"COMMON-LAW WIFE" SAYS APOLOGY IS NOT ENOUGH
AFTER COMPANION'S DEATH AT TAMPA VA -- VA doctor
apologizes, but adds: "...People do make mistakes...That
happens everywhere. Because we're such a large system,
there are going to be unanticipated outcomes..."
Apology not enough after a death at VA
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA — The chief of staff at the nation's busiest veterans' hospital met last month with a woman whose longtime companion died at the facility. Then Dr. Edward Cutolo did something she found extraordinary.
He apologized.
Richard Stecher, 64, of Tarpon Springs died June 30 at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center after several "missed opportunities" to treat him, Haley documents show.
Stecher, a Coast Guard veteran, died primarily from complications caused by a perforated bowel obstruction. Minutes after emergency surgery, he suffered a heart attack and never regained consciousness.
But to Mary Nicholl, Stecher's live-in companion of 19 years, the care Haley provided before surgery amounted to gross inattention by a hospital where, she said, care was often chaotic and substandard."No veteran," Nicholl said, "should endure what Richie endured."
On Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs refused to discuss the case or its medical files on Stecher, given to Nicholl by Haley at her request.
"I am not going to rebut anything she says," Cutolo said Thursday.
A surgeon, a primary care physician and a gastroenterologist failed to adequately treat Stecher over two months, according to VA minutes of Cutolo's meeting with Nicholl.
VA records say Stecher should have been admitted after an April CAT scan but was not admitted until June 27, when the emergency surgery was performed.
Cutolo told Nicholl in a July 23 meeting that doctors were "misled" by his atypical symptoms, records show.
Short on personnel, the VA sent Stecher to a private company in April for a CAT scan. The results were viewed by a non-VA radiologist without access to previous VA scans for comparison, according to a VA document.
That communication gap, Nicholl said, may have led to the failure of Haley to recognize how seriously ill Stecher was. His primary care physician at the VA, located at a VA clinic in Pasco County, strongly suspected an obstruction, records show."
To err is human and occasionally people do make mistakes," Cutolo said, declining to discuss Stecher specifically.
"And sometimes something extremely complex is not examined to the full extent."
That happens everywhere. Because we're such a large system, there are going to be unanticipated outcomes and opportunities to do things better," Cutolo said.
He characterized the 365-bed facility, which handled 1.6-million patient visits last year, as an outstanding hospital.
Cutolo declined to discuss why he apologized to Nicholl, an event documented in notes written by the VA and obtained by her. He said apologies are rare but not unprecedented after "unanticipated outcomes."
Nicholl and her son, Eddie Enright, 44, said they demanded the July meeting with Cutolo because they wanted answers. They both said Cutolo, who was not Stecher's physician, was extremely apologetic."
Cutolo admitted it was their fault, they screwed up and they were going to put measures in place so it never happened again," Enright said.
"They said he would still be alive if they had admitted him in April.
Cutolo "apologized over and over and over again."Nicholl's description of Stecher's final three months is a sometimes bizarre portrait of patient care. Many elements of her story are not detailed in documents and, absent VA comment, remain unverifiable.
Stecher, a retired general manager of a New Jersey manufacturer, began getting sick early this year. He lost up to 50 pounds, had little appetite and his abdomen protruded markedly, Nicholl said."It was like he was carrying twins," Enright said.
Stecher began visiting Haley or the Pasco clinic regularly in March.
Visit followed visit — up to a dozen or more, Nicholl said.
"He just kept getting sicker and sicker," she said.On June 26, she said, she rushed Stecher to Haley because he was so sick. The next day, he received a barium enema for an X-ray of the intestine. Somehow, Nicholl said, Stecher suffered a perforated intestine during the procedure.Attendants, she said, simply finished the procedure and tried to send him home. Nicholl alerted a physician's assistant who, she said, immediately saw how ill Stecher was.
That PA wrote a note, Nicholl said, saying Stecher needed immediate surgery or a procedure to decompress and clear the intestine. He handed her the note and told her to take it to the emergency room, she said.
