At the ER - Bad Treatment!! Need Advice!

[becky.gale1]

hi There, I was at the ER today (after debating and thinking to myself "will a trip to ER really help me?" So I bit the bullet and took my stubborn self there after a week of excruciating pain), I have really bad rectal bleeding, and extreme abdominal pain due to Crohns, however, the doctors had no problem giving me pain medication in the hospital, but they did not admit me, they simply said here is some medication, go take care of yourself at home.

So I am home now, with prednisone, and no pain medication they did not listen to me or what my symptoms were, they gave me medication that i know will not help because this flare is so bad, and they refused to give me pain medication for home as well. So I am sitting here, clinging my gut, bleeding still, unable to eat, after spending 10 hours at the hospital. I want to take legal action for this... is this a legit reason to take those doctors to court? I live in Canada so it is free health care, but I honestly don't think this is right... I left there balling my eyes out I was so upset because of this..

Please let me know what you think... I'm stuck

 

[xmdmom]

Really sorry you had this bad experience and are feeling so awful. {{{Hugs}}}
I'm guessing the ER doctors didn't know what to do for you... They should have contacted your doctor. Most ERs are good for heart attacks, appendicitis, injuries but not very good with chronic medical issues. Can you reach your doctor (gi, internist) or the covering doctor?

 

[spencer2012]

hey, i live in the uk so its free health treatment too but thats no excuse for the way youve been treated. if you are suffering from an inflamation episode ore narrowing it could be vital to your condition that you recieve steroids I.V rather than oral as they are much stronger. preds will help once the episode starts to subside but i cant imagine without any investigation that preds would be ideal to start with. i dont know the laws of your country per say but surely thats neglectful. i mean, a quick abdominal xray or something to check the state of your digestive tract must be surely be in order. i personally would get straight back down and demand to be taken seriously. good luck

 

[afidz]

Does your GI have an answering service? Is your GI Aware if whats going on? Are you on any other meds? if you v can get in contact with your GI and voice your pain and concern with him he may instruct you to go back to the ER, and he might be able to call and give orders on what tests he wants done or if he wants to admit you. Like said above, ER's don't really know how to treat chronic illnesses without direction. Did they draw your blood? If they did how were your results?

 

[UnXmas]

I'm in the UK so things may be a little different, but I actually would not recommend going to court over this. In this country, there are set rules that doctors have to follow to - even if the outcome proves they've been wrong, as long as they did everything they were supposed to assess you, they've not done broken any rules. For example, a doctor may make a wrong diagnosis, but as long as his reasons for getting it wrong were sound, he's not been negligent. In your case, it would come down to whether you were assessed adequately.

I haven't ever been to court myself, but I know someone who did and, in this country at least, all doctors have to do defend themselves against a medical negligence claim is to get another doctor to say that he would have made the same decision or taken the same action. So if another doctor said that in the same circumstances they also see no need to admit the patient and no need for further immediate treatment, the ones you saw wouldn't be found to be negligent.

The ER is for emergencies, so if you were walking and talking and conscious, they might well have reason to say you were not a medical emergency, not in immediate danger, and therefore able to go home. Did they do anything to assess you? I know you said they didn't listen to your symptoms, but did they check your blood pressure or anything like that?

I'm not saying what happened to you is ok, and I'm very sorry they left you feeling so bad, but I just think, realistically, it would be more trouble than it's worth to go to court. You're in pain and your symptoms are making you miserable, but from their point of view, you're not in danger, and so should be getting treatment as an outpatient.

Perhaps it would be better to make a formal complaint, which wouldn't risk you losing out financially? The hospital should have an internal complaints procedure if you contact them or look on their website. I just think going to court would be an awful lot of stress with no guarantee that it will benefit you.

 

[spencer2012]

I guess we're kinda lucky here then. I only have to go to a & e to get admitted