Author Topic: Atleast they caught the guy..  (Read 2436 times)

Jango Fettish

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Atleast they caught the guy..
« on: August 12, 2003, 07:27 PM »


Do I cry, or laugh, or both?
« Last Edit: August 12, 2003, 07:45 PM by Cory H »

Offline Famine

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Re: Painful irony..
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2003, 07:32 PM »
Cross your legs and hope it doesnt happen to you.


Kevin
The picture kept, will remind me...

Offline Chris

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Re: Painful irony..
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2003, 07:35 PM »
Aug. 11 -- After 67-year-old Hurshell Ralls went into surgery for bladder cancer, he came out of surgery missing more than he ever expected. His penis and testicles were gone.
   
"My wife had to hold my hand in the bed there. And she said 'Honey it's over. They got all the cancer.' And she waited a few minutes and then said 'But they had to remove your penis.' And I was one mad dude, you know," Ralls said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.
   
Ralls, a mechanic, says doctors never warned him or his wife that amputation of the penis and testicles might have been part of surgery before he went in for the procedure in November 1999. Ralls filed a negligence lawsuit against the Clinics of North Texas in Wichita Falls, and the doctors who operated on him. The civil case is set for trial Aug. 25.    
   
"It was never even discussed. And I felt like he ought to have at least told us that this might be a possibility so that we could have talked it over even before he was admitted to the hospital," said Thelma Ralls, his wife. In a February deposition, Ralls' doctor said that he determined the cancer had spread to the penis while he was removing Ralls' bladder. Doctors did not send a tissue sample to the lab until after the surgery. A Dallas doctor who examined cell slides later found that Ralls did not have penile cancer.    
   
The Ralls' case may sound outrageous, but for cancer patients across the country, medical errors are something they — and many other hospital patients — face with alarming frequency.    
   
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reported in 2001 that 95 percent of doctors have witnessed a major medical mistake, and that many of them involved cancer. When Johns Hopkins reviewed tissue samples from thousands of cancer patients around the country, they found one out of every 71 cases was misdiagnosed.    
   
Both Breasts Removed, No Cancer

Frank Barerra is another cancer patient who was the victim of an error. He was actually in surgery, about to have his prostate removed, when a call came from the pathology department — there had been a mistake. His slides showed no cancer.    
   
"You can imagine — it was like waking up from a bad dream," Barerra said. "It never occurred to me that a pathology lab could just bungle a decision like that."    
   
Last January, Good Morning America interviewed Linda McDougal, who was misdiagnosed with breast cancer. McDougal was given a double mastectomy at the United Hospital of St. Paul, Minn., in May 2002. After the surgery, McDougal was told
that she actually had no signs of cancer.    

"My surgeon walked in and said that she had bad news, and she had no other way of telling us other than to put it on the table. And that I didn't have cancer," McDougal said. "And my immediate reaction was, great, you got it all. And then she said, you don't understand. You never had cancer. And it was instant shock. I couldn't even react to it."

When McDougal appeared on Good Morning America, the hospital that did the operation offered an apology. Dr. Laurel Krause, a senior pathologist at the hospital said that two patient slides at the hospital were inadvertently switched.    
   
"We deeply regret what happened, and wish we had made that clear at the time," Krause said. "At the time, Linda was very angry, and justifiably so."    
   
But to victims of medical errors, sometimes an apology can't make up for what they've lost.    
   
"I really felt like they played God and took it in their hands and decided to do it," Thelma Ralls said. "This is Hurshell's life, and my life. And to me they destroyed our sexual life."    
   
Understand Your Doctor    
   
Dr. Rache Simmons, a breast cancer surgeon with Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, said that there are steps that patients can take to protect themselves. First of all, patients should listen carefully to their doctors, and all of their options and recommendations. If you don't understand your doctor, get a new one, she advises.

"Part of being a good doctor is being able to communicate with your patients," Simmons said. "If you don't understand your doctor, and you've asked him or her to explain it again and your still don't get it, find another physician."    
   
Patients who are told they need surgery should also seek out a second opinion. It makes good sense, and almost all health plans will pay for it. If the opinions disagree, call your health plan and ask if they will pay for a third. If they won't go with your gut on whether to proceed with the surgery, Simmons said.    
   
Once the decision is made, all patients should bring a family member or friend to a pre-surgical appointment to write down information and ask questions.    
   
"I give out hand-outs and videos at my practice because, as a breast cancer surgeon, it's hard for anyone to be calm enough to take in all the information at the appointment," Simmons said.    
   
Ready for the Worst   
   
It is also important for patients to designate someone as their health care proxy before surgery, Simmons said. The patient-appointed proxy can carry out the patient's wishes while the patient is under anesthesia.    
   
