Angela Sluder
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Ohio
On June 5 My fiancé was admitted to A hospital in Ohio, whole working out of state. He had a hole in his colon. Surgeon told us they were going to give him antibiotics for a couple days to see if it would heal itself. On June 7th they rushed him into surgery to repair his colon. All went well until June 12th, they rushed him into another surgery because he had a leak and an abscess on the incision on his colon. Surgeon told me that just before the second surgery, his bowles burst. They were able to re-staple his colon and remove abscess and fix the ruptured bowels. On June 14, he was rushed to the ICU due to not being able to breathe. He was sedated, intibated and a wound vac was applied to his wound,at that time. We were told he had an infection, was septic and had fluid around his lungs. On June 14 a band was put on his forehead to hold an oxygen monitor in place. (He has permanent discolored scars on his forehead from this).On June 19, a knot on the back of his head was discovered( along with two bed sores- one on his neck and one on his butt)by family members. Doctors performed a head ct and said it was old blood, approximately 6-7 days old and consistent with a fall. They said he had to have fallen before coming to the hospital, at which time, we reminded them that he had been at the hospital for two weeks. Doctors demeanor completely changed and said they would never know what happened. Every time we asked about the knot, we were told they didn't know. On June 22nd he pulled the tube out while sedated and also restrained. He was paranoid and delirious and we were told he had ICU paranoia. On June 23, were were told he was being moved out of the ICU. After he was moved his paranoia got worse and he was refusing pain meds, anxiety meds, everything. His wound vac was malfunctioning so the nurses changed it. A couple hours later he kept saying that something in his stomach was popping. After the third time the nurse finally took him serious and discovered the wound vac was suctioning his intestines from his stomach. They rushed him back to icu, once again sedated him, intibated him and rushed him into surgery. Before going into surgery the surgeon angrily asked who authorized him being moved out of the ICU because he was not consulted. This is when I seriously started questioning the surgeon and told him that he needed to find out who authorized it. When out of surgery, the surgeon was no longer angry, and said he fully supported the ICU team decision to move him. Early the next morning on June 24, his family made phone calls to the hospital with many many concerns about Ians care. When family arrived at the hospital at 10am the ICU doctor was on the phone with the surgeon at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Our transfer was approved (after being told they couldn't transfer us for a week straight). While the Medvac team was preparing him for his flight, i overheard a nurse tell the Medvac nurse that Ian has ARDS. Which were were never told about. The nurse said, huh I didn't know that u didn't know and walked away. Ians pillow had fluid all over it and family was told it was from the bed sore on his neck.After being transferred to Henry Ford Detroit, the new surgeon said that he didn't like what he saw and couldn't believe they tried fixing the leak in his colon. He stayed that they should have known better and he should have been given an ostomy bag.Which is what they ended up doing. His stomach was completely opened at this time to help heal.Two days later on June 26, Ian was awake and intubation removed. A huge pressure wound was found on the back of his head exactly where the huge knot was and the knot was gone. On June 1, he had another surgery doing a skin graft over his exposed stomach. On July 10 Ian was moved to a rehabilitation facility to help him learn to walk again. On July 18 Ian was release to go home. He has a wound care nurse, a social worker and a physical therapist come during the week. He has complete numbness on the back of his head, which the doctor said he may never get feeling back, and has trouble being on his feet for long periods of time because his legs and ankles are very weak, his doctor will not close his stomach up or reverse the ostomy bag until July 2020. Ian is a window installer (his whole life) and cannot return to his work until his stomach is fixed. His pressure wounds are almost healed but he has a bald spot in the back of his head along with two big scars, one on his neck and one on the back of his head. He also has nerve damage on the back of his head where the wound was and is in constant pain where the knot was on his head. He is having trouble sleeping as well because of the pain from where the knot was. Do we have a legal case? If so, we could use some direction.
