Have you or a loved one been harmed by a medical error at a hospital or doctor’s office? We would like to hear your story.
(Your personal information will remain completely confidential unless you give us permission to use or share it below.)
Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability, with respect to either your own experience or the experience of your loved one who had a medical error occur. Questions marked with an "*" must be answered, while other questions are optional. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Your personal experience can really help us stop medical errors in the future!
This is not a scientific survey.
[1] Consumers Union Action Fund, Inc. ("CU Action Fund") is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. CU Action Fund is affiliated with Consumers Union of United States, Inc. ("CU"), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit testing and information organization serving consumers. CU Action Fund's purpose is to educate the public regarding consumer rights and consumer safety issues and to advocate policies, legislation and regulation that ensure a fair and safe marketplace for consumers, among other advocacy activities. CU Action Fund engages in (1) nonpartisan voter education activity; (2) increased lobbying activity to pass legislation in states and in Congress; (3) work on consumer oriented ballot measures; and (4) to a greater extent than CU, in member education about elections. If you would like to learn more about CU Action Fund, visit www.cuactionfund.org.
Here are the most recently published stories about medical errors from people like you.
On June 9, 2008, my brother, Kenneth Novak died due to the terrible mistake of two anesthesiologists at a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, FL. While central lines were being placed into his internal jugular vein to prepare for a liver transplant, the catheter/needle was advanced too far, perforating both the jugular and right subclavian artery. My brother bled to death.
On September 30 of 1991, a simple forceps biopsy was performed (in my chest of a massive 13cm tumor) to diagnose, and/or grade and stage Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A surgical accident occured during this biopsy
In 2008, my Dad was in a local hospital where he was given a sulfa medication, despite the fact that he was wearing a red wrist band warning about his well-documented life-threatening sulfa allergy, and despite that many medical references do not support this off-label use of the drug in my Dad’s medical condition. Furthermore, without an emergency, the doctor and the nurses never informed my Dad or me (his medical power of attorney at the hospital 24/7) about the drug being a sulfa drug, or any of its risks. We even repeatedly asked the doctor about the drug risks before its administration. Yet the doctor withheld all this critical drug information, and lied about the drug risks (which turned out to be significant to my Dad). We later learned that there was also a plan to monitor my Dad after the first dose to watch for an anaphylactic drug reaction. But no one told us anything about this monitoring plan, even after my Dad showed signs of a serious drug reaction.
On November 14, 2003, I suffered two brainstem strokes after having an upper neck manipulation. Initially, I lost speech, feeling in my right side, had a facial droop and slurred speech. When admitted to the stroke center, I found out that this is a known risk of chiropractic upper neck manipulations.
In 1976 I had my back operated on (because I had a ruptured disk) and the doctor fused my back wrong. In 1978, a neurologist tried to fix it, but the damage was too extensive. I have had chronic pain every since.
My wife’s life was shortened by hepatitis C which she contracted at a clinic in Minnesota. I can give you proof. When my wife arrived at the clinic, after multiple tests, it was determined that she had no physical problem, but needed psychiatric treatment. (NOTE: No elevated liver enzymes.) As we were awaiting a taxi to depart a month later, three doctors suddenly appeared (why THREE doctors?). They said her liver enzymes were “slightly elevated”, and when we got back home to Clearwater, FL, we should have them checked. A week later she was diagnosed with hepatitis C, and later died of liver failure as a result.
My mother had hip surgery during which the doctor, unbeknownst to my mother or her rehab crew, severed a nerve. After several months of my mother not getting the mobility or correct walking gait back, the doctor insisted it would only take more rehab.
Podiatrist A negligently severed a tendon in my toe while removing a bone spur, causing the toe to rotate. Podiatrist B only performed half of the operation necessary to repair it, causing the condition to worsen. Hopefully, Podiatrist C has been successful, but the jury is still out.
In 2006, I was having a Medtronic morphine pump put into my body and the catheter placed into my spinal column. The surgery proceeded well until the surgeon asked the anesthesiologist to give me a shot of antibiotic. The anesthesiologist gave me another dose of the paralytic agent instead of the antibiotic. This caused me to stop breathing and to wake up during the surgery.
Beginning in 1994, my wife Betty LeBlanc was misdiagnosed for more than four years with fibromyalgia. Because we have no approved accurate laboratory test for Lyme disease my wife and thousands like her have been and continue to be misdiagnosed.
The Safe Patient Project is a Consumers Union campaign focused on eliminating medical harm, improving FDA oversight of prescription drugs and promoting disclosure laws that give information to consumers about health care safety and quality.