What exactly did my mother-in-law go through during those few hours in the operating room? Was that interventional procedure a success or a failure? For nearly a year, Ms. Wang has been trying to figure out why her mother-in-law became unconscious and vegetative after the "successful" interventional operation, but neither the hospital nor the National Health Commission got the answer she wanted.
Narrator: After the "successful" interventional operation, the cerebral hemorrhage was followed by craniotomy, and the 65-year-old woman became a vegetative state
The originally happy home fell into trouble because of the sudden illness of an old man.
Ms. Wang and her husband, Mr. Chen, are from Weifang City, Shandong Province, and both work in Shanghai, while Ms. Wang's parents-in-law are both cycling enthusiasts who can easily ride dozens of kilometers in a single day.
Ms. Han used to be a cycling enthusiast Photo courtesy of the interviewee
The incident dates back to July 13, 2023. Ms. Wang said that her mother-in-law, Ms. Han, suddenly felt a headache that day. "Because they are usually in good health, they didn't pay much attention at first, but the next day it didn't remission," Ms. Wang said, adding that the next day, Ms. Han went to a nearby community hospital accompanied by her husband, and the CT scan showed a little cerebrovascular hemorrhage, and she was hospitalized at that time. After 7 days, the headache disappeared completely, and in order to consolidate the effect, Ms. Han stayed in the hospital for a period of time, adding up to a total of 12 days. When Ms. Han was discharged from the hospital, she had another CT done, and the results showed that the previous bleeding point had been completely absorbed.
Ms. Wang recalled that her father-in-law and mother-in-law told her and her husband a few days after they were about to be discharged from the hospital, and she found that her mother-in-law's CT results of "subarachnoid hemorrhage" were likely caused by a ruptured aneurysm, so she decided to go back to her hometown to take the elderly for further examination, and if the examination confirmed that she had an aneurysm, she would consider going to a better hospital in Shanghai for treatment.
Ms. Wang said that after she returned, she immediately set out to find an expert, and soon her friend introduced Director Wang of the Sixth Department of Shenfang Surgery of Weifang People's Hospital. "I also consulted other doctors, saying that as long as the situation of my mother-in-law is not so urgent, as long as it is not strenuous activity." Ms. Wang said that it was also a lot of work before her mother-in-law agreed to do further testing. So, Ms. Wang first called Director Wang, thinking that she would have to make an appointment and wait for a long time, but Director Wang said that there happened to be a bed and she could be admitted to the hospital the next day.
"At that time, Director Wang specifically said the treatment plan after admission, blood test on the first day, imaging on the second day, to determine whether there is an aneurysm, if there is any, you can arrange surgery, and you can be discharged from the hospital three days after the operation." Ms. Wang said the experts' statements dispelled many of her concerns.
On July 27, Ms. Wang took her mother-in-law directly to the Sixth Department of Shenfang People's Hospital for admission as agreed. After communicating with other doctors, Director Wang of the department told Ms. Wang that they usually do imaging and surgery together, and that minimally invasive surgery can be done on the same day, and the operation only takes two or three hours, and the old lady can continue to ride after being discharged from the hospital.
At 11:30 a.m. that day, Ms. Wang signed several documents such as the informed consent form and risk notification form for surgery, and at 13:35 p.m. that day, Ms. Han was pushed into the operating room. "At about 3 o'clock, the operating room staff called me over and said that my mother had two aneurysms in her brain, and she couldn't see the bleeding point, so she couldn't tell which one bleed last time, but she had to deal with them all, and she needed to increase the cost." After that, Ms. Wang said, they entered a long wait outside the operating room, until about 8 p.m., when Ms. Wang and her father-in-law finally heard the notice telling them to pick up the patient.
"But when we received someone, it didn't feel right," Ms. Wang said, when she noticed that her mother-in-law, Ms. Han, had a trachea, her face was bloodless, and she didn't react at all. She asked the two medical staff why they looked like this, but the other party nervously said that the operation was quite successful, which caused her to wonder even more.
After entering the ward, Ms. Han still did not wake up, and the ward nurse put her on a ventilator, and the doctor frequently came to check her eyelids. Ten minutes later, the doctor said that it was recommended to do a brain CT for the old man, "suspected of cerebral hemorrhage". Ms. Wang said that upon examination, Ms. Han had a 50-milliliter oversized hematoma in her head. Because of the heavy bleeding, Ms. Han underwent an emergency craniotomy at around 9:50 p.m. that night, and returned to the ward at 3 a.m. after the operation. "My mom hasn't woken up since, and she's in a vegetative state." Ms. Wang said that on the same day, she took out the film and asked an acquaintance in the industry to analyze it, and the acquaintance thought that the blood in the blood bag was not all fresh, and it should have been bleeding during the operation.
Question: why did the "successful" operation bleed again, and what happened to the elderly man in the past 7 hours of surgery
"Did the doctor know during the operation that my mom was bleeding? If not, it must be their mistake; If you know that you don't deal with it, it's even more unreasonable. Ms. Wang and her family have been asking this question for a long time.
