Speaking of ER visits

[Guest guest]

My mom broke her ankle so I took her to the ER.

We got in the room and the doctor came in and said it didn't look like it was

broke so he left. About 10 minutes later the nurse came in and gave my mom a

shot.

My mom didn't even tell her she was in pain because she wasn't hurting that bad.

She told the nurse she didn't need a pain shot and the nurse said " oh yeah, it

will make your ankle feel better and make the swelling go down " .

When she left I stood at the door and heard the doctor say that's all the " old

lady wanted, just another drug seeker " . I blew my top!

While I was out in the hallway giving the dr and nurse a mouthfull I didn't

notice my mom having problems. She called me in there and she was climbing out

of the bed saying she was hot, nervous and couldn't breathe.

I asked the nurse what she gave my mom and she told me it was nubaine

(spelling)? I was so mad because my mom wears a duragesic patch and when you

wear it and get a shot of pain meds that's all together different it makes you

go into withdrawl, it blocks the reseptors that take in the duragesic.

I think everyone in the hospital heard me then. I asked the nurse if the doctor

even bothered to read my mom's chart because if he had he would have known not

to give my mom the shot(we found out that the doctor did read her chart he just

didn't know about the meds not working together).

They ended up giving my mom 5 shots of morphine to try to get her out of

withdrawls and 4 other shots of med's to get her to quit vomiting.

My mom is 75 and I knew this wasn't good for her. I was in tears the whole night

thinking my mom was going to die or have a heart attack over all the crap she

went through.

We were in the ER for over 19 hours! When the shift change occured a new doctor

came in and had them x-ray my moms ankle and sure enough it was broke.

We finally left and I got her home, she went through withdrawls for 2 days after

that.

The day after we got home I got a call from the director of the hospital telling

me that we wouldn't be billed for the rest of the bill that medicare didn't pay!

I gave him an ear full and told him that my moms lawyer would be getting in

touch with him.

Mom settled out of court with them. Mom's lawyer said that if the doctor that

treated mom wasn't fired they would go to court. I couldn't believe that a

hospital would employ a doctor that didn't know not to give that kind of pain

med with the pain meds mom takes.

If anyone else on here wears a duragesic patch and a doctor wants to give you

something for pain just make sure he or she knows what they are doing. It will

save you a lot of withdrawls and pain. Sorry this was so long, I just had to

tell you all about my ER experience. Have a great pain-free day everyone!

[Guest guest]

Oh, my gosh, This letter hit home with me about your mom getting a pain shot

and then going into withdrawal because that happened to me this spring. I went

in for kidney stone pain and the doctor gave me a pain shot after he knew I was

on a patch and I went into withdrawal, too.

I should have taken them to court because that doctor was laughing at my pain

and kept saying it was all in my head. Now I am mad because I think we all need

to do a better job of standing up for ourselves and making our loved ones speak

up for us, too.

I honestly was in so much pain from the stone and then the withdrawal that I was

out of my mind at the time. I was so scared that I made a friend spend the

night with me. I thought I might die.

Becky in Illinois