Three Black Spots

To sue or not to sue

Michael is an ex-friend of ours in the Windy City. He was rushed from his office in Chicago with an emergency stomach condition, and got his surgery done at one of Chicago’s best hospitals. It took him months to recover, and he still kept feeling horrible. The doctors did a scan, and discovered that they seemed to have left behind some swabs during the surgery. They opened him up again, took the stuff out, and he was back to being as good as new.

All over his office the discussion ranged from “Do you know what happened to poor Michael” to “His kids are now set for life”. The Comptroller did the calculation on how the settlement from the hospital should be handled for tax purposes. Of course they would settle – who wants to be known as the hospital that leaves behind swabs after surgery. Michael who fancied himself a bit of a comic said “I hope my lawyers are better than my doctors”. No one really ever found out how large the settlement was, but the only question was whether it reached seven figures, or did they stop in the high sixes.

We had our own “sue-able” moment a few months ago with Yoda. A scan in Bombay showed that he had some stones in the bladder. Not too big, but definitely there. They were still there in NYC a couple of months later, and we were recommended surgery. The doctors at NYC Vet are good, and Yoda’s care is always overseen by George – his vet and our good friend for the last 15 years.

Four days later, Yoda was operated on. We dropped him off the day before, and sought to ease our separation anxiety by going shopping. The doctor called us the next day right after surgery. I heard Mina respond to him with a series of strained ‘ Uhmmms’. When she said ‘So I guess the surgery was completely unnecessary’ I knew that this was not good.

Dr Greenberg is a nice enough young man, who explained it all to us. Yoda’s scan from 4 days before showed the stones in place. The X Ray they did right before the surgery did not show any stones, but sometimes these are not seen on X Rays. He and Dr Ferreri did a consultation and determined that they should go ahead with the surgery. They could not take the chance that the stones were still in there, since if they shifted, it could be life threatening for Yoda.

‘Why didn’t you take another scan if the X Rays didn’t show the stones?’ This was Mina at her incisive best getting straight to the point. ‘With the wisdom of hindsight, we should have done that, but we made a good faith judgment call. We asked ourselves what we would have done if Yoda was our dog, and the answer was to go ahead with the surgery’.

Ayesha was appalled when she heard the story. “The poor dog, to go through an unnecessary surgery, at this age” came first. Followed by “You should make the hospital return the money they charged you”.

Here’s the dilemma. We like the hospital, we like the doctors, and we feel that they may have made a good faith mistake of judgment. The larger dilemma – we come from India, where thanks to an extraordinarily powerful medical lobby it is almost unheard of cases against doctors actually succeeding. 95% of the suits filed never go through because no doctor is ever willing to testify against another. Suing doctors, or asking for your money back is not in our genes. Or maybe we’re just wimps who don’t want to confront unpleasantness.

“Mother, in all my experience when there is any medical malpractice, it is because the protocols either failed, or they were not in place. It’s common sense that if the X Rays on the morning of the surgery didn’t show the stones, they should have done a scan. The equipment is right there, it would not have taken more than a few minutes. Instead they put a 15 year old dog through unnecessary surgery, and made you pay a lot of money”.

“How can I ask for my money back?” “Mother, in plain and simple terms, Yoda is your asset, and they have damaged your asset. You should at least recover the money they charged you, even if you don’t want to ask for damages”.

We think Yoda is priceless, but to also think of him as an asset knocked us on our back. Specially when we are only too aware of his growing years, his failing eyesight, his diminished hearing. Is this what depreciation is all about?

Mina wears a big burden of guilt to this very day. ‘The poor boy depends totally on us, and I let him down. I should have found a way to protect him from this unnecessary surgery’. I don’t feel guilt, but a lot of anger. Every surgery takes its toll. I know. I had major surgery about 18 months ago, and I’m still not 100%.

So, what are we to do? Talk to the hospital, and ask for our money back? If we confront them, we can’t ever go back to them, and we think they are good, and what is more, they are nice people. Ayesha’s response “If they put Yoda through this, then perhaps they are not as good as you think they are. You don’t look for a hospital to be nice, you want them to be effective”.

If we do nothing, will we always be saddled with Mina’s guilt and my anger and frustration?

I know that if any surgeons had left swabs inside me, I would be introducing Ayesha as my lawyer to them, and not have any second thoughts. An unnecessary surgery is a lot worse than leaving swabs behind. So why are we being so nice and polite?

To speak up or not to speak up. To sue or not to sue. That is the question we are still wrestling with.

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