"The medical records show that my mother-in-law was given anticoagulant drugs that need to be taken for stents before she entered the operating room." Ms. Wang said that after the incident, she consulted professionals from relevant departments of the hospital about the practices of the doctors at the hospital, and received replies that the doctors at the hospital had problems with their practices.
Ms. Wang said that she later negotiated with the doctor in question several times, and the hospital's statements were full of contradictions. "I communicated with them once on July 30, 2023," Ms. Wang said, when she asked why there was bleeding, Director Wang said that it may be that there was a hematoma when she came, and it may be a rupture, but then admitted that there was no bleeding point from the previous examination documents of the community hospital. Later, the director said that it may be related to the anticoagulant drugs taken during the operation, and said that the intervention requires medication. Director Wang said that he went to other surgeries after this operation and did not know about the bleeding.
Ms. Wang said that in her negotiations with the hospital, she learned that her mother-in-law's surgery was actually completed at around 6 o'clock, "As for the next two hours, Director Wang said that she was awake from anesthesia." Ms. Wang said that she had communicated with the anesthesiologist many times after that, "The anesthesiologist told me that according to the normal situation, the anesthetic drug should have been metabolized a long time ago." So my mother-in-law stayed unconscious because of a brain injury during the surgery. ”
Ms. Wang questioned that the most unacceptable thing for her and her family was that the person had bleeding during the interventional operation, was it due to the improper use of anticoagulants or the bleeding caused by the operation? And why didn't he deal with such a serious situation in time, but called the family to pick up the patient back to the ward at 8 o'clock in the evening, and said that the operation was successful?
"Later, I reported the situation to the relevant departments, and the hospital also sealed the medical records according to the regulations. However, Ms. Wang believed that there was a problem in the process of sealing the case, and before the first sealing, she asked the hospital if it was complete, and the other party confirmed, but Ms. Wang found that there were no anesthesia-related documents in it, so she had to carry out the second sealing.
Ms. Wang said that she also found that she had signed several documents such as the informed consent form and the risk notification form on the tablet provided by the medical staff before the operation, and one of them agreed on the option of interventional surgery, and the alternative plan when signing at that time was craniotomy, but the alternative shown in the documents provided by the hospital was conservative treatment, "which means that we chose the interventional treatment with greater risk on our own." The main thing is that there is no my signature on this one, and it should have disappeared as soon as I changed the content on the tablet. ”
Rights protection: The identification of medical malpractice that cannot be carried out, and the rights protection that has fallen into a dead end
According to Ms. Wang, in addition to reporting contact with the doctors concerned in the hospital and the relevant doctor-patient coordination department, she also reported to the Weifang Municipal Health Commission and the local 12345 that "our patient's family hopes that the relevant departments will investigate whether there are problems in the surgical process and whether the hospital has tampered with the medical records." "But in the past year, there has been little progress in defending their rights.
"They all said I should do a medical evaluation, and I knew I should do it, but I couldn't do it." Ms. Wang said that she had consulted with a professional lawyer, and that the main basis for the medical evaluation was the medical record, which should objectively reflect the patient's treatment and surgery at the hospital involved, otherwise the appraisal agency would not accept the evaluation. Even if it is identified, what conclusions can be drawn based on tampered or untrue medical records?
Ms. Wang said that for this reason, they also applied to the Health Commission to investigate the relevant personnel of the hospital, "but the Health Commission replied to me that they could only learn about the situation from the hospital leaders, and did not have the authority to directly investigate the person concerned." ”
Ms. Wang said that at present, her mother-in-law in a vegetative state still lives in this department, and in addition to the 65,000 yuan paid by Ms. Wang for her mother-in-law when she was admitted to the hospital, she already owes hundreds of thousands of yuan in medical expenses.
The doctor involved, Director Wang (right), and his assistant inspect Ms. Han's situation Photo provided by the interviewee
Ms. Wang's father-in-law has been in the hospital for nearly a year, losing the spirit of the previous cyclist, and recording the bits and pieces of his wife after lying down in a diary every day.
Response: The hospital refused to be interviewed, and the Health Commission said it had intervened and informed the patient's family of various ways to protect their rights
In this regard, a reporter from Huashang Daily Gale News contacted the person in charge of the customer service department of Weifang People's Hospital, surnamed Zhang, who refused to be interviewed.
"This is a medical dispute, and there is a legal way to deal with medical disputes." A person in charge of the medical administration department of the Weifang Municipal Health Commission said that if the patient feels that there is a fault in the diagnosis and treatment, the responsibility can be clarified through medical appraisal, or it can be resolved through negotiation, and the doctor and patient sit down to negotiate. "It can also be handled through the People's Mediation Committee for Medical Disputes, and there are other ways stipulated by laws and regulations."
If there is a suspicion that there is a problem with the medical records provided by the hospital or that the doctor has violated the law in the course of practice, he can file an application for investigation with the health supervision institute and investigate these through legal channels. The person in charge stressed that these legal avenues have been informed to the family of the affected party before.
Huashang Daily Gale News reporter He Nan editor Li Zhi
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