Should doctors have to assume responsibilities for their mishap when they performed surgeries on you, or should you as a patient "get over it" and atleast be thankful they saved your life?

When I explained to my friends what the surgery I had as a baby did to my body to fix Patent Ductus Arteriosus, they suddenly become livid and say I should be angry at the doctors and demand some sort of compensation, even though they saved my life back in 1987.

Back then, the medical team told my parents I had a 5% survival rate during surgery, apparantly I had seizures when they gave me anti-biotics and anesthesia. Although I am extremely thankful for them saving my life, the surgery itself changed my body in ways I am not proud of, thanks to their mistakes.

First and foremost, the doctors gave me TOO much anti-biotics for my body, that it actually damaged the nerves from the ear to the brain (I technically have perfect hearing), with the broken nerves, out of 100% of all sound, my brain can only pick up 20-35% of all sound. It also slightly damaged the nerves on my left eye, making it become lazy. If I look in one direction with both eyes, try as I might, my left eye is unresponsive when I want to look at a specific object...therefore I see double sometimes. With my right eye being covered, I am able to see a particular direction with my left, but it's harder to move it around...if I try any harder to make it more responsive, I get a head-ache.

I don't know whether it's the surgery itself or the combination of both the surgery and the medication that stunted my growth. No, I don't mean growth as in growing taller, I mean growth as in internal growth. My left breast for example, will never catch up to my right. My right breast is DDD/F cup size (I don't think E cup exist in the United States) and my left is CC/CCC. If I'm wearing a baggy shirt or dress, no one would know the difference. However, if I'm feeling daring and want to wear a tight to semi-tight shirt or dress, it's very noticeable and I have been made fun of because of my bust size being so different.

Thankfully, my fiance doesn't mind the difference and loves me for who I am. Back in high school I had to buy 4 breast pads to put in my left bra cup so my bust would look even, because everytime I wanted to wear a nice, sexy or even colorful shirt without the padded bra, I'd get weird looks and comments directed at me in regards to my bust. It was embarrassing, and I don't mean only high schoolers I also mean out in public. My mother suggested surgery to fix it, but since surgery did this, I hate that idea of having surgery again....for fear that the doctors will screw something up again.

I have also lost about 95% of all feeling on my left aeriola/nipple. It didn't bother me until I first started having sex, when fiance would feel frisky and try to tease me. We have since found out that unless he bites hard, I won't feel an iota of pain, even if he bites hard it feels like a slight pinch. I also cannot feel hot or cold on my nipple or my aeriola. This makes me worried if I'll have any repurcussions when I breastfeed someday...would I only be limited to one breast?

If that wasn't bad enough, not only did the surgery & medication stunted the growth of my breast and desensitized it, it also desensitized my left side of the body. Although it's not that bad as my breast is, it is also awkward. For example, I can carry bags of groceries that can be 20-30 pounds heavy and my right arm will start to ache and get muscle pain, my fingers will also start to loosen up because it's heavy. So in all, my right arm will hurt if I carry it for 10-15 minutes. But when it comes to my left arm, not even 3 minutes pass and my entire left arm becomes numb. First, I'll feel the very short-lived muscle pain and then a numbing sensation completely. I can feel the plastic bags digging into my fingers hard, but I won't feel any pain. I can't even sit at a table and plug a cord in a new, tight outlet with my left hand alone, I need to use my right for the extra push!

Same goes for my left leg, I did leg presses a few months ago at the gym. With my right side of the body being normal, and ofcourse more dominant I used my right leg first to push against the weight. I managed to push about 50 pounds, 20 times before I get muscle cramps and need to stop because I can't do anymore (granted I don't exercise much). Now I then do this with my left leg, I couldn't even go up to 50, it wouldn't budge at 30 either. At 25 pounds, it started to move abit, and at 20 I could go and do it 10 times, after that it just wouldn't push anymore.

================================

If I had a choice, I would've loved to just have the PDA surgery back then without the nerve damages, stunted growth and the skin damages (that's a different story). If I would be able to fix this, more surgeries and physical therapy yet again...it would cost me thousands upon thousands of dollars, money I don't have. Because of this I cannot wear the clothes I would like or the bathing suits I want without some padding or some assholes treating me badly. I cannot hear things people can hear, not even with hearing aids -- I cannot hear a cat purring, a mosquito or bee buzzing, nor can I hear half the dialogue at the local movie theater because every single movie theater I've been to refuses to have closed caption unless it's foreign film :angry:!

As for the skin damage, that's something I will have to live with. The scars, the unflattering imprints left behind, and the respective skin disease I eventually got will never go away. I looked up PDA surgeries on the 'net today and it has come a long way from 5% survival rate to 90%+ survival rate. Also, babies nowadays do not have nerve damage because of it (it's extremely rare). I'm not resentful for the surgery, I am resentful for some of the things the doctors back then when performing on me, could've done things differently and not with so many mistakes. Atleast that way, I would've survived and grew up with no inconveniences.