Before going into surgery, patients sign a consent form, which they should read very carefully before signing. The form will describe exactly what the doctor is allowed to do, and whether a doctor will be allowed to proceed if more serious conditions are found.    
   
"It really boils down to a consent issue. So we as doctors can only do what's in the consent form," Simmons said.   
   
Another important document that patients should consider is a living will, which can protect a patient's rights and wishes while they are under anesthesia, in case the unexpected happens. Doctors need to know what they should do in terms of extraordinary life-saving measures.  


Copyright 2003 ABC News.  All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Offline BigDumbWookiee

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Re: Atleast they caught the guy..
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2003, 08:38 PM »
I read through that, but had to bust out laughing at this quote:

Quote
"I really felt like they played God and took it in their hands and decided to do it"

That is a very poor choice of words for the situation......

On the subject of medical mistakes:

A friend of our family had been in the hospital for about 8 months. He was very overweight, and because of it, suffered arterial blockage problems in his legs. He had surgery for it, and for the past 8 months, had been bed ridden, with specific instructions to keep his feet and legs off the bed because of the arterial blockage.

On Friday his wife and a nurse were in his room, and his wife commented on checking his feet, which the nurse seemed unaware. She pulled back the sheets, and commented "Oh look! His feet are looking much better", and they actually did. However, as she was saying this, she reached down and gently pressed on his foot to see if he had feeling in it. Her finger went all the way through. His feet and lower legs had completely rotted inside due to the severe arterial blockage. All that was left was a thin layer of dried skin. The plan was to operate and amputate both of his legs, but when he found out the news, his wife said he just simply gave up. He died Sunday morning.
"Of all the things to worry about, the wookiee has no pants..."

Offline Angry Ewok

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Re: Atleast they caught the guy..
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2003, 08:52 PM »
(shakes head)

I didn't finish reading... Oh god...  :'(

Offline Darth Kenobi

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Re: Atleast they caught the guy..
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2003, 08:59 PM »
The story on the medical mistake sucks but I a little confused about it.  Did the Doctors have to cut it off because it was infected and didn't tell the people or was it that they didn't need to cut it off and just did it for the heck of it.  As for the other story I'm glad they got that guy hopefully we can get the tech on aour planes to protect us from SAMS.  

On a side note for medical mistakes (not a big one) I was in a car accident a few years ago and ended up breaking my wrist/hand.  I went to the ER the night of the accident and got Xrays nothing was showing as broken, was told to go to the doctors in a couple of days and get another xray which showed nothing I guess.  I went back to work and my hand contiunied to hurt till I finally decided to go back to the doctors to see a specialist.  My accident was in May and I finally got my answer to why my hand was hurting so much in OCtober, my hand was broken.  I worked/lived with that for 6 months.

Offline Jimmy

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Re: Atleast they caught the guy..
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2003, 09:06 PM »
Scary and sad...

These people you depend on for your health...

Gotta love me or leave me alone....

Numero Uno LobotsDup fan

Offline JediMAC

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Re: Atleast they caught the guy..
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2003, 09:35 PM »
Weird.  I was just reading that story on AOL right before I logged in here.  Ugh.  Not good!  Hopefully he wins a fat chunk of change off the sneaky bastards!

So I guess this begs the question:  Would you rather die of cancer, but with your pecker still attached?  Or would you prefer to ditch both the cancer and your manhood forever?

I'd assume most folks would choose the latter (as I would), as horrific as it sounds.  Though I'm sure there's some big manly meatheads out there that would rather just kick the bucket with all their pieces still attached...

Offline dustrho

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Re: Atleast they caught the guy..
« Reply #8 on: August 12, 2003, 09:48 PM »
Cory, the worst thing is that you're still using AOL!   :o   :-*
dustrho

Jango Fettish

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Re: Atleast they caught the guy..
« Reply #9 on: August 12, 2003, 09:58 PM »
Nobody caught the "missle smuggler" part below it? I thought it was a little situational irony..

Offline Angry Ewok

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Re: Atleast they caught the guy..
« Reply #10 on: August 12, 2003, 10:00 PM »
Nobody caught the "missle smuggler" part below it? I thought it was a little situational irony..
I chose not to comment on that part, either.  ;D

Offline MisterPL

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Re: Atleast they caught the guy..
« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2003, 03:36 PM »
"FBI nabs missile smuggler"

I'd be flattered if the federal govenment classified my penis as a "missile."

"Warhead' would be cool, but "missile" isn't bad.

'Course it's certainly not something you'd want to fall into the wrong hands, but it seems that's how the story ended anyway. Yet another case of "when in doubt, cut it out" surgery.
Post sober.