Questions for Doctors
December 12, 2008 1:53 PM Subscribe
How to get some candid answers from the medical staff?
My wife and I have some questions for the doctors and nurses we encountered while going through a recent high risk pregnancy. We would like to know why certain actions were or were not taken. We suspect more could have been done and communication between the doctors, the specialists, and nurses could have been better, and that the outcome could have been different. My wife started to question her OB/GYN at a follow-up appointment, but the doctor seemed to get defensive and said "we did nothing medically wrong". What would be the best way to get some of our questions answered?
Here are some examples:
Why was the Doppler ultrasound not used to determine if there where knots in the umbilical cords?
Why were we not told that one of the babies had mild to moderate heartbeat decelerations at a previous appointment?
Why did it take four hours to get an ultrasound when heartbeats were not detected with fetal monitoring?
Did the specialists actually know we went inpatient?
Did the antepartum nurses have familiarity with our case and condition?
My wife and I have some questions for the doctors and nurses we encountered while going through a recent high risk pregnancy. We would like to know why certain actions were or were not taken. We suspect more could have been done and communication between the doctors, the specialists, and nurses could have been better, and that the outcome could have been different. My wife started to question her OB/GYN at a follow-up appointment, but the doctor seemed to get defensive and said "we did nothing medically wrong". What would be the best way to get some of our questions answered?
Here are some examples:
Why was the Doppler ultrasound not used to determine if there where knots in the umbilical cords?
Why were we not told that one of the babies had mild to moderate heartbeat decelerations at a previous appointment?
Why did it take four hours to get an ultrasound when heartbeats were not detected with fetal monitoring?
Did the specialists actually know we went inpatient?
Did the antepartum nurses have familiarity with our case and condition?
Yeah, seconding that advice. It sounds a little like they're batmobiling. You might also try to run the particulars by another doc.
posted by jquinby at 2:09 PM on December 12, 2008
posted by jquinby at 2:09 PM on December 12, 2008
Are you looking for answers for your own personal well being, or for retribution? If its the prior, perhaps you need to share that with the doctor. If its the later; follow the advice above.
posted by SirStan at 2:17 PM on December 12, 2008
posted by SirStan at 2:17 PM on December 12, 2008
Ask to register a concern regarding your care with the hospital's Quality department. Most reasonable size hospitals will work with you, though the results of certain Medical reviews may not be directly shared. Still, it's an easy (for you) path to pursue getting some answers regarding the questions you raise.
posted by cameradv at 2:20 PM on December 12, 2008
posted by cameradv at 2:20 PM on December 12, 2008
In my experience, even if you do get more of an explanation/ justification of the actions or lack thereof of medical personnel, you will likely never get any admission of incompetence, systemic failure, poor choices etc... I, too, would discuss with an attorney... I feel for your difficulty...
posted by hellboundforcheddar at 2:35 PM on December 12, 2008
posted by hellboundforcheddar at 2:35 PM on December 12, 2008
Certain things aren't necessarily specifically looked for (eg, knots) in such a way that they're going to go, 'ok we are looking for knots' but they are supposed to go through things and make sure they are within the parameters of normal. 'Normal' is usually a range.
Go through the hospital and question the quality of care. There are managers and departments for this which will vary based on your hospital and your country. But please understand that right now you may not be thinking too logically. Sometimes nature tricks science, and not everything can be prevented.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 2:43 PM on December 12, 2008
Go through the hospital and question the quality of care. There are managers and departments for this which will vary based on your hospital and your country. But please understand that right now you may not be thinking too logically. Sometimes nature tricks science, and not everything can be prevented.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 2:43 PM on December 12, 2008
There is nothing in your question that suggests you are looking for retribution. You may want to consult a lawyer, but if your next step is a letter from a lawyer to the doctor or the hospital, they will circle the wagons and you won't get anything else out of the facility until the legal activity plays itself out. Unfortunately, this may be what it takes to get the information you need. But at this point, all you want are answers and a softer touch may still get the job done.
