Did you Receive Appropriate Care at your Hospital?

Overall, the care was good, and they made sure to find a psychologist to talk to, and she helped keep me from getting depressed. The staff wasn't very knowledgeable about SCI. The hospital I went to this last September was amazing, however. My pre-op and post-op care was spectacular. And my neurosurgeon and urologist are awesome.

My response is on behalf of my daughter, and I've voted accordingly. That aside, a few of the possible responses applied, so it would have been easier to divide the questionnaire into possibly 4 separate questionnaires (and still not covered the lot).

As I'm an observer of my daughter's treatment from inception, and privy to daily conversation as well as personal observation, I'll provide comments from my perspective with reasons.

In Australia there's a constant fight between State & the Federal Government regarding funding for Public Health. As a consequence hospitals are understaffed and more often than not inadequately managed. Most hospitals have beds that 'are closed'. For example, the principal spinal care hospital in Melbourne, the Austin Hospital, has an entire wing of the ICU unused (about 12 beds), so injured patients in other hospitals have to wait until the used section has an available bed.

Also because of the lack of funding, the level of care is generally substandard with one nurse having to attend a greater number of patients. My daughter had a 'code blue' when her ventilator line disconnected when there were no nurses on the ward.

The Doctors have a tendency to destroy patients hope before they've even had a chance to recover from their physical injuries by telling them they'll never move or walk again. They've been proven wrong on countless occasions. I personally know several who can now attend to a lot of their own care and can stand and walk with the help of crutches or frame.

In the case of severe high cervical spine injuries with an apparent quadriplegic outcome, they ask the family or patient "Does he/she want to live?" then giving them the worst imaginable prognosis. I can cite two recent cases where, having destroyed the injured persons hope of recovery during the worst possible time (within days or a couple of weeks of their accident), the patients were sedated and allowed to die.

Following my daughter's accident I was told every day for the first 13 days that she wasn't going to live, then, when she was transferred to the Austin, the first question I was asked on arrival, "Does she want to live?" I told the Doctor he was asking the wrong person and that he had to ask her. He did ... telling her that she'd be in hospital for at least 12 months, she'd have a lot of pain, and then she'd be in rehabilitation for about 12 months. She elected to live.

I could probably write a book about what happened from the time of her accident, but will leave it at that for this forum.

Either one of us are not qualified to answer this. Hindsight is always perfect, but who really knows if the paramedics did a proper job or the helicopter who lifted her to Sunnybrooke or the surgeon for fused her neck together or the day to  day nurses etc ...  etc ....  etc. .....

My accident was at home (population 2,000 or so) and consequently the emergency responders are all volunteer.  We have a small hospital here and naturally that is where I was taken once they assessed my situation.  The ER team there did a wonderful job in the critical early minutes after the accident.  They knew immediately once I arrived that my condition needed a level I trauma team - nearest one 100 miles away.  They immediately called for helicopter transport and during the time waiting for it to arrive they did X-rays and a ct scan to transmit to the trauma center so they knew what was coming.

Upon arrival there, their team re-confirmed the X-rays and ct scans.  They then conducted an MRI to assess spinal cord damage.  The good news started at that point when results showed only bruising and no tearing, ripping, severing or the like.  At that point they changed their treatment plan to repair the fractured C2,C3,C4.  They decided. To wait several days before the fusion surgery to allow time for the spinal cord to 'cool down'.  The surgery went as expected and was completely successful.  A halo was installed to keep the neck immobilized for the next 3 months. (Coming off next week!!)

During all phases of the process at the trauma center, I and all family members, were kept fully informed of the situation, what the risks were and the purpose of the procedure.  This center also is a teaching hospital so whenever the doc were there explaining to me they were also explaining to the trailing interns.  By the way, the interns were also very good, particularly with their bedside manner.  I got the impression that is a key part of the teaching process here.

As for my local hospital, they too, did everything correctly and kept us informed along the way.  They knew it was well beyond their skills - except for the initial response and actions......keep me immobilized, don't move the head, etc,etc.  The trauma center credited the actions of the local team for the results that have taken place.  I have full functionality of all limbs, bowels have returned and bladder is now coming back.  I will still have months of strength and coordination recovery but things are progressing well!