A broken bone left me feeling forced to go to the ER. The attending physician was good in that he…read morefound the fracture, even though the radiologist said there was none. They left a resident to set my bone, but he was very sleepy and very poorly trained. He was not supervised while doing it, and he made three major mistakes. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I told him three things that should have prompted him not to make those mistakes, but he made them anyway. I pointed out an area of pain after he finished setting the area, but he just glanced at it and threw his hands up as though he was upset that I mentioned it. Then, he stared at my face, unresponsive. I'd been calm and patient throughout, but bizarre behavior concerned me. I didn't feel safe with his trance-like gaze and lack of response to the pain. I had told him it would have to be fixed before I left, but he refused. He could have called in his attending physician, but he didn't. He was ready to discharge me with an improperly set bone that ignored three significant precautions he should have taken. Since I was exhausted and sleepy, I told him it was fine so I could get out of there and seek care somewhere else. If I had been more rested, I would have insisted that he bring in the attending physician. Instead, I simply let them discharge me with an improperly set bone, in pain, and went home.
When I got home, I found the problem. I made e a temporary fix myself, waiting for my family to come home 14 hours later to help me make a better one. Then I returned to the hospital to have the bad splint cut off, with the standard procedures followed, the precautions taken, and the problem fixed. Until I did that, the first one was unsanitary and caused intense itching from bacterial overgrowth as he'd not sanitized the area; there were bloody abrasions in an area not close to the broken bone, and there was swelling from him jamming two body parts tightly together without precautions. The resident clearly had no idea what he was doing, as the situation was not complex. All he had to do was properly sanitize the area, protect a specific area from abrasion after swelling began to subside, and prepare the area so that no collateral damage was caused by the way he set the bone. He did none of that, though I had pointed out those three issues. Instead of getting help to find the cause of the pain, something I was able to do myself at home, he simply wrote that I had experienced a psychological problem. I looked that up, and I had displayed ZERO symptoms of that or any other psychological problem. He just used that as an excuse not to address the pain his very poor performance caused.
When I talked to the surgeon about addressing that baseless diagnosis, the surgeon blew it off, though he easily could have told the resident to address it, especially since my having to replace the splint quickly left plenty of evidence that his bad performance was the issue.
The surgeon then tried to dismiss me from physical therapy after only one session, though I was unable to use that part of my body, it was mangled-looking, and there was intense pain and immobility in a large area. I did everything as directed. Rather than investigating, the surgeon laughed it off, saying, "No pain, no gain!"
He dismissed me without addressing that area and without my having full functioning of my body part. The records said I did, but that was absolutely not true. I had to read medical literature on my own and use kitchen utensils to try to fix the affected areas, and it was painful.
Because of the delay in diagnosing the large areas of many thick and painful adhesions (with me having to self-diagnose) and because I'm not a medical professional, there was no way for me to get them addressed well by myself. I did the best I could, but years later, I'm still unable to straighten that area or use it normally. In fact, it caused limited blood flow, and I had to figure out on my own how to improve it. Two areas shriveled over the years due to inadequate blood flow caused by undiagnosed adhesions.
To top it off, that surgeon was supposed to send approval for transportation since I couldn't drive with the fracture, but he repeatedly failed to do so, leaving me stranded and suspected of fraud by my insurance company.
In one appt, he made grotesque faces and wildly waved his arms while speaking in a nicer tone than usual. That was after a badgeless man who claimed to be a doctor came in his place and asked me inappropriate questions for the situation, claiming the surgeon was not there.
To top it off, a surprise phone appointment with the surgeon featured him slurring his words the entire time.
Very unprofessional all around. Not exactly what you'd expect from someone paid 7 figures every year.
