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Got some bad news today


patently
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Look what is being said about the surgeon who operated on Mum's original cancer:

 

 

"Exposed to a risk of the cancer returning"... well, it was more than a "risk" in her case.  It came back, it happened.  And it killed her. 

 

So... the Trust is sorry.  Oh well, that's all right then.  Wait - no it's not, I've still lost my mother.  Them being "sorry" doesn't help me in the slightest.

 

I'd quite like this Patterson guy's address, actually.  Not to do anything I might regret in the morning, just because I'd like to write to him and let him know how this has affected me.

 

 

 

 

 

No, I'm not feeling very happy about this at all.

Patently I thank you for allowing me to indulge in perhaps an alternative view?

Your mum passed away. You were extremely magnanimous in sharing your experience with us here and you managed (I think) to find some peace.

 

This surgeon has been exposed and will have the book thrown at him by the GMC.

By the sounds of it, it was his technique that was flawed rather than any other factor (although it could be anything - radiologists missing the cancers on mammograms etc etc).

You could of course pursue the matter - but pursue what exactly? The root cause has been identified and is sadly insoluble.

You expend, time, energy, emotion, sleep - and to what end? To get the apology you have already been given.

Let the profession that failed you put its house in order, I humbly and respectfully suggest.

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I've had some great experiences of the NHS, and some terrible ones.

I am going for surgery at end of March to hopefully repair the consequences of them failing to spot a broken radial head in my elbow (and fracture in each wrist) following an accident on my bike.

I've already been advised I'll probably never get the full range of movement back. I've also been advised by my own GP to take legal action, as in his words "it is clearly a case of medical negligence". I'm yet to decide what to do.

(missed) Radial head fractures are the commonest cause of medical litigation IIRC.

Actually I will drop you a PM....

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Thanks for the perspective Mr W +++

 

I don't think I'm at peace on this subject yet, indeed I suspect I'm a long way from it.  TSN helped hugely, but there is still a massive hole and it's not an easy one to fill.  Nor am I that sure I want to fill it.  

 

If I could write a wish list, I'd like to meet the surgeon and explain things from my perspective.  I'd like him to nod sagely as the realisation dawns, and then devote the rest of his career to teaching medical ethics to junior surgeons so that they learn from his errors.  That mainly comes from Mum's comments on her recollection of the operations, waking up to discover he had unilaterally decided to do a cleavage sparing op when that was emphatically not what she wanted.  

 

But that's just fantasy, in reality I'd just end up wasting my energy on a battle with the Trust and its lawyers.  Better to remember the good times with her, and go have some fun instead.  

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There may be a middle ground?

Write to both the Trust and the GMC with the simple observation you have stated above - that he did not obtain informed consent for the procedure he carried out, indeed it was refused him and ask for that to be submitted as evidence against him.

From the outside I can see how some women may have jumped at the chance of cleavage sparing surgery when a wise-sounding surgeon tells them it is feasible and he is a master of it....(ignoring that it has been found to be a poor technique) and I do wonder if "well I only did what they wanted of me" might form a part of his mitigation?

 

I agree wholeheartedly with your last comments though. That way lies (even more) heartache and miseru, the ripping open of barely-mending wounds and with little meaningful closure at the end of it.

 

I feel for all you guys with the tales you are relating here - it offends me personally and professionaly (tempered with those instances I know where "mistakes" have been made in retrospect but where everyone truly did what they thought was best all along....I suspect we've all been there in our respective fields of practice)

Edited by Waylander
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