Ram Hospital - a torrid tale.

[Thailand]

A friend who is in his late eighties had an operation scheduled at Ram this evening, he and his wife had prepared accordingly and he was in acceptance mode and ready to get it done.

 

They are regulars at Ram who have all his medical records.He was referred by his regular doctor at Ram to the surgeon who would perform the operation. Subsequently, last week they consulted with the surgeon who basically said he would do it today but go to the nurses who would explain the procedures and costs etc. Whilst consulting with the surgeon and based on previous experiences the wife asks if it was OK to perform the operation whilst her husband was taking various medications, in her words, she was told it was OK and basically dismissed and again referred to the nurses.

 

Yesterday they get a call from Ram asking the wife if her husband was still on a particular medication, note they have his records, she confirmed that he was. A subsequent call from the hospital tells the wife that the operation is now postponed as he had to have stopped the medication at least one week prior to the operation.

 

You can imagine what words were exchanged and of course the patient is totally pissed off and very angry and will now be seeking alternatives. 

 

I guess the only saving grace is that he was not on the operating table before they discovered their incompetence. From the info I have from the wife is that the nurses were exemplary and she and her husband put the blame firmly on the surgeon who's attitude was to say at the least poor and dismissive and at the worse dangerous.

 

Note, this is their side of the story but there seems to be little room for any hospital version to be much different. Somebody cocked up and there does not appear to be too many candidates.

 

They just want to move on to a new venue and get the operation done but should they be making any noise about this?

 

What do you think? 

 

 

 

[amexpat]

23 minutes ago, Thailand said:

nurses were exemplary and she and her husband put the blame firmly on the surgeon

 

Agreed.  My question is how much control do hospitals have over a surgeon?  If he errs repeatedly they can deny him access but how does the hospital prevent occasional screw ups like this?  

[Dante99]

Get all the medical records from Ram, might take a day after requested.  No cost.  Go to Sripat.

 

Alternatively go back to the doctor that referred him to the surgeon and ask for a second referral, preferrably at Sripat.

 

It would be a waste of time to try to make an issue of it at Ram, the doctor would just say the patient did not understand or failed to provide the necessary information.

 

Be thankful that the operation did not proceed.

 

A blod thinner issue?  

Edited September 16, 2016 by Dante99

[evenstevens]

Another   second hand source of Anti  Ram Hospital services and procedures  on T.V.

prefer to get it from the horse,s mouth

Who,s Next ???

 

 

[JingerBen]

Agreed.

CM Ram is one of the best hospitals in Chiang Mai.

[Thailand]

9 minutes ago, evenstevens said:

Another   second hand source of Anti  Ram Hospital services and procedures  on T.V.

prefer to get it from the horse,s mouth

Who,s Next ???

 

 

You really are a piece of work aren't you?

 

The horses mouth is unable to recount what happened as he is incapable of typing and his wifes English is not up to scratch so I posted on their behalf exactly what they recounted to me.

 

I really don't care what you think but you are starting to become a real pest.

 

Please leave responses to those who can actually contribute.

[Thailand]

11 minutes ago, JingerBen said:

Agreed.

CM Ram is one of the best hospitals in Chiang Mai.

So you did not read the initial post just jumping in with

 

48 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

Get all the medical records from Ram, might take a day after requested.  No cost.  Go to Sripat.

 

Alternatively go back to the doctor that referred him to the surgeon and ask for a second referral, preferrably at Sripat.

 

It would be a waste of time to try to make an issue of it at Ram, the doctor would just say the patient did not understand or failed to provide the necessary information.

 

Be thankful that the operation did not proceed.

 

A blod thinner issue?  

 

Thank you for actually reading the post as opposed to Jinger Ben and  your contribution is much appreciated.

 

Yes, a blood thinner issue.

[pgrahmm]

Baby aspirin & most will say a week to two weeks wait once stopped....

 

I started taking every other day....Figured it would still benefit & leave immediate avenues open should there be a problem.....

 

Had a former teammate die after hitting his head in a fall - they couldn't stop the bleeding on the brain.....Plus my Mom (thinners) & Daughter - no thinners....

[Johpa]

Sounds not uncommon if you are use to dealing with seniors, like my parents in their late 80s, who take medicines prescribed by multiple doctors for multiple conditions.  Often a surgeon does not look at the details of the chart until they make final plans for the surgery.  Good thing they caught the contrary indication to surgery.  A slight delay is no reason to get your panties twisted in a bunch.  And "torrid"...really?!?

