Life threatening experience with Midvaal cardiologist

<p> Please note that this letter is not a reflection on Midvaal Hospital. The care received from them was generally very good.</p> <p>With reference to the ENCA morning (07h00 and 08h00) news broadcast dated Saturday, the 8th October 2016, regarding cardio bypasses. It seems as if this procedure has grown in popularity, and I am not sure if this is driven by cardiologists or whether the illness is really all that serious. </p> <p> I would like to share our experience regarding my husband’s 6 vein bypass procedure. On August 4th, my husband did not feel well and we decided on the 5th for him to just go for a checkup. We went to Midvaal Hospital’s Casualties, within an hour he was booked into ICU for observation. On the 8th he was discharged because the doctor went overseas for that week, however, he was readmitted on August 16th for an angiogram procedure. After this procedure he was transferred to High Care where we were awaiting the outcome.</p> <p> We were informed by another cardiologist that the stent procedure is not an option and that an emergency bypass procedure was the only option, which was then performed on the 18th August, even though there was a big risk attached because of the blood thinning with the angiogram procedure. This doctor informed us that, as a norm with the blood thinner medication with the angiogram procedure, he should have been off this medication for at least 7 days before the bypass operation, but it was such an emergency and there was not enough time.</p> <p> Prior to the bypass procedure we informed this doctor that my husband had been a smoker for the past 45 years, as well as that he suffered double pneumonia 1 month prior to the operation. </p> <p>After the operation he ended up in an isolation ward within ICU for recovery. He was warned not to cough which was obviously impossible due to him being a smoker and the pneumonia he had a month ago. During the following week he was transferred to a private ward. From there he was discharged on Saturday, 27th August 2016, with wound septicemia and blood oozing from the wound. Dressings needed to be redone regularly. On Monday, 29th August, I contacted this doctor for advice regarding the blood pressure medication as well as the bleeding from the wound. As soon as I mentioned the bleeding, he went off at me, shouting at me that he did not want to see us for any follow up visits. Without seeing us, this doctor blamed my husband for breaking the wires in his breast bone due to coughing. On Monday, 29 August (midnight), with a dying man on my hands I rushed him back to Midvaal Hospital in an ambulance due to blood squirting from his chest. His blood was very thin and looked like Worchester sauce. He was admitted to ICU immediately. At 08h00, the next morning this doctor gave us an ultimatum to make a decision within 5 minutes, that he would only help him if he promised that he would not cough at all. In front of me he pressed his breast bone so hard that he could have broken the wires, which he blamed my husband for. He was malicious and wanted to hurt him. </p> <p>Nevertheless, to make a long story short, this doctor operated again on August 30th redoing the wiring, and back to an isolation ward within ICU with wound septicemia and from there to a private ward. On the 9th September with the septicemia, a bug he has picked up in their hospital, this doctor chased my husband from the Midvaal Hospital.</p> <p> Due to the fact that he made him so ill, I refused to sign the discharge papers. I’ve noticed that the staff were very scared of him, some of them even asked me not to leave the matter there. Anyway, the staff organized a transfer to Medi Clinic in Vereeniging. At Medi Clinic he was treated by a brilliant cardiologist, Dr WJ de Vries who saved my husband’s life. Dr de Vries operated again on September 13th and placed a vacuum drain on top of the wound. Why could the previous doctor not think of this vacuum drain? </p> <p> All the praise to cardio Dr de Vries and Medi Clinic staff for saving my husband’s life. Dr de Vries also drew blood and sent it to be grown in an incubator to establish what kind of a “bug” it was that he had, only find out that it seems as if this “bug” is in his breast bone. If that is the case, he could have only picked it up in theatre. </p> <p> Makes you think, doesn’t it? The 1st question asked by the first doctor after the angiogram was “which medical aid are you on?” Once this was established, it became an emergency operation. Was it really an emergency?</p> <p> Moral of the story is, be careful where you go, and always get a 2nd opinion. Sadly, it feels as if my husband was ****** of the little bit of health he had, and worst of all, was it due to greed? . </p> <p>Decide for yourself,</p> <p>Carlene DeLaTour</p> <p> ********** 771</p> <p> </p>