Need help finding an attorney, more surgeon frustration

I had my EGD this morning which went great thanks to the propofol.  As some of you know I had a "reversal" in August and have had a lot of issues with pain and vomiting ever since. When they reversed my surgery they attached my pouch to my remnant stomach essentially forming an hourglass. I had an Upper GI in October at the hospital my surgeon practices out of.  At the time the radiologist remarked at how narrow the passageway between the pouch and remnant was.  Well, my surgeon said it was fine and that wasn't my issue.  He then did an EGD about a week later and removed a bezoar which he was sure was the problem.  I've since been seeking a second opinion and finally saw the new GI yesterday.He is amazing!  He insisted on doing a GI today because he didn't feel like I should suffer any longer.  I was concerned about anesthesia since I "woke up" and was fully aware during the EGD where they removed the bezoar.  He reassured me that they used a better sedative and he was right.  Anyway, after I came to he told me what he found.  He said the passage between the pouch and remnant was almost completely closed off.  He was shocked and appalled that my surgeon hadn't dilated it.  He said it didn't get that way overnight and even a month ago it would of been restricted enough to warrant dilation.  I guess you would call it a stricture simiilar to what RNY patients commonly go through after surgery.  He had no doubt the reason the bezoar formed was because the food never made it out of my pouch to be digested.  I could never get my surgeon to even speculate on the reason that the bezoar formed!  The GI seems to think that the connection was made too narrow to begin with and the accumulating scar tissue just compounded the issue.  I'm furious that my surgeon wasn't even willing to try to dilate it at all.  I'm frustrated that I've had to be on TPN and liquids/soft foods for the past almost 4 months because of an opening that was made too narrow to begin with. 

I also found out from the GI that after reading my surgery reports that my surgeon never even attempted a revision.  The only way he got me to agree to a reversal was that he promised to attempt a revision first!!  I'm so mad right now.  I feel violated.  I've tried posting negative comments on the review section here, but they keep getting taken down.  I even attempted to go to a support meeting in October to just inform patients thinking of the surgery that the risks are real.  I was asked to leave.  I didn't want to lawyer up because I don't want to be that person, but this is beyond ridiculous.  His negligence and outright lies have infuriated me for the last time.  The issue I'm having is finding a medical malpractice attorney in SC.  There are tons in Columbia which is where he is located and my PCP recommended I go outside of Columbia just because I may run the risk of a lawyer there knowing him.  I have to agree with that, but does anyone know how I go about finding a good malpractice attorney in my area?  It's pretty sad when my PCP, GYN and now the GI have asked me if I have a lawyer.  I've heard repeatedly from other professionals how his care of me has been negligent.  I don't care about money I just want to keep this from happening to someone else.

I was also under the impression that I had been tested for H. Pylori some time over the past 8 months that I've been dealing with all this crap.  After all I've had countless EGD's it would make sense to take a biopsy while they are in there.  The GI said I was never tested, not even before surgery.  At least it is nowhere in my records.  I was told that there was a blood test done pre-op.  The full vitamin panels I thought they ran?  Non-existant.  Not once had he checked my vitamins other than when I was hospitalized.  I feel so violated.  As patients we tend to explicitly trust our physicians.  I will not make that mistake again. I have learned to take a more active role in my healthcare because a lot of physicans don't care.  I've been fortunate that my new PCP, the GI and my new pain management office have been wonderful and are willing to try and help.  I find it sad that I couldn't rely on the  man I trusted enough to let him cut me open not once, but twice.

My vent is over.  I just had to get that off of my chest.  I feel so taken advantage of and I'm not sure how to even begin taking legal action.  Nothing may come of it, but if I can show him that it's not acceptable to treat someone the way he has me then maybe I can keep someone from going through the same thing.

http://www.scbar.org/PublicServices/FindaLawyer.aspx

I understand completely how you want to help others and keep them from going through the pain that you have endured.  I feel exactly the same way.  You may want to brace yourself for some negative comments and attitudes to your post.  I commend you for being brave enough to  say anything.  Some of us have had horrible outcomes and need support more than anyone and enjoy reading the helpful tips for our health we can get from this forum.  I believe all have a place on this forum and I hope you will get some help with your quest.  Undoubtedly there is someone that can help you with your problem.  Google has all sorts of interesting information.  Good luck in your quest.

 

I've never gotten any negative opinions on here about this whole situation, but I can see where it would upset some people that I'm trying to find a lawyer.  I actually looked on Google, but I'm having a hard time finding malpractice attorneys in my area.  I went to the link that the previous poster put up, but they charge $50 to find a lawyer for you.  In the scheme of things that isn't much money, but things are tight for us and I'd rather not spend that if I don't have to.  I'll keep researching until I find one though. 

This forum has been incredibly supportive when I was going through all my complications.  That's why I was hoping someone might be able to tell me the best way to find a good lawyer.  Like I said before I'm not trying to get any money out of this.  I just want him to know it is not okay to treat patients the way he has done me.

I don't have any advice as far as a lawyer goes but I just wanted to say I am so sorry you are going through this.  It really is a rotten deal.  I hope you can find someone to put you right and end your pain.

 I am so sorry for what you are going through, but thank you for having the courage to tell your story. We all need to be aware of the possible complications from these surgeries - even if they are years down the road. I think there are too many surgeons doing bariatric surgery that probably shouldnt be, and a revision or reversal is even more complicated than the original surgery. You might also want to ask on the WLS complications and regrets forums. I wish you the best and pray for your recovery.

Thanks Lady Tazz.  It is a pretty rotten situation, but things could be a lot worse.  I could of not made it through all these issues.  It just makes me so mad that this jerk did me like this.  The thing is I have friends that have had surgery by the same surgeon and group with not a single issue. 

