Medical error can have devastating effects. Here, in their own words, Connecticut families tell the stories of how medical error changed their lives forever.
Barbara Lucas
From May 8 until our mother died on June 23, 2003, we had someone with her 24 hours a day. We had to. We could make sure medication arrived on time and that it was the right medication. We were the continuity of care that patients so desperately need yet are not getting in today's hospitals.
Confusion over prescriptions; differences in what physicians said they were prescribing and what was given; lack of communication on how the drugs were to be delivered, specialists prescribing drugs without a comprehensive understanding of medical history; weekend "blackouts" of care; confusion over who had the ultimate medical responsibility - all were the order of the day.
In today's medical delivery system our family had to understand and coordinate her care in the hands of a pulmonologist, cardiologist, vascular surgeon, primary care physician, colorectal surgeon, and an infectious disease specialist.
Add to that the ever-changing nursing staff, hospital residents and doctors covering for other doctors.
With our mother, we lived in a bureaucratic healthcare maze that challenged and frustrated us and put her at great risk. Among all those health "care givers" there was little understanding of the whole person that was my mother. Many times it seemed to be diagnosis by specialty.
Our mother has died. Was there prescription error and bad medicine practiced? Absolutely. Does this rise to a medical malpractice lawsuit? It may not. But one way our family can go forward and honor our mother is to let the public know that they are at risk. Even with 24-hour advocates it is often not enough. We must demand coordinated care, computerized prescription entry and, for the elderly, computerized patient care. If doctors cannot talk to each other, perhaps the computer can talk to them.
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