Patient rights and Information.....your right for information..
A fortnight ago I was admitted to Waikato Hospital for bladder day surgery.....
so there I am all kitted out in my white stockings etc., on the bed waiting to be rolled into theater.....Several theater personnel came up and introduced themselves, Claire then dashing Tom the anesthetist, one of the Nicks, then a tallish young man who said he was doing the surgery. He said' I am going to put something toxic into your body' , I bolted upright, what? no one has told me about this? he said something else which I couldn't understand. I said I am not very happy at all about this, no one has said anything to me about this procedure, my immediate reaction was something toxic through my body ! eeek! what! as he walked away his very words were' YOU HAVE NO SAY!' eh, that was the wrong thing to say to me and news for him, I had every say.....Tom, the nice anesthetist explained it was to be put it in the bladder, he could see I was quite upset, as he put in the lure, a real nice chap as were the two Nicks! Half an hr later surgery done, back in the ward the lovely Debra (nurse) came around and asked me what I was going to do, I replied, not one damn person has mentioned anything about this treatment to me until I was seconds off being wheeled into theater. I want to know what's going to be put into my body, I am an rh negative blood group and have had real nasty reactions to some drugs! Debra came back with a pamphlet, called Epirubicin Bladder Treatment, this was very scarce on info, just the very basic procedure, no mention of much else at all..ie told you the treatment, not what the substance was or what the side effects where, how would it effect ones love life for instance? so I said no, I want to look this up on the Internet.The Dr in question came around later to check on us, not very happy with me and said as he went out of the ward 'you will be back' charming!
This was well after 6 30 now, Debra kindly got us all sussed out for the 2hr trip home re parking, thanks Debra it had been a long long day!
On the Internet, I found 'Epirubicin' is a chemo therapy treatment, Epirubicin is an anti-cancer (antineoplastic or cytotoxic) chemotherapy drug
some of the side effects can be pretty horrid,a serious but uncommon side effect of epirubicin can be interference with the pumping action of the heart,
loss of hair etc., nausea, bleeding, low blood count etc.,
For both men and women: Do not conceive a child (get pregnant) while taking epirubicin?
and that it cannot escape from the bladder, well that was one plus they didn't even mention, but then they didn't mention ANYTHING!
The whole point here is:
Patient information, I should have been informed and definitely had the opportunity of discussing this chemo treatment with a Dr re what they had decided to give me. and how many treatments etc.,? Before going into surgery I should have been relaxed and WELL informed of the all effects and side effects, the benefits and the downside. But nothing not a word was said, not one solitary word.....and for the young Dr in question, yes no doubt I will be back, and perhaps take the treatment on the information I have NOW gathered for myself, but hey that's my choice!
So my advice is, BE INFORMED, IT IS YOUR RIGHT!

Gidday

Methinks you are a littke pissed off Eh!

Don't blame you.

Our nephew in-law if you know what I mean, went into Waikato hospit for cemo for a cancer he has. When he got settled down in the hospital bed a charge nurse came and asked him what he was there for.

Sick!

The next time he was going in, on the morning of that day the hospital phoned and said it had been cancelled so not to come in. Then later that afternoon the hospital phoned him again and asked why he wasn't there, so he had to drop everything and get there in a rush.

Another time he was in the bed and a doctor came and read the chart as asked how he was and what treatment he was there for, then when he answered the doctor said, "Oh! this isn't your chart. We keep getting your chart mixed up."


Our so called health system is real sick.