The 63-year-old woman said she had to push Stecher alone to the ER on another floor in a wheelchair via Haley's slow and crowded public elevators, at least a 10-minute trip. At the ER, the couple then waited 45 minutes, nobody taking Stecher's vitals, Nicholl said.
Finally, he was examined and rushed to the ultimately unsuccessful surgery.
Cutolo and a VA spokeswoman declined to discuss any portion of Nicholl's account, though she offered to sign any release freeing the VA's hands."I don't ever want this to happen to another veteran," said Nicholl, who said as a "common-law wife" she has no legal standing to sue. "Somebody should be held responsible."
William R. Levesque can be reached at (813) 226-3436 or levesque@sptimes.com
------------------------- posted by Larry ScottFounder and EditorVA Watchdog dot Org
Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click here)
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfAUG08/nf080908-1.htm
Another Cowardy doctor not going forth with an adhesiolysis either from lack of skill or feeling like he might not get enough compesation.
Do most docs think were just going to die anyhow?
For shame, you slacker/killer.
Showing posts with label Edith Isabel Rodriguez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edith Isabel Rodriguez. Show all posts
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Analysis: 'Sicko' numbers mostly accurate; more context needed
By A. Chris GajilanCNN
(CNN) -- Michael Moore's "Sicko," which opened nationwide Friday, is filled with horror stories of people who are deprived of medical service because they can't afford it or haven't been able to navigate the murky waters of managed care in the United States.
It compares American health care with the universal coverage systems in Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Cuba.
Moore covers a lot of ground. Our team investigated some of the claims put forth in his film. We found that his numbers were mostly right, but his arguments could use a little more context. As we dug deep to uncover the numbers, we found surprisingly few inaccuracies in the film. In fact, most pundits or health-care experts we spoke to spent more time on errors of omission rather than disputing the actual claims in the film.
Whether it's dollars spent, group coverage or Medicaid income cutoffs, health care goes hand in hand with numbers. Moore opens his film by giving these statistics, "Fifty million uninsured Americans ... 18,000 people die because they are uninsured."
For the most part, that's true. The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say 43.6 million, or about 15 percent of Americans, were uninsured in 2006. For the past five years, the overall count has fluctuated between 41 million and 44 million people. According to the Institute of Medicine, 18,000 people do die each year mainly because they are less likely to receive screening and preventive care for chronic diseases.
Moore says that the U.S. spends more of its gross domestic product on health care than any other country.
READ MORE
(CNN) -- Michael Moore's "Sicko," which opened nationwide Friday, is filled with horror stories of people who are deprived of medical service because they can't afford it or haven't been able to navigate the murky waters of managed care in the United States.
It compares American health care with the universal coverage systems in Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Cuba.
Moore covers a lot of ground. Our team investigated some of the claims put forth in his film. We found that his numbers were mostly right, but his arguments could use a little more context. As we dug deep to uncover the numbers, we found surprisingly few inaccuracies in the film. In fact, most pundits or health-care experts we spoke to spent more time on errors of omission rather than disputing the actual claims in the film.
Whether it's dollars spent, group coverage or Medicaid income cutoffs, health care goes hand in hand with numbers. Moore opens his film by giving these statistics, "Fifty million uninsured Americans ... 18,000 people die because they are uninsured."
For the most part, that's true. The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say 43.6 million, or about 15 percent of Americans, were uninsured in 2006. For the past five years, the overall count has fluctuated between 41 million and 44 million people. According to the Institute of Medicine, 18,000 people do die each year mainly because they are less likely to receive screening and preventive care for chronic diseases.
Moore says that the U.S. spends more of its gross domestic product on health care than any other country.
READ MORE
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Autopsy report ~ Edith Isabel Rodriguez suffered " Adhesion Related Disorder!"
Edith Isabel Rodriguez suffered " Adhesion Related Disorder!" A contributory if not THE end means disease of which she died!
