Then you would be making assumptions that would not be consistent with my experience.
The number of people who don’t understand their diabetic management and don’t want to, or did until they had the accident that requires a surgical repair of their tib/fib, or did until they had the post anesthesia fog is larger than you might predict. Again there is plenty of data we don’t have on that specific case, and that I would want before I took a side.
If there’s some kind of Health Care Complaints Commission where you live, I would consider letting them know. Not to get the doctor into trouble or for legal reasons, but because they have the ability to investigate the cause of the problems, and if there is a systemic issue behind the problems.
Actually, apparently the for HCCC where I am (which is not in the US) by far most complaints are due to poor communication with patients, which certainly sounds like it was a factor, if not the only one, here.
I have been in and out of the hospital recently and have had the med changes and the insulin shots given (first time i have ever gotten insulin)
With the meds they would not let me use my own including inhalers. However, when I left they made sure that all opened inhalers (that I was charged for) were sent home with me with whatever dosages were left.
With the insulin I was on very high doses of IV steroids (I don’t remember what it’s called the IV verson of prednisone) They did explain that this could drive up my blood sugar and they would have to test and if it got too high administer the insulin. So they had explained it.
Point taken… having seen a specific family member play it VERY stupid about his own dietary issues (“Pie! I can have pie!!! Whaddya mean, I can’t? what’s wrong with pie???”… this from a morbidly obese man with known cholesterol / blood sugar issues) I should not have been so “assuming”… and your sample size is larger than mine!
I do think Avarie’s father’s situation illustrates the pressing need for the communication between doctor and hospital, to include the patient as an ESSENTIAL party to the communication, rather than “we’ll order what the want, and expect the patient to go along and not ask any questions”.
Mistakes can be made by any of those three parties, and mistakes can be CAUGHT, and tragedies prevented, by any of those three parties.
Mama Zappa,
Did you ask the staff while you were there why the pulse oximetry was not being done? If so, what was their response?
I did indeed - repeatedly.
“Oh no. They only do that in the ICU!”.
Now, they did do the pulse ox check when they were doing my vitals - temp / BP - every few hours.
But as the reason for the overnight stay was explicitly to monitor my pulse ox when I was sleeping… and the vitals were always done when I was wide awake and usually had been walking around… well, the data was not terribly useful.
This incident was many hours after surgery - six or eight, I think. He was fully awake, aware, and cognizant, and had tested his blood sugar himself. He had been self-managing his diabetes for … almost five years by that time and had never been on insulin. I was there to bring him real food, since their idea of a “diabetic meal” included something like salisbury steak, white rice smothered in gravy, and carrots. FWIW, this was one nurse who was very insistent, and just kept trying to give him the syringe. And it was just part of the clusterfuck of my dad’s ordeal with the county hospital. He was supposed to have surgery on Friday, but then was bumped to Monday. So he shows up on Monday at 6:00 AM and they say “you were supposed to be here on Friday!” He had to wait three hours while they scrambled to figure out what the hell had gone wrong.
And the surgery was due to a car accident - nothing health-related.