Makeuwonder.. Sadly.. it's too late.. My father passed on the 5th to a sepsis infection. It's been a hell of a week, but we laid him to his final rest yesterday (finally giving me the chance to set my computer up again).
Had to do a 3 day drive back to the parents home from Houston where mom and I had been staying with him in his ICU room for the past 3 months.
As for the court case, his death has terminated the personal injury side and converted into a wrongful death case for the surviving family. He had completed a video deposition, but that is only pertinent so long as he's alive during the trial.
But you are SO RIGHT that family must be present at all times to insure proper care is being given. Nurses, god bless their hearts, can't be everywhere since they have numerous patients. Having a family member there monitoring the vitals is critical in case something is occurring that demands immediate attention.
By the end of those 3 months, new doctors/nurses rotating in all thought we'd had previous medical experience.
I just told them I'd slept at a Holiday Inn Express.
There are some "issues" we're looking at with regard to his care in ICU. His surgeon, so far as we can see, did his job. However, we're scrutinizing very closely the actions of a particular ICU doctor who failed to recognize the importance of air leaking INTO dad's chest cavity one night. It was apparently due to a malfunctioning (or improperly installed) drainage tank connected to the drainage tube from his chest and this ICU doctor failed to notify dad's surgeon (we believe) and assumed it wasn't critical. However, it wound up puffing him up with "subcutaneous emphysema" to the point he was blind for 3 days from inflated eyelids. The surgeon admitted to my mother the next day that it had been a "hospital issue" and not the result of the surgery.
This was the beginning of his downturn since he couldn't get out of bed (which is critical to recovery). Within a week he developed pneumonia, which required him to be sedated for 3 weeks to facilitate a ventilator. He never really had a chance of recovery after that. He emerged from sedation completely atrophied (couldn't move a muscle), distended belly pressuring his diaphragm, and a tracheoscomy that prevented him from eating solid food. Eventually, lack of proper nutrition and fighting off various infections and pneumonia led to the failure of his vital organs and renal failure.
In sum, we all firmly believe the surgery didn't kill him, but that leaking drainage tank and resulting complications were responsible. And yes, we're considering legal action as we review the evidence because we all believe our father should still be alive.
Sorry to vent.. but it's good to put this to text.
Hawk |
