Did The System Fail Us?

If I were to ask that question of myself I don’t think I would know where to begin. In one family so many medical mistakes, and it’s okay by everyone? Well! It’s Not Okay!!

The medical mistakes I have been confronted with are many but here are a few for you. The mother of this family needed a quad bypass which they realised wasn’t needed only to find the patient had lung cancer. In one year a quad bypass and diagnosis with lung cancer from an xray that was taken from the wrong position. It was the final check to make sure surgery for the quad bypass had gone to plan. Shortly after, while still healing from the heart surgery, she commences chemotherapy for lung cancer. If it weren’t for that mistake by the radiologist they would not have found the cancer until it was too late.

Another, the second oldest daughter in the same family was diagnosed with bone degeneration to the state where, as the doctors said, ” it is bone rubbing against bone that is creating the problem and muscular issues. This person was sent to physio and put on an exercise regimen only to find out after an MRI two months later that was requested by the family did they find that this person had Myeloma. By this stage it was too late and had turned into Multiple Myeloma, she died three months after the MRI.

Another from the same family, fourth oldest son, was diagnosed with a double cancer, tongue and throat, but the system lost his paper work for eighteen weeks. When they finally realised eighteen weeks later he ended up at Emergency Department at the local hospital, they kept him in ED knowing for a fact that he was a cancer patient but they didn’t transfer him to their cancer ward. Nine hours later his oncologist saw him in ED and asked what he was doing there. He replied saying, “They were waiting for you as they could not find any paperwork in their system.” His siblings took a small break as he was doing well for 10 days over Christmas with their families as they had been there from September to Christmas in 2018. The medical team and Hospital at Home team were asked to ensure he was okay daily, they said he would have home vists each day and keep his siblings in touch while they were away, they did not.

What they also did was when the controlled morphene shots turned up at his place place, they also left all other medication and did not clear them out as they were told by his oncology team. They left him through the Christmas period with a partner who suffered badly with Multiple Sclerosis to administer medication. She made a mistake by giving him medication because she thought he was to still have the older medication as well. She overdosed with Oxycontin 1ml liquid at 300ml each day until she ran out and that was on top of the morphene drip he had in his arm with regular doses. The endone and oxycontin tablets overdosed as well and because of that mistake, that overdose, it eventually killed him almost one month later.

Do I think the system has failed us? Yes! I have seen it too many times in my own family and it is unfortunate I am now seeing it adain with my partner going through mental health.