Edith presented to the ER a number of times over a short period of time, "was called a "frequent flyer" prescribed analgesics for pain, miss-diagnosed due to the lack of knowledge of ARD, and worse, lack of medical intervention, inhumane treatment and ultimately met her death lying on the floor in the waiting area of Martin Luther King Hospital in LA, with a janitor cleaning around her pain riddled body as loved ones and other patients watched in disbelief!
The sad truth is that hundreds, maybe thousands of persons afflicted with ARD are receiving this very same "lack of treatment" in ER's all over the USA....and if this med student web site is any indication of the caliber of "Dr.'s" who are going to fill these ER's, person afflicted with ARD face this same type of death without dignity or proper medical intervention, just as Edith did!
Read the Adhesion Quilt for stories very similar to Edith's as each person pleads for help from one of the most painful conditions imaginable. ARD patients can be "frequent flyers" to E.R.. It's actually a common phrase in an adhesion sufferer's story.
Not only was Edith's death a tragedy, it appears that her autopsy was just as "sloppy" and "crude" as her death at the hands of "medical professionals!" Her autopsy report is filled with errors and inconsistencies as the hands of those in the corner's office of LA who did the "investigation" & "autopsy!" Would this have happened if "Edith I. Rodriguez" was "Anna Nicole Smith?"
BOTH these ladies seemed to have a history of drug taking, with "Anna Nicole Smith" appearing to be the worst of the two, both died young, and both were taking prescription medication at the time of their deaths..and that is where the similarities seem to end!
IHRT called it correctly, and NOT one medical person was able to do that, and we did it without the autopsy results! We will say that, "WE told you so!"
Edith Isabel Rodriguez "Adhesion Related Disorder"
Pg. 1 Synopsis: History of "illicit narcotic" abuse" no mention of an "Iatrogenic" disorder!
Pg. 2 In dormant/witness statement: Diagnostic tests results - Negative for abnormal pathology
Pg. 2 NO tracking from illicit drugs..(IHRT asks:"so just how bad was the "Illicit drug taking?")
Pg. 3 Evidence of "old surgery" scar at middle lower portion of the abdomen midline just under the umbilicus is vertically oriented and measures 7.5 inches. (Laporotomy)
Pg. 4 Prior Appendectomy - Extensive adhesions in the lower abdominal quadrant! (IHRT adds that THIS is a VERY painful condition!)
Edith's autopsy report states that she died after "collapsing in the ER" and "not being able to be resuscitated," no mention that Edith lay bleeding and withering in pain on the floor of the ER in full view of the ER staff!
Edith's autopsy reports gives her age as both 43 years of age, AND 53 years of age! Edith's autopsy report states that she did not have any bowel strangulation, but adhesions most certainly narrow the intestinal passages and constricts constipated stool!
One x-ray could have seen the mega colon and thus her life could have been saved.
Was she ignored because this E.R suspected she had adhesions and also needed emergency surgery.
Adhesions are usually a surgeons worst nightmare!
Adhesions are can be dangerous to lyse. Adhesiolysis can be very time consuming thus offers a medical facility no profits.
Most surgeons are pretty nervous about their medical malpractice rates.
Edith's autopsy report states her death was an "accidental!"
Edith's death was NOT due to diabetes, hypertension, overweight, nor gender, race, being rich or poor, having a criminal record or not, drug addiction, being transient in nature, being a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a sister, an aunt, a person....Edith died because she had, "Adhesion Related Disorder" and this IS how persons afflicted with ARD are treated by medical "professionals" in Emergency Rooms all across the USA!
IHRT predicts that this treatment is not likely to get better after reading the comments by "medical students" in the following link! Non of the med students had a clue as to what might have caused Edith's symptoms, and why she presented so often to the ER, nor why all the diagnostic tests were "normal!" IHRT knew the answer to ALL of those answers, and they was right!
Many adhesion sufferers immediately thought, " Edith IS one of us I bet" and now we have obtained the horrible truth of the matter. The autopsy confirmed our worse fears,
Read "Edith's Autopsy " report for yourself!
Edith Isabel Rodriguez had severe abdominal adhesions.
