Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in California

The following is a chronology of events related to a recent hospital visit in February 2010: I'm a 47 year old female, Live in California, healthy except for a history of Brain Anuerysms: The following is a breakdown of these events:

In December of 1998 I suffered a cerebral anuerysm to the third cranial nerve....The anuerysm did not rupture and my neurosurgeon performed a left sided craniotomy procedure on me, clipping that anuerysm....I healed well with no problems.

Eight years later:

The date was December 9 2006: I was working locally at a retailer/ on the sales floor...suddenly I felt the worst pain i'd ever experienced, deep down in the midst of my skull ....Minutes later I passed out on the floor in the break room at work...

At that time..I was taken by ambulance to XXXXXXXXX Medical Center, which is known as a trauma center . I'd fallen into a catatonic state and didn't come out of this until January 11 2007.

I'd experienced another anuerysm. instead of a normal craniotomy procedure (The "norm "or gold standard in treating anuerysms), it was deemed by my Neurosurgeoun , that a "coil" would be suitable in order to fix this latest anuerysm...the procedure literally means to coil the anuerysm with a fibersous platinum material thats inserted via a guided wire inserted into the groin thru the blood vessel up to the brain, where the coil is released and fills in or fills around the anuerysm. Its an option in treating anuerysms.

During the timeframe between Dec 9 2006 and January 11, 2007, a number of procedures were performed upon me in addiiton to the coiling. A shunt had to be inserted in my skull to drain the cerebral fluids that normally pump thru the system and brain, as evidently this wasn't happening on a natural basis...A tracheotomy had to be performed as well. When I awoke from the coma, I still had an open tracheotomy, and I also had a feeding tube inserted into my gut. To make a long story short, I awoke and I was basicly okay to the surprise of the doctors and staff. I went home to recover about a week later.

3 weeks into my recovery at home, I awoke in the morning on a saturday in literal screaming pain--from my stomach. Jason (My husband) took me back to XXXXXXXXXXX Medical Center.

It was decided that my shunt was infected...the shunt, although inserted into my head, had a tube attached to it that ran under the skin in my neck down into my stomach....the cerebral fluids would drain and recirculate this way...they treated the infection with antibiotics but they wern't doing the trick in fixing this latest problem...finally a the tube that had gone into my stomach was de-attached at the neck and the draining of my cerebral fluids would drain into a bag..(.Since the antibiotics were not killing the infection.)

the draining of the cerebral fluid could be literally watched with the naked eye now.. If The bag of fluid continualy filled up than that meant the shunt was doing its job and my body wasn't. If the fluid intake let up or got less, that was a good sign, meaning my natural functions were now working properly and the shunt could than be removed. The doctors didn't expect this, but fortune was on my side and the bag ceased filling up--meaning the shunt could get removed. .Surgery was performed to remove the shunt and all its mechinisms--I went home one week later.

On Feb 21, 2010, around 9PM, Jason and I were chatting in our garage....I thought about going into the house to lie down...I stood up and as I exited the garage the same intense pain that i'd expereinced back in December 2006 suddenly hit me again. This pain was so severe--..I made it outside of the garage and collapsed onto the pavement...I didn't pass out yet everything went black for some time..I broke my fall onto the pavement with my hands...Jason called 911, an ambulance took me back to XXXXXXX Medical Center...since thats where my neurosurgeon was.

I was in the intensive care unit of XXXXXXX Medical Center for a few days then I was moved to a regular room. No surgery had been performed , just scans of the brain,..My neurosurgeon said I had a subdural hematoma .. He said it was probably due to my fall when I collapsed outside of my garage on Feb. 21st..(..He didn't know I'd broken my fall and never hit my head. ) several scans were done , and each time the story seemed alittle different . They also claimed i'd had a " brain shift" (saying in effect that my brain had somehow shifted to one side a bit, again told "due to the fall"). this however evidently went back in place...one day it was alittle better (the hematoma) than the next, than again it was alittle worse I was told. . One doctor, a Neurolgist, even went so far as to say to me :"You've had 4 brain anuerysms--you're not met to die!" .

The strangest part though was when my Neurosurgeon told us that I could be released to go home and to come back in three weeks for followup care. Jason and I were incredulous. Jason asked again if he had heard the doctor correctly. He asked:" Let me get this straight--you're releasing her and you want her back in three weeks?" Yes, that was the answer. .

With that said, I was released from XXXXXXX Medical Center. That same afternoon Jason went back to Western Medical Center and got a CD/disk from the imaging dept. of the scans taken of my brain.

That evening I was admitted to &&&&&&&& Hospital.

They took me immediately, and more scans were done. The anuerysm appeared to be very large in size. We were told at &&&&&&&&&& that the size of the anuerysm was much too large to "coil" and that a standard craniotomy was necessary in order to repair this vessel. I did not have any newly formed anuerysms. The source of my medical problem was the same anuuerysm that had been coiled in 2006 at XXXXXXXX Medical Center.

I was a patieant at &&&&&&&&&& for 11 days, A craniotomy was performed on me on March 9, surgically repairing the anuerysm with titanium clips. I was released on March 12, 2010.

My recovery has gone very well. I have followup appointments scheduled with the new Neurosurgeon as welll as future imaging scans.

In closing:

Regarding XXXXXXXX Medical Center:

I've recently found out that the coiling of an anuerysm has a failure rating of %25 whereas a standard craniotimy procedure used to fix an anuerysm has a failure rating of %1....Also I've been told by my current doctors that I should've had a number of follow-up appointments with my former Nuerusurgeon complete with imaging scans in order to check on the progress of the coil. We were very surprised to learn of this---

I was never given any followup care and was never told I'd ever need followup care . Regarding the coil procedure itself: Never did anyone inform my husband (who ofcourse was the one to give the go-ahead regarding surgical procedures on me) that there was a pro/con situation in regard to which procedure should be performed on me or which procediure was the preferable method, what the risks of the coil was verses a craniotomy, etc. We simply had no clue that the coil could possibly fail.

I have since requested my entire medical record at XXXXXXXX Med, from February 21 thru February 28 2010. I've also requested my imaging scans from XXXXXXXXX Med for the date of December 9, 2006. I was told that i'd have my records within 5 days--Its now been 3 weeks , and they're still not ready.

Please let me know what your opinion is on this matter .

Thanks for you time,

47

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