Found out today one reason I`ve been so sick.

[swanicyouth]

Take his dumb ass to court. Hope you get well soon.

Well... Sometimes even medical professionals make mistakes. It's hard to say if this particular practitioner is negligent or just made an honest rare mistake. Unfortunately, when a Dr. Makes a mistake you can't just polish it away... It affects human beings....

But, a lot has to do with the relationship you have with the prescriber. I can tell you if no permanent harm was done and long term consequence weren't inflicted - attempting to go the legal route is a waste of time for everyone involved. You can't just drag a prescriber into court because they screwed up - you have to show it caused some loss on your part.

I think think the OP knows in his gut if this Dr made an honest mistake or is just a clown. Every medical practitioner is going to make a mistake at one point - as we are all human beings and mistakes are inevitable. To immediately go after that person legally and attempt to prevent them from making a living isn't always the best thing to do IMHO.

But, we live in a society were everyone just wants to sue. If you can make a dollar off of someone else's misfortune or mistake - "so be it" and "screw them" seems to be the prevailing attitude.

 

[Dr_Pain]

Goodness gracious Tim, I am sorry you are suffering through this and will make sure to have you in my prayers for a prompt and complete recovery.

I can't help but be sadness reading this thread. I wish I could offer a concise "cure all" statement for all to benefit from, but in trying to formulate my thoughts I know that if I start writing that it will be a 5 page discourse which will invariably skipped over by the majority. I can appreciate the strong feelings felt in the face of this major hiccup in Tim's life, but those feelings need to be balanced with reality.

The unfortunate reality is that man will try to intervene on God's creation using means which carry a lot of risks and can only be summed up in the careful evaluation of Risk vs. Reward. I am not saying to ditch those methods as they have proven time and time again to improve quality and quantity of life however you cannot go blindly accepting every possible option (emphasis on blindly). You need to test and try and adjust your methods (does the statement do a test spot ring a bell??) For all still reading, the fact that the most influential medical statement ever written was never written in any of our medical textbook should be cue enough. This statement can be found in a book that almost every household in the world have, not just found on the shelves at my office. Just turn to Luke 4:23 "....Physician, heal yourself!...". In other words, if you want to be healed than YOU need to be the physician (physician being the title given to the expert in the field of).

For those thinking that suing the doctor is the answer then you have never been involved in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The preponderance of evidence need to show without a doubt an intent to harm, and unfortunately lithium is probably one of the most longstanding method of treatment for psychiatric based disorder. There were also no expressed felonious negligence in Tim's treatment and no attempts to coerce or cover up. I've been involved in many litigation (as an expert witness) and I will tell you that no attorney or judge will mess with the medical community (who will end up treating them).... UNLESS the medical community reject the clinician , then and only then will he be fair game.

What is sad, and a sad reality we will have to deal with is the fact that medical care will be replaced by medical treatments (where the caring part will be replaced by robotic assessments and cookie cutter therapies based on the fact that you will be overworking and underpaying those clinicians). Why are we better than the detailers at the body shop? Because we care. Can they buff a car, yep.... but you can see the quality. This is what managed care did and this is what the ACA is doing.

Sorry for the thread hijack! Be well Tim and looking forward to you reporting a clean bill of health shortly

 

[runrun411]

Well... Sometimes even medical professionals make mistakes. It's hard to say if this particular practitioner is negligent or just made an honest rare mistake. Unfortunately, when a Dr. Makes a mistake you can't just polish it away... It affects human beings....

But, a lot has to do with the relationship you have with the prescriber. I can tell you if no permanent harm was done and long term consequence weren't inflicted - attempting to go the legal route is a waste of time for everyone involved. You can't just drag a prescriber into court because they screwed up - you have to show it caused some loss on your part.

I think think the OP knows in his gut if this Dr made an honest mistake or is just a clown. Every medical practitioner is going to make a mistake at one point - as we are all human beings and mistakes are inevitable. To immediately go after that person legally and attempt to prevent them from making a living isn't always the best thing to do IMHO.

But, we live in a society were everyone just wants to sue. If you can make a dollar off of someone else's misfortune or mistake - "so be it" and "screw them" seems to be the prevailing attitude.

Swanic, your statement is very true. IMO some professionals although human are in a situation that the only thing expected from them is perfection and to be 100 percent dead on right, exact and correct. This shouldn't be expected from anyone as like you said everyone is only human. However if it is found that a doctor or other medical professional has a history of these such errors or providing less than top notch care, they should be held accountable in every way. There are so many doctors who script medications without either doing a full evaluation or not really investigating patient charts or medical history. After all, this could be the difference between life or death.

 

[cardaddy]

:xyxthumbs:Wow Tim.... I really hate it that you've had to go through all this. Geeze, us old guys need to stick together brother, especially as we're getting fewer and farther between.

Not much I can say to help, but I do want to applaud Claude for his well thought out reply. :applause:

I know before my last surgery I literally felt like the world was ending. Quite often I didn't care one way or another if I woke up the next day. They had me on so much, for SO LONG that my main concern was whether or not my liver (and kidneys) would hold up long enough to get my back fixed. Without any of my doctors telling me to cut back, (in fact the surgeon added oxycodone ON TOP of more narcotics than they gave both my Mother and Father combined when they were dying from cancer [which I DID NOT take btw]...) the day I came home from the hospital I cut back the meds from 20+ a day to <5. Made me feel like total crap for over a week, but at least my liver is happy!

Now.... I still have the longstanding left side lumbar-SI, mid back, and neck pain.... and told the surgeon if he'd go back in and fix the left side lumbar pain that I'd end up being a new man. His reply.... take it up with your pain management doctor. Take more pain pills... SERIOUSLY??? Here I am taking less than I'd taken in years, weaned myself off of them, and their solution is just take more. (Unfortunately, today is one of those 'take more' days.)

In the meanwhile, our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. just keep up the positive thoughts, stay centered, and heal thyself. The mind is the most powerful drug we have.

 

[Durallymax]

Swanic, your statement is very true. IMO some professionals although human are in a situation that the only thing expected from them is perfection and to be 100 percent dead on right, exact and correct. This shouldn't be expected from anyone as like you said everyone is only human. However if it is found that a doctor or other medical professional has a history of these such errors or providing less than top notch care, they should be held accountable in every way. There are so many doctors who script medications without either doing a full evaluation or not really investigating patient charts or medical history. After all, this could be the difference between life or death.

x3. everyone is human but at the same time some Drs are better than others for different reasons. One may get 99% on all of the tests but be terrible in the field, the other may get 70% and barely get by yet be the best there is.

I can't stand people who want to sue everyone.

The fact not everyone is perfect or perfect in their own area is why some things require more opinions than one. The more heads working together the better (to an extent, washington would be an example of too many heads). Most hospital's do have "teams" for this reason. If you don't have a group or a different doctor, its sometimes a good idea to get another opinion if things are not getting better. Doesn't matter how good your doctor is or how much you like them, they can't know everything and sometimes a fresh look at you helps too.


Best of luck to the OP in this though.