Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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Would it change the outcome?
The other day I was asked if I ever considered pursuing a case against the hospital where Emily's two ultrasound were done. For those that have never heard the "ultrasound from hell" story; I will give you a brief synopsis.
Matt and I went in for our first ultrasound. It was just a routine thing, more to find out the sex of the baby and to make sure he/she was growing normally. I was an "advanced age" pregnancy, so they felt it was necessary. We went in and had the ultrasound done. We were told we were having a girl and we went on our way. It took no more time than normal and I put it far from my mind.
Almost a month later I received a call from a doctor at the hospital. Due to some measurement issues with one of Emily's kidney's, they wanted to do a follow up ultrasound. He told me that it could quite possibly prove to be nothing, but that we would need another ultrasound at 30 weeks just to be sure. I was terrified, but knew there wasn't much we could do but wait the other 8 or so weeks.
The next ultrasound is now known as the "ultrasound from hell". It lasted well over two hours with me almost passing out more than once. The technician couldn't find the kidney issue, then she couldn't locate the fourth chamber of Emily's heart. By this time, Matt and I had come to the conclusion that this woman couldn't find her nose on her face and were just ready to end the entire thing. After more than half an hour of her searching for the fourth chamber, she called in her supervisor.
He spent less than five minutes looking and declared the fourth chamber in place. Again, Matt and I had been through the ringer with the first tech, so we just assumed her inept. It would prove to be the worse assumption we have ever made.
As you all now know, Emily was only born with technically three chambers. The two very large holes between the third and fourth chamber made for just one very large one. We discovered that about day six or seven. It all blends together now.
I was more than angry that it hadn't been discovered, but I never thought about pursuing anything with the courts. It wasn't going to change the fact that Emily needed heart surgery. It wasn't suddenly going to close those holes and make her heart perfect. Matt and I knew that the best thing that we could do was focus on getting Emily healthy.
It is a decision that to this day I do not regret.
Emily had her heart surgery and has done wonderfully. I have come together with other parents of children with heart issues and have witnessed amazing progress in educating those in the medical field about the importance of catching heart issues in utero.
I think our time has been better spent focusing on how to prevent this from happening to other families as opposed to trying to right a supposed wrong for our family.
It wouldn't have changed our outcome, but perhaps through the work of organizations like Its My Heart we can make sure it changes the outcome for other families.
It is the flu talking so if this makes no sense, blame that.
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Comments (11)
That wasn't the flu talking momma
That was a gracious and profound way to simply say that the focus was not and should not be on anything other than your baby girl Emily. You did good, That was Lovely!!!
@P1AutismMom@autisable - Aw, thank you.
Whoa. I would've been bothered too. Though I am not sure I would take legal course either.
At most, I would have contacted the hospital that did the ultrasounds to reccomend that blind tech and the blind person leading her both receive further training. And I say that, of course, while I have all the time in the world, but if put in the actual situation, even that much would likely take a backseat for caring for my baby.
@filtered_sunlight - I had thoughts of doing such a thing, but I realized it was a pointless effort. The poor woman that I thought was so stupid was actually the one in the right the entire time. It was her supervisor that I wanted to deck.
@gwacemom - I'd still question why in the world it took her an hour and a half to get to the point of seeking another opinion...but I'm very anti-medical professionals most of the time so I'm bias. (And, of course, because my opinion of them tends to be so negative, I probably would have assumed that nothing would have come of it anyway and not bothered. LOL)
@filtered_sunlight - Oh, we were questioning everything about that woman. It was just such a nightmare day.
I now know not to sit quietly and let others lead my destiny.
Honestly, in some ways I would argue (given the outcome that Em is currently healthy) that it was better that you didnt find out at that ultrasound. What would you have done those weeks until she was born? You would have stressed and freaked out. You wouldnt have been any help to the children you had at home. And you wouldnt have been doing any favors for Em with the stress.
So all things considered? It isnt really a bad thing that it all turned out the way it did.
I am so enjoying your blog. You are such an inspiration!
You know a lot of doctor seems like they are not even awake when they go to work. For them, our kids are just 1 of the millions, for us they are 1 of the few precious. Doctor wants to make alot of money in a lease possible time.
When my wife was 5 months during pregnancy, doctor told her it is a boy, then 6 month we go in, he said its a girl. We told the doctor, you said it was a boy. At first he denied it, then he ensure us that this is a girl. At month 8 we did another screening, the doctor said it's a boy again. For real, what's the whole point of gender screening if he keep saying different thing. So we didn't bother buying any clothes till Nathan was born.
@der_lila_Stern@xanga - @JesusRules08@xanga - I have said often that for us, not finding out what was going on was the best thing. I remember my minor stress freak out over the potential kidney issue that really wasn't a huge deal even if it had been a problem. Can you imagine how I would have been to hear she had Down syndrome AND a heart malfunction?? Yikes.
I don't handle stress well and even after she was here and I was holding her and knew she was going to be fine, those books still scared the beezeejus out of me. Had I read them while she was still "cooking" I would have just been one big stress ball.
Some have disagreed with me, but for myself and Matt; this was the best way. I was still really angry though. LOL