In
2003, as many as 98,000 people in the United
States will die as a result of medical
errors. Of the estimated 1,500 surgical patients each year who have had foreign objects (sponges, retractors, gauze pads)
left in them during an operation, many of those who survive face debilitating
health problems. Because medicine lacks a mandatory, national system for
reporting errors and near-misses -- unlike, say, aviation -- there is valid
dispute about the actual number of medical mistakes. But doctors and victims agree
that the lack of oversight means that mistakes often come to light only when
they reach the courtroom.
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Five percent of doctors are said to be responsible for more than half of malpractice
post-trial payouts. But most cases of medical misadventures, as the C.D.C.
calls them, don't make it that far. Only one in six victims
files a malpractice suit, and approximately half of those give up before
getting to trial. Many patients face state-mandated caps on their awards for
pain and suffering, like the $250,000 limit President Bush would like to
introduce nationwide. Confidential settlements prevent many from telling their
stories, but those who do speak out will tell you: for patients who have
experienced medical errors, the end of the trial isn't the end of the story.
Here, four people recount their versions.
Surgical Sponge and Gauze Left in a Breast
Candy Negrete: ''When I went
home, my right breast started to increase in size. It looked like a big plum.
In the emergency room, they attached pumps to my chest for drainage. But after
10 weeks, they still couldn't figure out what was wrong. I was working for I.B.M.
I'd be sent home because my clothes were soaking. I could hear people whispering
behind me, you know, 'She's dying; she's got cancer.' I used to wake up during
the night, covered in gummy stuff, like in ''Alien.'' Then I started growing
another breast underneath my armpit. I went to a doctor. He said, 'Candy,
there's something in there.' I went into surgery; they dug out this huge ball
that my body formed around the gauze and sponge. The trial was the summer of
2001. The hardest part is when they accuse you of money-grubbing. I got
$250,000 plus $16,000 for medical expenses. But now I have this deformed
breast. For a simple biopsy. Doctors -- right now I
have this phobia of them. With my luck, any simple procedure and they're going
to kill me.''
Kidney Transplant on the Wrong Side
Dan Wingerd: ''The entry was on
my chart in three different places: don't put the kidney on the right, put it
on the left. The surgeon attempted to attach my sister's kidney to my right
side. Prior to surgery, we had diagnostic tests: I had significant
atherosclerotic plaque on the right side. So plaque broke loose, blocked the
artery, killed the kidney. No one expected me to come
off that table without a functioning kidney. One would expect, going to
U.C.L.A., the very best in transplant technology and service. Certainly not the
shoddy, lackadaisical care I received. I didn't even get the pleasure of a
single urination. When I was well enough to think, I called the surgeon. I
said, 'What the hell were you thinking?' He said: 'I just forgot. I forgot that
there was trouble on the right side and I didn't look at the chart before the
surgery.' He admitted this to me. I have to start over again on the transplant
list, because now I'm not dealing with a family member's donated kidney. Had
this surgery been successful, I would have resumed my career as an investment
adviser. I was traveling, which I can't do now; three days a week I'm in
dialysis for five hours. I'm getting ready to volunteer at the local district
attorney's office to help clear cold cases. It's just to make do to keep from
going nuts.''
Unnecessary Radical Jaw Surgery
Kim Tutt: ''I was told I had
cancer in my jaw. I was a 34-year-old healthy person, so everybody was shocked.
I was given three to six months to live. The doctors thought they might be able
to give me three more months if they removed the left side of my chin all the
way to behind my right ear and replaced it with the fibula from my leg. It was
a huge, enormously radical surgery. Whatever they would have suggested, I would
have done it. I had a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old. Whatever time I could get
was worth it. I went through the surgery in July 2000. My surgeon called me in
October and said, 'We need to see you.' We went back. 'It's a
good-news-bad-news situation,' he said. 'We think your original biopsy was
cross-contaminated at the lab. You probably never had cancer.' It was one of
those things where I should have been the happiest person in the world. But it
was overwhelming. It was hard telling the boys I had cancer. It sounds crazy,
but it was even harder telling them that I didn't. I am permanently disfigured.
I've undergone five surgeries. I'm still missing nine teeth. Chewing is not
easy. People notice that I'm not normal -- that really, really bothers the
boys. My trial starts the week of April 21. Money will not change what my
family has been through. People who have cancer are cured. But I'm not a
walking miracle. I'm a survivor of medical malpractice.''
Surgical Tool Left in Stomach
Dan Jennings: ''After the surgery, I didn't really seem to
progress like I thought I should. I went back to the doctor to do an X-ray. The
technician shot a picture and said, 'We need to have you change into another
gown, because the one you're wearing is causing an artifact on the table.' So new gown, new table, same problem. 'We're going to put
you in a different room.' Third shot. This time the radiologist comes out and
says, 'We need to call your doctor.' On the X-rays, I could see the silhouette
of this big silver thing in my abdominal cavity. He said, 'That looks like it's
a retractor.' So I walked into my surgeon's office; everybody's kind of
mobilized and ready to see the pictures. We put them up on the view box, and he
just starts shaking his head, looking down at the floor. He said: 'I swear to
God, I don't know how it got there. Don't know how we could have left it.' I
said, 'What do we do?' He said, 'It'll probably take 20 to 30 minutes to open
you up, get it out, and that'll be it.' When they finished, this doctor came
over and he said, 'We ran into a complication.' I said, 'What's
that?'' And he said, 'You had necrotizing faciitis.'
I knew what that was: the flesh-eating bacteria. The damage was immense. I am
considered permanently disabled at this point. My job used to consist of
teaching physicians how to diagnose and treat sleep apnea. It's ironic that I
was teaching and working with doctors. Now I've filed suit against them. Last
May, the jury gave an award of $250,000 for pain and suffering. At this point,
we have both filed appeals. They said in a deposition, 'We don't know where it
came from.' We said, 'So, this is the story of the immaculate retractor?' ''