[Thailand]

24 minutes ago, Johpa said:

Sounds not uncommon if you are use to dealing with seniors, like my parents in their late 80s, who take medicines prescribed by multiple doctors for multiple conditions.  Often a surgeon does not look at the details of the chart until they make final plans for the surgery.  Good thing they caught the contrary indication to surgery.  A slight delay is no reason to get your panties twisted in a bunch.  And "torrid"...really?!?

Torrid, I would think so,certainly from my friends perspective his age and expectations, highly traumatic I would think and not going to help his condition that was to be treated tonight which is one of a few, he did not need this delay.

 

But as mentioned, could have been a lot worse. But not to lose sight of the fact they have used Ram for some time and the instant reaction from both is to look elsewhere although I tend to go with a previous poster

who suggested having his usual doctor consider recommending another surgeon.

 

Some interesting definitions and uses of torrid, love the one from "Halt and catch fire" so maybe not quite the right word. 

Edited September 16, 2016 by Thailand

[NancyL]

While this is an annoyance and unprofessional on the part of the doctor, it was an life-threatening event and your friend and his wife have to weigh the "cost" of starting over again with a new doctor vs. staying with the one who clearly didn't think to look at your friend's list of medications several week's in advance.  

 

Personally, I'd be somewhat concerned, because it's fairly common for people in their eighties to be on blood thinners, baby aspirin and other meds that should be stopped a week or two before surgery or even something that seems as benign as a colonoscopy.  The doctor should have known better, but there's no point in "complaining" to anyone "in authority" at CM Ram about this.  It won't change anything about the doctor's future actions.  The good news is that the issue was caught in time.  I wonder who was responsible?  The doctor or perhaps a nurse reviewing his history.  You'd be surprised how often it's a nurse who catches something like this and quietly brings it to the attention of the doctor.  

[Thailand]

11 minutes ago, NancyL said:

While this is an annoyance and unprofessional on the part of the doctor, it was an life-threatening event and your friend and his wife have to weigh the "cost" of starting over again with a new doctor vs. staying with the one who clearly didn't think to look at your friend's list of medications several week's in advance.  

 

Personally, I'd be somewhat concerned, because it's fairly common for people in their eighties to be on blood thinners, baby aspirin and other meds that should be stopped a week or two before surgery or even something that seems as benign as a colonoscopy.  The doctor should have known better, but there's no point in "complaining" to anyone "in authority" at CM Ram about this.  It won't change anything about the doctor's future actions.  The good news is that the issue was caught in time.  I wonder who was responsible?  The doctor or perhaps a nurse reviewing his history.  You'd be surprised how often it's a nurse who catches something like this and quietly brings it to the attention of the doctor.  

 

 

In the opinion of the wife it was probably the nurse who first called yesterday who had picked up on it so you are spot on.

 

As I said in the initial post they simply want to move on but it serves as a warning that things could go badly wrong for a simple oversight of what should be a standard procedure when arranging surgery, no excuse really.

 

Hopefully the cancelled operating theatre may be used to save a life tonight.

[amexpat]

2 minutes ago, Thailand said:

Hopefully the cancelled operating theatre may be used to save a life tonight.

 

What a beautiful thought, Thailand.

[chiang mai]

It reads in such a way as to suggest there may be a shared responsibility in some respects and I suppose the way the question was put to the nurse is a part of the problem. As someone who also takes blood thinners the very fact that I do so is one of the very first things I tell staff in a medical situation. It is not a case of "is it OK' it;s a case of saying look, I take blood thinners, do I stop seven days or ten days beforehand. It's not a maybe or even a negotiable thing, the patient has to to stop taking them and that's all there is to it.

 

BTW I don't mean to move blame from the hospital or its staff, they should have done more and known better. It's just that the patient could have done more also I feel.

Edited September 16, 2016 by chiang mai

[Dante99]

2 hours ago, evenstevens said:

Another   second hand source of Anti  Ram Hospital services and procedures  on T.V.

prefer to get it from the horse,s mouth

Who,s Next ???

 

 

ES the horse

 

Horses mouth or horses arse?

 

 

 

 

 

[Scott]

Name and shame topic not allowed.

 

//CLOSED//