Somewhere in May of 2000 I had my last treatment of chemo. We ran scans (CT and a nuclear scan called a Gallium scan) and everything looked copacetic. I played softball last summer (right field, darn it -- we had a great team and all the other positions were full -- I'm not so bad that they stuck me out there, I'm just a good outfielder).
The first exam came and went and things still looked great. I felt fine and everything was cool. It was great to finally go about my life feeling healthy again.
In January of 2000 I had finally hooked up with a malpractice lawyer. I was furious that I'd been going to my family doctor for at least two years with symptoms of Hodgkin's and that he'd just blown it. I got my medical records from him, telling him that my mom wanted me to move back home and that I should get the records before I left. Well, mom did want me to move back home, but I knew I wanted those documents to look into a malpractice suit.
Now, let me clarify things a bit. I don't believe is frivolous lawsuits. I think it's a waste of everyone's time and resources. It's a waste of energy better spent on getting well. However, I was going to have figure out a way to pay for the six days in the hospital, chemo, numerous tests, numerous blood samples, numerous doctor's visits. I had little money to begin with (I couldn't afford to get cable, remember?) and absolutely no health insurance. The hospital visit alone was $28,000. The hospital, being a Catholic hospital, surveyed my financial position and gave me a "scholarship" of sorts, knocking 75% of the cost of the bill off. But, I still had to come up with around $7000 for them. And they wanted it in full at the end of 90 days. The oncology bill including the chemo was around $20,000. Then there were the radiologists, surgeon for the biopsy, anesthesiologist, the labwork, and on and on and on.
I had to figure out some way to pay for this. And keep in mind that my doctor had without a doubt, messed up. I felt that it was an obvious case of missing a diagnosis.
So, I went to the ambulance-chaser and handed over my medical records. His nurse/legal aid agreed that the notes the doctor recorded in my charts were sketchy and not up to standards of care. The fact that he never took a blood sample bothered everyone from the lawyer to everyone I spoke with in the health care field. The fact that he kept giving me antibiotics without running any tests at all was also very concerning. So, the lawyer decided to research the case.
Now, over a year after my first visit to the lawyer, after declaring bankruptcy since I had no way to pay the bills and several places were about to sue me for payment (how they thought they were going to get money out of me, I'll never know), I just found out that the lawyer will not take the case.
In order to prove a malpractice suit, you not only have to prove that the doctor screwed up, but also that by screwing up, your probable outcome changed. The decision of the medical team who reviewed my case was that I was at a stage IIIb at diagnosis. They don't think that the doctor would have caught it at an earlier stage, given the notes in my file. Since they think he probably couldn't have reasonable diagnosed it before stage IIIb and that my probable outcome is good, his failure to catch it six months earlier didn't make my chance at survival any worse.
They did add, however, that his records were poorly done and showed a genuine lack of care and professionalism.
| These pages copyright 2001-2007 by Robin MacRorie. They cannot be reproduced in any form without explicit, prior written consent from the author. Feel free to link here if you like, though! | |
| The information contained in this site is the author's own experience. You should not attempt to diagnose yourself for any disease, especially if you think you have a serious illness. Consult with your doctor! | |
