I saw the doctor in question on TV several nights ago. He said that the method of removal involved twisting the uterus through a small opening and that he had to make a median mark (the long leg of the k) and a different mark each side of that to differentiate top from bottom. He figured the UK mark did the trick. I also got the impression that he routinely videotapes his surgeries so that anyone can watch them later and that anyone who ever had would have seen the same thing. He seemed to genuinely believe that if he hadn’t cauterised UK he would have had to cauterise something else instead.
I’ve also heard the rationale that you need to make an asymmetrical mark to be able to observe any twisting on removal. If true, then UK is as good as any mark for that purpose.
I believe that the suit is groundless. To mark something that is in the process of being removed from a body is trivial. I’d like to see the woman spend a night observing in a trauma center, perhaps then she might see that she’s lucky to have her health and how fortunate she is in relation to others. Shame on the lawyer to bring such a non-issue to court.
I wish I could say that this thread surprised me, but it doesn’t. When you hear only the woman’s side of the story, it appears some people are ready to take this doctor’s license, make him pay through the nose, and kick him to the curb. Then, you actually hear the doctor’s explanation, which strikes me as a very good one, and, in the Chicago Tribune’s explanation, one that was referred to by the head of OBY/GYN, and the doctor’s actions seem to make a heck of a lot more sense.
The woman, her lawyer, and the media should all be ashamed of themselves.
Huh.
Well I went to the tribune’s web site. Registration is required, but here are a few excerpts.
I’m not sure that I see evidence from that story that this is a cut and dried matter as far as appropriateness. We have references to the use of stitches, burn marks or other identifiers for the purposes of landmarks. We also have questions about “respecting the dignity of the patient”…enough that the state medical licensing board will “probably review the case”. Was there more info at the Tribune that led you to your conclusion that the media and woman should “be ashamed of themslves”?
Well, beagledave, the fact that the chairwoman of the Kentucky Chapter of ACOG says that some doctors use marks for identification in these cases, seems to indicate to me that it is an, if not completely accepted, then not a negligent action. Added to that, the Tribune reported that the doctor had informed her that he may mark the utereus as part of the surgery. Also, the fact the actual “injury” happened upon the viewing of the videotape and not the actions of the doctor, I think this is an open and shut case. It seems to me that the woman, her lawyer, and the media didn’t even know why the doctor did this “horrendous” act before filing suit and calling the media, who ate it up without researching the issue. To me, it is shameful for the woman and her lawyer to file suit without all the facts, then publicize it, and it is shameful of the media to report it without giving both sides until a few days later.
I’ll admit I was also put off by these quotes from the woman:
To me, it is a case of an emotional reaction played up for the media and for the money from the hospital and doctor. “Discarded with respect.” Puh-lease.
The fact the State medical licensing board will “review the case,” means next to nothing to me, they investigate any allegation, however baseless, of misconduct on the part of the doctor.
To me, after hearing the doctors explanation, it seems pretty clear there is no real basis for the suit. If you want to keep track of this over the next few years, and then come back and tell me she actually won, I’ll buy you dinner. However, I’m pretty sure this case isn’t going anywhere.
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Just to clarify, I haven’t reached a conclusion about the particulars of this case, yet. I don’t know to what extent this thing is “typical”, or “non typical”, or “non professional-but not worth a court case” or “non professional to the extent that legal remedy is needed”. I just don’t know yet…and your initial reference to the Trib bit doesn’t make it “an open and shut case” for me yet.
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So you know for a fact that this board will “review” any case without prior regards to the merits of the complaint?
beagledave, I commend your ability to reserve judgment. I maybe to quick to judge. However, from everything I’ve heard, there is enough evidence for me to be an open and shut case. Different strokes and all.
Here is the website for the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensing. In one section of the filing of a grievance section, they state: “Upon receipt of a written grievance, a medical investigator employed by the KMBL performs an investigation.” If somebody files a grievance, no matter how far-out, it gets an investigator to review it.
I think it would have shown much better judgment to burn an “L” or “R” (or both) if marks were needed for orientation purposes. The “UK” makes it seem like he was having fun with her body–perhaps that was not the case, but a more straightforward mark would have prevented the confusion.
If I were her, I’d be upset even if he did it after it left my body. Sure, it’s medical waste to him, but after having a kid I still think of the uterus as a pretty amazing organ, so I’d like to believe they’d treat with some respect, not frivolity.
But is it personal injury lawsuit-worthy? Well, I find it hard to believe an emotionally stable woman could be as distressed as she claims. I know a hysterectomy is an emotional thing, and I can understand her point about the uterus being the organ who gave her two beautiful children, but good grief. Let the man be reprimanded, explain to him why patients have found it bothersome, and be done with it.
We Americans have turned into a bunch of humorless, sue-happy whiners.
“O, my beautiful uterus was marked with a “U” and a “K” before it was heaped in the trashcan. Woe is me! I’m emotionally crippled now and will need a million bucks (less 40% to my attorney) to make me feel like a whole person again.”
We have real problems in this country. A competent surgeon who has an off-center sense of humor isn’t one of them.
While I’ve never dealt with the Kentucky Medical Licensing Board, most state medical boards do, in fact, respond to each and every complaint they receive. What they’ll usually do is send the doc in question a copy of the complaint and have him write a letter in response and send any relevant materials from the patient’s record. They then review all these materials and decide whether further action is warranted. (This is how it works in NC, and I understand it works similarly elsewhere.)
I was about three months into my residency when I had to respond to my first such complaint, a seven-page screed from a profoundly borderline patient of mine. Her complaint, essentially, was that she didn’t like me, she didn’t like the fact that I was trying to pare down her list of eighteen medications, and I wasn’t giving her whatever magic pill it was that would end her misery. (You’d have to read the letter–it’s a classic.)
My attendings thought it was hillarious; when I spoke to the lady at the state medical board office, she seemed genuinely sorry to be troubling me with this. I wrote a letter stating exactly what her problems were and exactly what I had done for them, and the matter was dropped.
Addendum: my small and informal survey of local pathologists/pathology assistants finds no one who has ever received a uterus marked in this or any remotely similar fashion* (one colleague remarked that the whole thing sounded “kooky” to him).
Procedures may allow for this somewhere, but I retain a suspicion that this was a private joke that got out of hand.
*even in Kentucky.
Gawd. And we wonder why doctors are walking out in droves in certain states because of high malpractice insurance. Because of lawsuits like this. Dammit, if you’re going to sue, sue for something sueworthy.
If a body part of mine had to come out to save my life or to significantly make my life and health better (and I have had that done, none of y’alls business what it was) I say do whatever the heck you want with it after you take it out (as long as it doesn’t interfere with lab tests to follow, and such).
This woman is just being whiny and wants to sue about something.
And I’m speaking as a medical professional. I get sooooo sick of whiny people who want to piss and moan, especially about the people that TAKE CARE OF THEM AND TRY TO HELP THEM!!!
My father spends a whole heck of a lot of time in the OR (as an anesthesiologist). Just about every day at dinner, he’d start the conversation with “Today in the OR, Dr. ______ told me this joke…”.
Now if the surgeon tells an off colored joke that may have offended the patient (should someone enlighten him/her of this), does he have a right to sue? Of course not!
Although I have no first hand knowledge, I imagine it get’s pretty tense in the OR at times seeing as peoples lives are in their hands. I, myself, would actually be comforted to know that the doctors were doing their best to keep the mood light - especially if it means they will do their job better.
Now I don’t know whether they need to actually mark the Uterus or not, but who really cares. I’d be willing to let the doctor play basketball with the damn thing provided he does his damn job well.