RoddyVR
Veteran Board NESer
i'm having an interesting experience with the medical system here in the US.
and i'm curious. if it comes to me having to amputate my finger or hand (or arm), who should i sue for causing this?
here's the situation:
about a week ago (more now acutaly) i fell asleep on the train, as i always do.
when i woke up, my hand had fallen asleep (some part of me usualy falls asleep on teh train, its not a very comfortable place to sleep). i thought nothing of it, figuring the blood would get moving now that i was awake and my hand would be back to normal.
later i noticed that my hand hadn't quite woken up.
after almost a week, i was worried enough about some blood clot in my arteries (that could dislodge, move to my brain and kill me or something) that i decided to go to the hospital on friday instead of going to work.
found my PCP (Primary Care Physician, my main doctor) and went to see him.
told the office staff about my hand, their reaction:
"well, we can schedule an apointment for the 16th of december, how's that?"
i answered:
"thanks, i'm going to the emergency room. they'll see me today."
they say:
"wait. maybe he (the doctor) can squeeze you in between other patients"
i say:
"ok." and i wait.
he sees me after acouple hours. it tell him my symptoms (pinky finger and muscle above it on the hand is tingly/cold). he diagnoses it as a damaged nerve in my elbow. i actualy agree with him, cause once he pointed it out i noticed that half of my second finger (is that hte index one?) is having same simptoms, but only half of it, not the whole thing. and also, when i press on a part of my elbo (the funny bone) i can get it to send an electric sensation into the affected area's.
so he tells me that he's not sure just how damaged it is, and wheather it will regenerate or not.
tells me that if i'd come to him the day after it started he'd have said to wait a few days, but since i've already waited a few days, that he's gonna send me to the nerve doctors to get them to check out the nerve more thoroughly.
so he writes out a "referal" paper explaining what he wants them to check out, and asks his office staff people to arange the visit for me.
after they talk on the phone with the nerve doctor's office, they tell me that i should go home and wait for their call of when i can go see the nerve doctor. (they're not quite sure when they can squeeze me in at the nerve doctors).
so i go home. wait all day, no calls. leave to go spend the weekend at my sister's. come back on sunday night, still no calls from the doctors. skip first half day of work to go visit the nerve doctor's office and ask them directly when they can see me.
they tell me "oh ye, you're right here on the top of our pile here. how about 6th of december?"
me: ..... "umm. i thought this was supposed to be done more like today/tomorow, not next month"
them:.... "well let me see if i can schedule you for a saturday apointment, i'll call you once i get in touch with the saturday doctor".
i go to work, and later in the day they call me and say:
"good news. the saturday doctor can see you....." (here i'm thinking "ok, good so i only gotta wait this out another 5 days)
she continues: ".... on the 3rd of december".
i basicaly give up on the "direct" aproach. say, "well fine schedule me for then for now".
i call my primary doctor's office. tell them that the neurologist is offering to see me in a month, and that i want to make sure that the doctor (the one who actualy saw my arm) thinks that this is OK. that my arm wont fall off by that time or something. they say: "he's with a patient now, once he gets out we'll ask him and call you"
wait the rest of the day, no call. call them closer to the end of the workday (about 4pm) and ask them the same thing. they give me same response.
still no call till 5 (they close at 5 and i go home at 5)
this morning (next day now), i call them again, ask the same thing.
they tell me its on his desk and they'll call me once he gives them an answer.
about an hour ago they call me and tell me "we asked the doctor, he's talking to the nerve doctor now to see if he can see you earlier then next month"
half hour after that they call again "good news. the nerve doctor can see you saturday at 10 am. this comming saturday".
so now, i'm SURE that when they finaly asked the doctor, his response was probably something to the tune of "why didnt he get seen by the neurologist on friday?"
but anyway.
the thing here is that if it hadnt been for me not wanting to have my hand tingle and be cold for a month, or if i had been a little more trusting in the medical system and thought that they knew what they're doing, i would have waited the month to go see the nerve doctor on my apointment.
and who knows what would have happened to my damaged nerve by then.
lets say that that had happened, and they told me "well, by now your nerve is completely dead. there's nothing we can do. wish you'd come in earlier cause it was still alive when the other doctor saw you originaly"
who's fault is it?
who do i sue and for what?
the original doctor for not putting the fear of amputation into me?
the original's doctor's office for not understanding that this was urgent and pushing the neurologist's office to see me that same day?
the neurologist's office for not having an open appointment and seeing me soon?
the neurologist for telling me the bad news about my nerve when he finaly see's me?
or is it all my fault cause i didnt push hard enough to get hte doctors to see me when I wanted them to see me?
