Show Medical malpractice victim tells her story rc Second of a three part series on medical malpractice Maria I. I Von Vimar Feature Editor HE high incidence of TI THE medical malpractice in Utah has become a real concern concern concern con con- cern to most Sara Jones an alias for a psychology major at talks about how medical negligence turned her from froman froman froman an intelligent working mother to a helpless and confused woman unable to cope with the simplest demands of a clerical job Unemployment and divorce were the results She lost her job her husband her children She lost her memory At Jones is regaining regain- regain ing the college education she obtained ten years ago ReL ReL Reeducating Re L L. educating myself is like replacing the data bank I lost l with the brain damage explains explains explains ex ex- plains Jones Until August 16 1979 medical mishaps were something I had heard happened to someone else said Jones explaining that the the negligent medical care which rendered her disabled took place at a local hospital My liMy husband took me t 1 the local hospital to receive assistance on the delivery of i f i my fourth child the night of off f r August 16 1979 Everything i i r seemed as normal as previous us pregnancies But things were not normal at all It lilt was am a.m. the doctor doctor doctor doc doc- tor had just delivered my baby Sedated from the waist down I felt feIt no pain but my husband says that I complained complained complained com com- about something being wrong He said I looked uncomfortable and apprehensive apprehensive apprehensive ap ap- ap- ap and wouldn't let him leave the room saying I had a premonition that something was wrong The doctor dismissed my apprehensions apprehensions apprehensions ap ap- ap- ap with a pat on the shoulder and sent me to a recovery room Alone there I fell asleep At am a.m. a big w white ite clock with large black numbers numbers numbers num num- bers hanging on the white whitewall whitewall whitewall wall in front of my bed persistently persistently persistently per per- ticked away away Her husband told the nurse to bring more blankets He said she was shaking The temperature in the room was about 70 degrees I 1 had gone into shock the shock the sudden drop in body temperature was the indication I think Im I'm dying Help me meMy me My husband said those were the words I repeated dropping dropping dropping drop drop- ping in and out of conscious conscious- ness II At At am a.m. the clock was still ticking The doctor on call recognizing the colorless nails told the nurse to get some plasma At that point my husband and said he began to panic realizing I Iwas Iwas Iwas was hemorrhaging At am a.m. A plastic bag with thick red substance had been hooked up to drip into the same IV tv tube feeding into the vein This brought me out of unconsciousness The next day at 1030 am a.m. the doctor told us that I had hemorrhaged internally since he delivered the baby last night He couldn't understand understand understand un un- what happened but said I had had a close call He told us that large doses of plasma would coni conj continue con- con i j ti to be administered to tome tome tome me and that an exploratory surgery of the abdomen to search for the cause of bleeding would take place as soon as possible My liMy husband was concerned concerned concerned con con- with the large amounts of plasma being given to me Dr Noname Ignored ignored ignored ig ig- Ig- Ig nored his questions about the serious side effects linked with large dosages of plasma- plasma kidney failure and possible death This process occurs when the body runs out of enough body fluid to mix with the plasma The kidneys kidneys kidneys kid kid- then reject the plasma failing to filter it b back ck into the system The result is death by blood poisoning Jones saidI saidI saidI said I asked my husband to get me a new d doctor He reque requested requested re- re que quested ted an obstetrics- obstetrics gynecologist who had previously treated me He would be the surgeon jn in charge of my case from then on Jones believes this doctor doctor doctor doc doc- tor saved her life The liThe doctor scheduled surgery immediately said Jones On liOn August 17 at pm p.m. my husband said I was barely h holding on when they wheeled me into the operating operating operating ing room Jones continued her story as told to her by her hus hus- band The liThe first doctor was there to observe surgery He wanted to be sure the medical medical medical medi medi- cal team came to an accurate diagnosis and wouldn't mistakenly mistakenly mistakenly mis mis- blame him for the state which I was in More than three hours passed before they sent me to the ICU Intensive Care Unit But it took ten days before I was conscious enough to notice all the tubes and machines my body was hooked up to I was still alive The liThe next day the doctor came in to explain to us that the internal bleeding had been caused by the ruptured uterus How did my uterus get ruptured I asked He wanted to be vague perhaps out of professional loyalty to But later explaining he would not testify if I decided to sue he explained that the hole in the uterus was caused while the placenta was delivered Jones ones found out later that the placenta the thick skin-like skin sack which holds the fluids and protects the fetus until birth must have attached itself to the uterus wall waIl preventing its natural detachment It must have been tugged at to be expelled expelled expelled ex ex- ex- ex Jones said If the doctor had examined examined examined ex ex- ex- ex the placenta he o would have seen the pieces of the uterus attached to it This was evidence that rupture rupture rup- rup ture had occurred and explained explained explained ex- ex the bleeding The second surgery resulted in removal of the uterus and one ovary The doctor said that during the surgery the vital signs monitor had shown no signs of life for more than seven minutes I had technically technically technically cally died for almost ten minutes Six minutes is usually the maximum time the brain can be depleted of oxygen without suffering serious permanent permanent permanent per per- manent damage the doctor told me I didn't know how much brain damage I had suffered until later The next several days a neurologist spent a lot lotof lotof lotof of time testing my ability to respond to simple com com- He said it was impossible to assess the extent of the damage as there was too little little little lit lit- tle time since its occurrence and the hospital wasn't equipped with the more sophisticated at d. d instruments to to- to H accurately measure low level brain damage But he was sure I had lost patches of my memory Jones said she didn't feel any different at first The liThe extent of the brain damage was known only later when I couldn't remember remember ber her how to perform the simplest of tasks on my job as asa asa asa a secretary And then later when I visited family and friends and they were all strangers to me With her memory partially partial partial- ly gone it was hard to make connections with the present and Jones became confused frustrated and helpless r |