Re: Malpractice/Negligence?

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On 3/30/06, Jerry wrote:
> In my previous post I wrote of my father's experience in
the hospital after his stroke. I didn't get to see his
doctor until he had been in the hospital two days. Perhaps
about a year or so ago my father began treatment for atrial
fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat. He was put on a
medication to keep the heartbeat from getting to high, but
that was it. NOW his doctor says as long as he had the AF
there was a danger of a blood clot and stroke. My father was
never told that. I know that, because I took him in for his
doctor visits and went in with him so I'd know what the
doctor said. Now the doctor says he could have put my father
on a blood thinner, Cudomin(sp?), but he knew my father
didn't like to take pills, and that he would need a blood
test every 10 days, so he never brough it up. Seems the
doctor should have told him about Cudomin and what it was
for and left it to my father to decide whether or not he
wanted to take it and get the tests. Also, the doctor now
says my father should have had a pacemaker put in to help
control the heartbeat. Shouldn't he have told my father that
BEFORE he had the stroke? It sure didn't do much good after.

Jerry, yes, people atrial fib are more likely to form clots
that cause a stroke because the blood isn't pumped as well
from the heart. And a pacemaker would get rid of that and
the risk of further clots, if that is what caused you
father's stroke. Since it's darn near impossible to tell
exactly what the origin of the stroke is, (if it was caused
by a clot the clot could have come from somewhere else like
his leg) it would be pretty much impossible to say with a
degree of medical certainty that the atrial fib did it. But
the Coumadin issue was probably one of professional
judgment. Coumadin is warfarin, the main ingredient in rat
poison. so you can see, it is not just a harmless little
pill, there are very real risks involved in treating with
it. If the doctor knows your father well and did not
believe that he would be compliant with the regimine of
taking the medication the way it needs to be taken and
monitoring his blood clotting time at least evey couple of
weeks then the doctor may have felt that the risks of the
medication outweighed the benefits for your father. Hope
he's doing well now.