46_11tobeme, I've been pretty honest about my complications because I know as a pre-op I appreciated information like that both good and bad.  I'm not trying to scare anyone out of the surgery by any means.  It is a wonderful tool and had I of not had complcations I'm sure I would love my RNY.  My GI said today I'm the poster child for RNY complications.  I think a lot of people go into this surgery aware of the complications but with the assumption that it will never happen to them.  I know I did.  Yet, it happened to me.  I researched for almost a year before picking a surgeon.  The one I used has an amazing track record.  His bedside manner was wonderful initially that was until I started having complications.  The GI today made a good point about that though.  He said a lot of surgeon's have this God complex that makes them think they are impervious too mistakes, but they aren't.  A lot of them also don't want to acknowledge when the work they did had an unexpected, undesirable effect.  I'm not mad at my surgeon about the complications.  I knew going into it that there was that risk.  I'm upset about the way they've been handled.  In August, 2 weeks after my reversal, I went to him in tears because I had horrible pelvic pain, nausea, fever, vomiting and diahrrea.  Well he did a urine test, felt on my stomach and told me I had a bladder infection.  I insisted that it was something else.  I've had bladder infections before I know what that feels like.  He told me he felt like I was just reading too much into things and that the pain just couldn't be that bad.  The NEXT day I had to go by ambulance to the hospital because the pain was so bad.  I was septic, in shock and closer to death than I've ever been.  All that pelvic pain was from an abscess that had ruptured.  It turned out the abscess contained gastric fluid so naturally I was sent to my bariatric surgeon.  He told me there was no way it could be from gastric fluid and referred me to a GYN.  That was the first time he brushed me off, but it wasn't the last unfortunately.  Things just got worse after that.  

Sorry for writing a book lol.  I've actually posted on the complications forum, but not the regrets forum.  I'm not sure if you'd call the feelings I have about the surgery regret.  I don't regret making the decision because I was doing what was best for my health.  I hate that I've had complication after complication though.  Thank you for your well wishes.  I'm not 100% but I am getting there, slowly but surely.

 Oh my, when I read your posts, it's like reading my own chart. I got your msg, and I'll answer that in a few. I just wanted to say before anyone (hopefully no one) posts anything negative about your discussion, you may find people, even people you thought were your buddies/friends from support group, shun you or ignore you. I don't go to support group anymore because in general it was only supportive if everything was going great. It is unpopular to have complications. It's not really funny, but I try and reconcile my grief over the relationships I have lost by comparing it to Jonestown...sadly, those people are still drinking the kool-aid. I have joked that maybe there's an extra additive in the anasthesia that we were all given that keeps us under a spell of trust. I was under it, I trusted my surgeon. He had me believing that it was a failure on my part or that "my body didn't like the surgery". It was all a load of BS. It was hard to find an attorney, I also ran into the problem of "oh, my wife and I are best friends with that surgeon, sorry we can't help you"  
It's a long, arduous process, but I encourage you to do it in order to gain back some of the faith and. confidence in yourself. It's not your fault that you are sick, it just makes you the unpopular kid on the playground in the world of WLS, of course not to your true friends and family. It is a problem that in our legal system is solved by money, but I have tremendous faith in our legal team that the outcome will prevent this arrogance and negligence from happening again. I say an extra prayer every Tuesday, my original surgeon's Bariatric surgery day, praying for the patients under his care that day. I left my original surgeon's name on my profile, I think potential patients should have all the info, good and bad, before they go ahead with these surgeries. They aren't going to get the true. view from support group. 

Jules, thank you for replying.  You are right about being the unpopular kid on the block.  I think that is why they asked me to leave the support group meeting.  They want to shoot rainbows and unicorns up everyone's butts making them believe nothing will go wrong.  I remember when I went to a support group meeting pre-op and we were told that the RNY is 100% reversible.  I'm pretty sure that was a lie, but then I trusted them and believed everything they told me.  I too got the line from my surgeon that "My body didn't like the surgery".  My question to him was if my body couldn't handle the RNY how was the reversal any different?  Of course he spouted off some BS about how it was a different kind of surgery and I was so sick I believed him.  There are definitely way too many parallels between our stories.  My surgeon does his surgery on Tuesdays as well.  I've had people ask me if I would recommend this surgery to someone else.  Yes and no.  I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you are 100% aware of what could really happen and not just looking through rose colored glasses.  Sadly the surgeons tend to sugar coat the bad stuff so it doesn't seem so bad.  I was told about the risk of ulcers pre-op, but they made it seem like you took some meds if you got one and they went away.  Wrong!  A friend of mine went through the same practice with a different surgeon and is having issues with them following up on some of the problems she is having.  It seems like once they get the money for your bypass then their professional investment in your health diminishes. 

I told my GI yesterday, if my issues were out of his realm of expertise then instead of dismissing me as a head case he should of found someone that could help me get the answers I needed.  It's hard to describe how I feel about all of this.  I'm infuriated, disappointed, appalled and saddened by the whole situation. 

Thank you for your reply.  I hate that someone has gone through the same things as I have, but it is comforting to know I'm not alone.

Sorry, I didn't mean to "hit and run" in my first post.

You can file a complaint with the licensing board.  The link is here:

http://www.llr.state.sc.us/pol/medical/index.asp?file=complaint.htm

You don't need an attorney for that one, and getting his license limited or pulled may get his attention faster than a lawsuit.

And on the link to the South Carolina Bar Association referral service, they'll refer you to someone who will charge you no more than $50 for a 30 minute consult.  Most attorneys will waive the fee entirely.  The Bar Association itself doesn't collect any money for the referral.

If you have any law schools in your area, call them and see if they have a pro bono practice or clinical classes where they take cases to train students.