Coping with Hospital Employees' Wrong Measures

In some cases, hospitals are an easy place to get bacterias and viruses. I want to give you some tips, as a caregiver, that can help you. First, I'll tell you what happened to us.

When a patient has ascites, it is necessary to take out the liquid from inside the belly through a paracentesis procedure; Every time my husband needed to do it, we knew the possibility of getting an infection because his immunity was low. I, fortunately, could be beside him. It is essential to make sure everything is right, and if not, you can correct it in time. Yes, there are outstanding nurses and doctors, but there are also ones that are not so outstanding. Since I watched the procedure all the time, I knew exactly what I should see.

Our experience with a medical mistake

Wrong procedures can put the patient's life at risk. This time, the doctor was with a resident, and she asked him to do the procedure. He needed to cut the skin before putting the catheter inside to pull the liquid out; Instead, he tried to make a hole in my husband's skin with the catheter itself. My husband could not see what they were doing, but he felt the pain; The doctor beside the resident ignored it. I immediately saw what was happening and ask them to stop, but they didn't, and the doctor said they knew what they were doing. Yes, I got angry and asked again to stop because they didn't know what they were doing, and I explained why.

They realized what they did, and the doctor asked that the resident try again! I immediately asked them to stop and asked for another doctor because, to me, it was evident that both of them didn't know what they were doing.

They gave me many excuses not to call the other doctor. I insisted, and called the nurse manager, explained what was happening, and asked for help. I didn't allow anybody to touch my husband until another good doctor, and not a resident, arrived and did the procedure correctly. They knew they did wrong, and what they didn't expect was to have someone calling them out about this. We were in an excellent hospital, and yes, it can happen.

Tips for medical mistakes

Our story is just one example of so much more we went through. Dirty bathrooms, nurses that couldn't organize the injections, staff looking confused, dirty curtains between the beds, and more... all of these situations could give him an infection, but nothing made me stop to take action. I want you to know that you can ask for help. Don't feel afraid, you can do it, you are there to help your loved one.

Here are some tips for you, things I did to make this work:

1. Stay informed about all procedures before they happen
2. Be firm, be loud if you need, tell them you'll take action if they don't care
3. Take pictures of everything you see that's wrong to show, if you need them
4. Don't be afraid to ask anything and if you need, write down everything they say, time, date, and name.
5. If you feel the situation is not safe, you need to ask for help
6. If you need to talk with superiors, do so

Sometimes we feel afraid to do all this, but our loved ones' life is in risk if we do not. We all are already with a lot of emotional stress, but we must do it if you need it. If I wasn't in the hospital with my husband that day, or if I didn't say anything, it could turn into a horrible situation that put his life at risk. I knew they were wrong.

After that, one of the hospital's directors came to apologize for everything and say thank you, because sometimes, they don't know what happens to take a better measure. I hope you never go through it. Remember, you have the right to ask for better and fight for it if something happens.

Visit me on my Instagram page. I'm a mindfulness coach and there you can find a lot of tips to make you feel better.