So does anyone else have a surgery horror story to share, where the doctors made a mistake that possibly altered your life in some way? That it makes you kind of thankful and resentful at the same time? I'm sure I'm not the only one!

I think, in this case, it definitely depends on the situation. Say a heart surgery was going on and the doctor performed it perfectly, except for one little mishap that was entirely accidental. He wasn't impaired in any way, he just made a mistake. Whatever the damage, the doctor let you know about it when you woke up, and apologizes. Should he be punished? I don't think so. He was doing his job and made a mistake. Billions of people do it every day and it's nothing to get sued over...

Now, if the doctor was drunk or tried to hide his mistake, or something else along those lines, then yes, definitely. He was in the wrong, knew it, and tried to hide it. I wouldn't say that that's a suable offense in a normal profession, but if you blind someone because you're drunk, I think you should be sued.

I think lawyers are to blame for this new 'fad' of suing doctors...

( Small note: Aorta is a large blood trunk that splits off and supplies blood to smaller branches of veins. The word you're looking for is 'areola'. )

Now, for my thoughts about the topic on hand...

I think surgery is necessary and unfortunately, we, as humans, are prone to mistakes and imperfection.

My boyfriend's cousin, who is more like a brother to him, has brain cancer and is about to have an operation on his brain.. Part of it involves removing one of his eyes so that he has a greater chance of living.

There's a lot of things that could go wrong, both on the doctor and patient's end, but if they both decide it's worth risking to save his life.. Then I think they've both mutually agreed that any damages incurred will be dealt with later. A life is more important than tiny hiccups that can be lived with, ya know?

Shtona: I didn't say anything about suing. But judging from the reasons you gave, I could have a case lol. The doctors didn't even know they damaged my hearing, nor offered an apology when my family found out 5 years later. We've been through sub-sequent doctor visits for check-up and each time, the doctor always lied to me and my mother about the growth of my body saying that "it'll even out, and go back to normal". Imagine my shock when I went to my first doctor visit in this state, and the doctor said I stop growing at 16 and it WON'T go even out or go back to normal. He suggested I did some muscle exercises, and I did those for months and no improvement.

Lore: Thanks for correcting me. I knew I was getting something wrong.

===

My whole topic is just basically asking if you had bad surgeries before or if the doctor screwed something up and they knew they were at fault and yet offered no option to help you fix it, would you say you "deserved something"?

Oh, sorry. I just assumed that was what you meant. I'm definitely not an expert on law, but I doubt you'd have a case so long afterwards, but from what you said, and how easy it is to sue doctors anymore, yeah, you probably do have a case...lol

Gah! I'm tired. I know I just went against my own statements in that last sentence, but whatever...lol

Hmm.. though this is definitely not as bad as what you went through, my mom's doctor screwed up on the surgery on her hernia (I think that's how you spell it..) It's a fairly common surgery for adults, with little risks... Basically she got it, and then 5 months later it ripped apart again right underneath the previously fixed area.. the doctor apologized, since it was caused by his scissor accidentally cutting a little hole in the skin right underneath. At the time, he didn't think much of it, since the surgery wasn't going exactly as expected (I don't know the details, but they had to extend from a normal 1 hour surgery to like 5 hours).. He operated on her again, for free since it was due to his mistake, and now she's luckily better.. :yes:

To be honest.. I don't think some of what you've experenced has anything to do with the surgery. I've never had a major surgery, except for my C Section, but I'm a large woman, and my left breast is size C while the other breast is EE. This is common of large women, especialy if the weight gain starts early in life. And I've always been large. In fact, ALL women, every single one with natural breasts, has one larger then the other. It's just more pronounced in large women.

As for the rest.. I'm not sure. I mean if it was your reaction to the medications they gave you... well a doctor has NO IDEA how a person will react to a drug until it's administered. If they changed it right away, then they did everything they could, as a doctor, to correct the situation. If you where getting worse and they just let you go.. then they would be at fault. I doubt that happened, though. Medicine isn't a science. And any doctor will say they learn as they go. So no, I don't think a person "deserves something" if they had a bad reaction to medication. Now if the doctor did something wrong and didn't try to fix it, or knowingly preformed a overly risky procedure without permission.. If you get an X Ray in 6 years and there's a rubber glove in your chest cavity.. then yeah, there is a problem. But when signing the forms, they tell you there are risks; With the surgery, with the medication, and you have to agree with that.

oh you poor thing!
nothing like that has happened to me before, lucky me.
ive had a heart surgery, but nothing went wrong. well, except the big ugly scar. :lol:

Well think about it.
All this happened to you, but you know what, your still alive. You can run and jump and play.

And all in all, isn't that whats important in the long run?