Edith Isabel Rodriguez will save many lives we pray with her tragic posthumous story.
Adhesion sufferers should be forever armed at all times with our operative reports and Edith Rodriguez' autopsy report.
Firmly stand your ground.
You will be presenting to the likes of these medical professions in the future. Here is the link, "Student Doctor Network Forums"
LADoc00 writes:
"The lady was a drug addict and had warrants for her arrest. Why does anyone think this was unintentional?? Was she even a US citizen FFS? On the face of it, saving her would have been FAR more of a tragedy for America.LET THESE PEOPLE DIE. I cant stress this enough.I want to give MLK adminstrators a medal for this not my scorn.
__________________Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edith Isabel Rodriguez was a victim of "Adhesion Related Disorder," just as IHRT suspected and predicted.
This prediction was something that no medical "professional" was able to predict, suspect and most disturbing to IHRT, was not able to diagnose properly!
This prediction was something that no medical "professional" was able to predict, suspect and most disturbing to IHRT, was not able to diagnose properly!
Edith presented to the ER a number of times over a short period of time, "was called a "frequent flyer" prescribed analgesics for pain, miss-diagnosed due to the lack of knowledge of ARD, and worse, lack of medical intervention, inhumane treatment and ultimately met her death lying on the floor in the waiting area of Martin Luther King Hospital in LA, with a janitor cleaning around her pain riddled body as loved ones and other patients watched in disbelief!
The sad truth is that hundreds, maybe thousands of persons afflicted with ARD are receiving this very same "lack of treatment" in ER's all over the USA....and if this med student web site is any indication of the caliber of "Dr.'s" who are going to fill these ER's, person afflicted with ARD face this same type of death without dignity or proper medical intervention, just as Edith did!
Read the Adhesion Quilt for stories very similar to Edith's as each person pleads for help from one of the most painful conditions imaginable. ARD patients can be "frequent flyers" to E.R.. It's actually a common phrase in an adhesion sufferer's story.
Not only was Edith's death a tragedy, it appears that her autopsy was just as "sloppy" and "crude" as her death at the hands of "medical professionals!" Her autopsy report is filled with errors and inconsistencies as the hands of those in the corner's office of LA who did the "investigation" & "autopsy!" Would this have happened if "Edith I. Rodriguez" was "Anna Nicole Smith?"
Edith Isabel Rodriguez seems to have been treated as a "Jane Doe" at the coroner's office.
.........Until you know what hit the fan.
BOTH these ladies seemed to have a history of drug taking, with "Anna Nicole Smith" appearing to be the worst of the two, both died young, and both were taking prescription medication at the time of their deaths..and that is where the similarities seem to end!
IHRT called it correctly, and NOT one medical person was able to do that, and we did it without the autopsy results! We will say that, "WE told you so!"
Edith Isabel Rodriguez "Adhesion Related Disorder"
Post-surgical intra-abdominal adhesions
Date of birth: 2/1/1964
Date of death: 5/9/2007
Place of death: Martin Lutheran King - LA
Pg. 1 Synopsis: History of "illicit narcotic" abuse" no mention of an "Iatrogenic" disorder!
Pg. 2 In dormant/witness statement: Diagnostic tests results - Negative for abnormal pathology
Autopsy exam:
Pg. 1 Anatomical summary: D - Lower abdominal and pelvic regions with adhesions.
Pg. 2 NO tracking from illicit drugs..(IHRT asks:"so just how bad was the "Illicit drug taking?")
Pg. 3 Evidence of "old surgery" scar at middle lower portion of the abdomen midline just under the umbilicus is vertically oriented and measures 7.5 inches. (Laporotomy)
Pg. 4 Prior Appendectomy - Extensive adhesions in the lower abdominal quadrant! (IHRT adds that THIS is a VERY painful condition!)
Edith's autopsy report states that she died after "collapsing in the ER" and "not being able to be resuscitated," no mention that Edith lay bleeding and withering in pain on the floor of the ER in full view of the ER staff!