and i'm curious. if it comes to me having to amputate my finger or hand (or arm), who should i sue for causing this?
here's the situation:
about a week ago (more now acutaly) i fell asleep on the train, as i always do.
when i woke up, my hand had fallen asleep (some part of me usualy falls asleep on teh train, its not a very comfortable place to sleep). i thought nothing of it, figuring the blood would get moving now that i was awake and my hand would be back to normal.
later i noticed that my hand hadn't quite woken up.
after almost a week, i was worried enough about some blood clot in my arteries (that could dislodge, move to my brain and kill me or something) that i decided to go to the hospital on friday instead of going to work.
found my PCP (Primary Care Physician, my main doctor) and went to see him.
told the office staff about my hand, their reaction:
"well, we can schedule an apointment for the 16th of december, how's that?"
i answered:
"thanks, i'm going to the emergency room. they'll see me today."
they say:
"wait. maybe he (the doctor) can squeeze you in between other patients"
i say:
"ok." and i wait.
he sees me after acouple hours. it tell him my symptoms (pinky finger and muscle above it on the hand is tingly/cold). he diagnoses it as a damaged nerve in my elbow. i actualy agree with him, cause once he pointed it out i noticed that half of my second finger (is that hte index one?) is having same simptoms, but only half of it, not the whole thing. and also, when i press on a part of my elbo (the funny bone) i can get it to send an electric sensation into the affected area's.
so he tells me that he's not sure just how damaged it is, and wheather it will regenerate or not.
tells me that if i'd come to him the day after it started he'd have said to wait a few days, but since i've already waited a few days, that he's gonna send me to the nerve doctors to get them to check out the nerve more thoroughly.
so he writes out a "referal" paper explaining what he wants them to check out, and asks his office staff people to arange the visit for me.
after they talk on the phone with the nerve doctor's office, they tell me that i should go home and wait for their call of when i can go see the nerve doctor. (they're not quite sure when they can squeeze me in at the nerve doctors).
so i go home. wait all day, no calls. leave to go spend the weekend at my sister's. come back on sunday night, still no calls from the doctors. skip first half day of work to go visit the nerve doctor's office and ask them directly when they can see me.
they tell me "oh ye, you're right here on the top of our pile here. how about 6th of december?"
me: ..... "umm. i thought this was supposed to be done more like today/tomorow, not next month"
them:.... "well let me see if i can schedule you for a saturday apointment, i'll call you once i get in touch with the saturday doctor".
i go to work, and later in the day they call me and say:
"good news. the saturday doctor can see you....." (here i'm thinking "ok, good so i only gotta wait this out another 5 days)
she continues: ".... on the 3rd of december".
i basicaly give up on the "direct" aproach. say, "well fine schedule me for then for now".
i call my primary doctor's office. tell them that the neurologist is offering to see me in a month, and that i want to make sure that the doctor (the one who actualy saw my arm) thinks that this is OK. that my arm wont fall off by that time or something. they say: "he's with a patient now, once he gets out we'll ask him and call you"
wait the rest of the day, no call. call them closer to the end of the workday (about 4pm) and ask them the same thing. they give me same response.
still no call till 5 (they close at 5 and i go home at 5)
this morning (next day now), i call them again, ask the same thing.
they tell me its on his desk and they'll call me once he gives them an answer.
about an hour ago they call me and tell me "we asked the doctor, he's talking to the nerve doctor now to see if he can see you earlier then next month"
half hour after that they call again "good news. the nerve doctor can see you saturday at 10 am. this comming saturday".
so now, i'm SURE that when they finaly asked the doctor, his response was probably something to the tune of "why didnt he get seen by the neurologist on friday?"
but anyway.
the thing here is that if it hadnt been for me not wanting to have my hand tingle and be cold for a month, or if i had been a little more trusting in the medical system and thought that they knew what they're doing, i would have waited the month to go see the nerve doctor on my apointment.
and who knows what would have happened to my damaged nerve by then.
lets say that that had happened, and they told me "well, by now your nerve is completely dead. there's nothing we can do. wish you'd come in earlier cause it was still alive when the other doctor saw you originaly"
who's fault is it?
who do i sue and for what?
the original doctor for not putting the fear of amputation into me?
the original's doctor's office for not understanding that this was urgent and pushing the neurologist's office to see me that same day?
the neurologist's office for not having an open appointment and seeing me soon?
the neurologist for telling me the bad news about my nerve when he finaly see's me?
or is it all my fault cause i didnt push hard enough to get hte doctors to see me when I wanted them to see me?
.