When there is grieving over an adverse outcome (whatever it may be) getting your questions answered is a really important part of coming to terms and moving on. Unfortunately, your experience is pretty common and if the goal is not to get sued, getting defensive, though understandable, is *exactly* not what patients want to hear and just further makes them feel uncared for. I don't know exactly how to approach the doctor, but it really emphasizes the importance of picking a doctor you trust, to whom you can speak with openly. Is that relationship permanently broken at this point?
You may have more luck with the hospital's risk management department or the hospital's patient advocate. I am sure they are *all over* this , whatever it is that happened. I would be really upfront that you are not thinking of suing (if that is in fact where you are mentally right now) but you don't understand what happened and you just really need answers to help cope with things. I also have to say, it would be a pretty progressive organization that would welcome you with open arms.
I'm sorry your doctor let you down. People don't expect us to be perfect but they do expect us not to be jerks.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 5:06 PM on December 12, 2008 [1 favorite]
When there is grieving over an adverse outcome (whatever it may be) getting your questions answered is a really important part of coming to terms and moving on. Unfortunately, your experience is pretty common and if the goal is not to get sued, getting defensive, though understandable, is *exactly* not what patients want to hear and just further makes them feel uncared for. I don't know exactly how to approach the doctor, but it really emphasizes the importance of picking a doctor you trust, to whom you can speak with openly. Is that relationship permanently broken at this point?
You may have more luck with the hospital's risk management department or the hospital's patient advocate. I am sure they are *all over* this , whatever it is that happened. I would be really upfront that you are not thinking of suing (if that is in fact where you are mentally right now) but you don't understand what happened and you just really need answers to help cope with things. I also have to say, it would be a pretty progressive organization that would welcome you with open arms.
I'm sorry your doctor let you down. People don't expect us to be perfect but they do expect us not to be jerks.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 5:06 PM on December 12, 2008 [1 favorite]
Some centers may have specially trained nurses/social workers/genetic counselors who can meet with you to review medical records, answer your questions and give feedback to the admin/staff, if necessary. These personnel usually also have the psychosocial training to offer short-term, goal-oriented counseling -which may also be useful if "the outcome could have been different."
posted by beaning at 5:30 PM on December 12, 2008
posted by beaning at 5:30 PM on December 12, 2008
You can always just request a full copy of your record, though likely there will be nothing in it that will illuminate your questions.
In all likelihood the only accurate answer to some of your questions would be along the lines of "You're right, we could have done x sooner", etc. Not sure if that would help you feel better. A successful delivery is very much like landing an aircraft, I would imagine. A hundred things need to go right, some of which are in your control and some not. It's really, really tempting to look back and imagine things could have been done differently, but your essentially asking the physician, in some cases, to recreate in their minds the exact state they were in at the time they made a judgement call.
It would help to know more specific elements of your case, as that would help address to what extent your doctors might consider a more cogent reply to your questions.
posted by docpops at 9:12 PM on December 12, 2008
In all likelihood the only accurate answer to some of your questions would be along the lines of "You're right, we could have done x sooner", etc. Not sure if that would help you feel better. A successful delivery is very much like landing an aircraft, I would imagine. A hundred things need to go right, some of which are in your control and some not. It's really, really tempting to look back and imagine things could have been done differently, but your essentially asking the physician, in some cases, to recreate in their minds the exact state they were in at the time they made a judgement call.
It would help to know more specific elements of your case, as that would help address to what extent your doctors might consider a more cogent reply to your questions.
posted by docpops at 9:12 PM on December 12, 2008
I suspect that you don’t want candid answers because you already received one from your physician. Though I don’t know the specifics of your situation, grief counseling may be the next step.
posted by rotifer at 4:17 AM on December 13, 2008
posted by rotifer at 4:17 AM on December 13, 2008
If it's Kaiser you're dealing with, I think they have someone called the "obmudsman" that you could talk to.
posted by salvia at 11:13 AM on December 13, 2008
posted by salvia at 11:13 AM on December 13, 2008
Whoops, bad spelling, the "ombudsman" may be who you're looking for.
posted by salvia at 11:14 AM on December 13, 2008
posted by salvia at 11:14 AM on December 13, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by lockestockbarrel at 1:55 PM on December 12, 2008