Stomach shape

[Dawn]

I finally got my appointment with the surgeon to go over my swallow xray test. I go for balloon scope dilation on Mon.

However I'm shocked at the mess of what my stomach looks like.Instead of looking like a banana sleeve shape it's more like a scoop of ice cream on a cone. Instead of taking down the RNY pouch he took the pouch stitched it to a sleeve bottom. So where the sleeve and pouch meet it where the leak was and now the stricture.

Will it look better once the stricture is gone? Won't know until it's done. I asked him what happened to our agreement that the rny would be completely taken down he said it was better for me like this cause there was less cutting and rearranging to recover from.

 

[DianaCox]

You may need to see about getting Keshishian or Rabkin to fix you. I would guess for cash, since I would guess that you aren't going to easily find ANYONE in Canada to fix the botched work of another Canadian surgeon. Maybe Gagner, since the intestines are already (we assume) properly configured (and he won't have an excuse to try to foist off a SADI on you)?

And now, a PSA using you as the object lesson: This is why we are VERY VERY selective about which surgeons we refer people for revisions, especially RNY to DS.

ETA: OH, THE ARROGANCE! You had an agreement, and he decided to ignore it???

 

[JackieOnLine]

I asked him what happened to our agreement that the rny would be completely taken down he said it was better for me like this cause there was less cutting and rearranging to recover from.

OMG


I am so sorry, Dawn.

 

[Dawn]

I won't be getting anyone to fix it. I will be living with my franken-guts. I couldn't afford to go anywhere and pay.

Yes I find it frustrating that I didn't get what we agreed on. The only paper I signed stated a rny reversal to sleeve. Now I'm half rny half sleeve. I feel like an experiment.

 

[Munchkin]

I am very sorry Dawn!

 

[DianaCox]

What is the procedure for complaining about a surgeon not doing what was agreed, and doing something that is not standard of care? To whom can you complain for redress of your botched procedure?

And I am sorry this was done to you - I'm sure there is some chance that it will end up OK - the body has an amazing ability to heal itself.

 

[JackieOnLine]

I, for one, was hoping you would know!

 

[DianaCox]

I, for one, was hoping you would know!

I don't know how it works in Canada.

 

[JackieOnLine]

Dawn, I hope the dilation goes well. after it's over, you want we should come over and kick the guy?

 

[Elizabeth N.]

Which arrogant asshole did this, so we can warn away from him in the future?

I'm so sorry :-(. This really sucks, and I sure hope you have some legal recourse.

 

[DianaCox]

I believe it was Dennis Hong, which is too bad, because I thought it was promising that another Canadian DS surgeon existed, the only one in the province of Ontario, and apart from Gagner (whose behavior has been questionable the last few years) and the gaggle of them with Marceau (who publishes that he has a huge cohort of successful DSers, but I've never met a one of them - after going on 12 years on the message boards - are they all solely French speakers??).

 

[Larra]

They are probably all French speaking. The Marceau group is out of Laval, which is a French speaking hospital and medical school. Actually, once you leave Montreal, Quebec is mostly French, and the hospitals and medical schools, apart from McGill in Montreal, are French. While many educated people in Quebec are bilingual, the system there is very different.
Since this revision was supposed to be RNY to sleeve, not to DS, it's possible that Dr. Hong wasn't the surgeon. But I don't know.

 

[jillc]

@Dawn I'm so sorry. As a fellow Canuck I really feel for you.


The rest below is about litigation and my opinion of it in Canada.
Litigation is not common Canada. Medical litigation even less so. The proof has to be rock solid and extensive and mostly documented. The country is just not as litigious, which has advantages and disadvantages.

When my brother passed away, there were many, many mistakes and blunders made. We looked into litigation and paid for a lawyer that specializes in medical litigation. We had some proof, but the lawyer looked over the proof and advised us there was not enough to prove a case. It was extremely hard to take as some of the mistakes made were easily provable and by the looks of it on the surface we had a case.

I just did a quick search online and this article from last year confirms how rare medical litigation occurs and/or succeeds in Canada. Below is an excerpt (bolding is mine):
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life...ada-arent-good-says-new-book/article10812604/
From 2005 to 2010, only 4,524 lawsuits were filed against Canadian doctors. During that five-year period, 3,089 claims were dismissed or abandoned “because the court dismissed the claim or the victim or the victim’s family quit, ran out of money or died before trial,” according to McKiggan.

And out of 521 cases that went to trial, only 116 led to a judgment that favoured the patient. And the median damage awarded was just $117,000, he noted.

“Of more than 4,000 lawsuits filed against doctors from 2005 to 2010, only 2 per cent resulted in trial verdicts for the victim.”

 

[brooklyngirl]

I'm sorry you're going through this @Dawn , and I don't want you to feel pestered by my need to understand details, so maybe someone with medical knowledge can chime in- what was the surgeon actually supposed to do vs. what he did do? I don't understand the difference between attaching the pouch to a sleeve and "taking down the RNY pouch" and creating a sleeve. Does that mean put the pouch back to the stomach and THEN create the sleeve shape? So it would be cutting through what was the blind stomach AND the pouch, as opposed to cutting the blind stomach and attaching the pouch to that?

 

[Dawn]

Yes it was Dr Hong I guess it just goes to show you get what you pay for and since OHIP paid this is what I get. Yes @brooklyngirl that's pretty accurate.