Yes Old Jack. lol I have got madder as the weeks have gone on and I was in so much pain, for what I didn't say before is the dumb sod @ Waikato Hospital also washed me out with POVIDONE/IODINE SOLUTION, which gave me a very very severe painful reaction in the bladder as I am allergic to Iodine, which is on my hospital records, I have been in severe pain and the bladder started bleeding after 2weeks... b***ger me days, that's the second time that this has happened, 1st was in Taumaranui Hospital, went in for gallstones years ago, they gave me a white mixture to drink for xrays, going out of the Hospital, my neck started to itch like mad with livid red welts! I said crikey this hospital has FLEAS! Not so funny next day as my face had swelled up like balloon overnight and my eyes two little holes..eeeek! Doc gave me a tablet and it reversed in a couple of days thank heavens for that!..an radioactive/iodine reaction, now this is the second violent very painful reaction in Waikato Hospital when its states on my records quite clearly/NO IODINE my poor bladder felt like a raw piece of meat, damn them!
so methinks I will invest in a medic aleRt allergy bracelet before situation no 3 comes up, now don't you think thats a good idea or tattoo it across my stomach. 'rh B negative-NO IODINE!'
Don't worry I have laid two complaints, we will see what happens...

And sicker every day OJ. Waikato is stepping its cardiac surgery up to 600 next year from about 400. While this is admirable for those on waiting lists, the only way they can do this is to send patients ( all going well) home 4 - 5 days after surgery. At the same time they are cutting home support services and district nurse visits. The team I am with contact all surgery patients at home within a week. We are hearing horror stories about 70 yr old husbands/wives left to care for these patients, grown men in tears in post operative pain, and GP's who dont know much about cardiac surgery telling them to take panadol 4 hourly for pain.

In saying this we have great cardiac surgeons here...its just that there doesnt seem to be any aftercare set in place.

For those of you that have had this surgery (bypass and valve replacements) how would you feel about going home 4-5 days later?

Ah well I suppose we'll read what a wonderful job Tony Ryall has done getting surgery waiting lists down.

Waikato Hospital does a great job, my hip surgery last year was A 1 PLUS, the surgeon my hero, my other day trips for bladder opp have been all okay, no problems, but I hit the grey area this last time, it was a disaster, I did note that a couple surgical staff were a bit tired, and possibly over worked, so mistakes do happened, just my bad luck that day

Oh you are going to love this, well re my compaint about being given iodine surgical irrigation bladderwash.( being allergic to iodine) in 2010..no conclusive answer from Waikato...blah..blah excuses....they weren't going to own up to a mistake!...however one has just had another pre operative check this week and the Doctor said..wait for it......they had given me iodine in error!...bloody Norah...even though it is written all over my hospital records 'NO IODINE' ...and she said next time write it in indelible ink on yourself.....serious, no joking here.....oh my.....do you wonder I am a mite hesitant to go into surgery again..I mean to say when one is pegged out unconscious, one would hope that the theatre staff can read the necessary intructions.... .......!

When our surgery is done, well day surgery anyway, those with an allergy wear the red theatre hat,, and those without,,,a white hat so not only is it on the notes,,, and on your bracelet,,, but all the staff can visibly see the patient has an allergy AZ..

Maybe a suggestion for that where your op was done might be good...

Do hope all comes right for you , It is a worry and hopefully a one off..


Cheers Kai

What a brilliant Idea Kai, wonder if Waikato Hospital would do that, must suggest it,...as you can tell I'm' getting really sick of having to keep on telling them to be careful and NOT give me medical iodine....and they wonder why my blood pressure goes up lol thanks for your good wishes.... AZ

Alienzone, check all medications at www.Medsafe.govt.nz. They have allthe information on meds that are licenced in New Zealand. If you can't find your one there, ring the MOH, pronto.

My neighbour had a hernia op last week/ he had to go private as they don't do them in Public here. His wife was over yesterday with the itemised account. Total $7000 +. Looking down the list of stuff included the prices ranged from $3. 55 to $3000. What is charged for is amazing. Even a disposable bowl $7.All up we counted 42 instances where a charge was made.

He only stayed overnight and the the day after he was home he informs his wife that an anaesthetic needle was still in his arm. He was to have blood tests that day at the doctors so the hospital told him to have his doctor remove it. Imagine the millions he could have made if he was in USA.

Wow, Joybel, sounds like the way they bill patients for hospital stays in the USA!

We all have the right to question and refuse treatment.
Just make sure that the consequences of that refusal are explained and that the person refusing the treatment understands that the outcome of their refusal is their responsibility.
Simple really. And it frees up staff, beds, health spending, resources etc for those who want to get better.