As we were leaving, the ER was calling this person spouse to come pick em up! I voiced my concern to the nurse, but that did no good. Oh well, unless it is life threatening, believe me, wait and go to your regular doc if you can...Jay

 

most of the doctors in the emergency room at night are not getting paid. my dad is a pediatrician and runs a private practice. he has a call schedule and stays up 2 days at a time with no sleep at the hospital to take care of emergency situations. he does this as a service, the hospital gets all of the money he doesn't. it is very hard to make a perfect diagnosis of an injury in the ER especially if its has to do with the hands, since the muscular and nervous system are very complex in this region. specialists are not always available at 2 oclock in the morning so the er doctors do their best to prevent infection until regular hours. i am thankful for these doctors who sacrifice their night's sleep to help people out. being a doctor is a very stressful and difficult occupation and mistakes are going to happen. someone said that the emergency room isnt like it was 10 years ago, you know why? malpractice lawsuits have raised the insurance so high that many doctors have been driven from practice. they are also terrified of getting sued so they arent as enthusiastic about treating people who threaten to call their lawyers all the time. i have nothing against lawyers, i am actually going to study prelaw next year. but these frivolous lawsuits are ridiculous. my grandfather was also a doctor and passed away in september. he retired from his practice 5 years ago , but still ended up getting sued while he was on his deathbed, along with 30 other doctors that were on call one night at a hospital. he had nothing to do with anything, and never saw the little girl that died in the ER because her parents rolled their van and broke her neck. they decided to sue everybody in the hospital for their little girl's death even though no miracle could have saved her, and besides it was their fault she died, not the doctors. the lawsuit continued a month after his death but has finally been dropped. all these lawsuits are going to eventually kill the healthcare system, and next time you hurt yourself your just going to bleed to death because their arent going to be any doctors that are able to afford a practice.

 

Never heard of docs working for free in the ER. Around here all the ER docs are paid, that is their job, They are Emergency Medicine Doctor's...Jay

 

yeah but there are also doctors who do not perform emergency surgeries like my dad. people bring their babies in that are running 103 fever at 2 o clock in the morning and there is always a pediatrician there to see them. i will correct myself, he does get paid for this, but only like 30 bucks a patient, while the other 100 goes to the hospital. the CEO of the hospital supplys a specialist around the clock to improve the healthcare. thats how it works in south texas but it may not work like that everywhere else, so forgive me.