Edith's autopsy reports gives her age as both 43 years of age, AND 53 years of age! Edith's autopsy report states that she did not have any bowel strangulation, but adhesions most certainly narrow the intestinal passages and constricts constipated stool!
One x-ray could have seen the mega colon and thus her life could have been saved.
Was she ignored because this E.R suspected she had adhesions and also needed emergency surgery.
Adhesions are usually a surgeons worst nightmare!
Adhesions are can be dangerous to lyse. Adhesiolysis can be very time consuming thus offers a medical facility no profits.
Most surgeons are pretty nervous about their medical malpractice rates.
IHRT suspects that many are turned away and discriminated against just for having prior surgeries or if the word adhesions is on any post op report.
IHRT says very possible!
IHRT says very possible!
Edith's autopsy report states her death was an "accidental!"
Edith Isabel Rodriguez is, sadly, a prime example of what persons afflicted with ARD face when seeking medical intervention for their pain and various symptoms!
Edith's death was NOT due to diabetes, hypertension, overweight, nor gender, race, being rich or poor, having a criminal record or not, drug addiction, being transient in nature, being a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a sister, an aunt, a person....Edith died because she had, "Adhesion Related Disorder" and this IS how persons afflicted with ARD are treated by medical "professionals" in Emergency Rooms all across the USA!
IHRT predicts that this treatment is not likely to get better after reading the comments by "medical students" in the following link! Non of the med students had a clue as to what might have caused Edith's symptoms, and why she presented so often to the ER, nor why all the diagnostic tests were "normal!" IHRT knew the answer to ALL of those answers, and they was right!
Many adhesion sufferers immediately thought, " Edith IS one of us I bet" and now we have obtained the horrible truth of the matter. The autopsy confirmed our worse fears,
Read "Edith's Autopsy " report for yourself!
Edith Isabel Rodriguez will save many lives we pray with her tragic posthumous story.
Adhesion sufferers should be forever armed at all times with our operative reports and Edith Rodriguez' autopsy report.
Firmly stand your ground.
You will be presenting to the likes of these medical professions in the future. Here is the link, "Student Doctor Network Forums"
LADoc00 writes:
"The lady was a drug addict and had warrants for her arrest. Why does anyone think this was unintentional?? Was she even a US citizen FFS? On the face of it, saving her would have been FAR more of a tragedy for America.LET THESE PEOPLE DIE. I cant stress this enough.I want to give MLK adminstrators a medal for this not my scorn.
__________________Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow."
Is he just kidding?? IHRT can't tell!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These are the facts, plain and simple..and this was "Manslaughter," plain and simple!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Sicko available for free
Michael Moore's latest has been leaked on the web. (via a reader tip)
Update:
Michael Moore is happy about the piracy of his movie and approves the downloads, leading some to believe he did it on purpose
Watch now on goggle video here is the link.
Click here
Approx. 2 hr 3 min.
As a chronically ill person I was shocked , I cried, was outraged, but in the end I was left with a sense of hope.
If you are uninsured, underinsured or fully insured, if you can't afford the meds or treatments suggested by your doctor, it is a must see film! You can't afford not to. Your insurance comapany would rather you did'nt!
Raves a Cannes!
Perhaps a movie that can change our world?
Watch it now, as I am surprised it is still online.
Wishing you good health.
If only ths film had been mainstreamed in time perhaps Edith Isabel Rodriguez would be alive today.
Update:
Michael Moore is happy about the piracy of his movie and approves the downloads, leading some to believe he did it on purpose
Watch now on goggle video here is the link.
Click here
Approx. 2 hr 3 min.
As a chronically ill person I was shocked , I cried, was outraged, but in the end I was left with a sense of hope.
If you are uninsured, underinsured or fully insured, if you can't afford the meds or treatments suggested by your doctor, it is a must see film! You can't afford not to. Your insurance comapany would rather you did'nt!
Raves a Cannes!
Perhaps a movie that can change our world?
Watch it now, as I am surprised it is still online.
Wishing you good health.
If only ths film had been mainstreamed in time perhaps Edith Isabel Rodriguez would be alive today.
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