The Cellar - View Single Post

07-19-2004, 07:49 PM

Sometimes you can't choose your doctor, and you're at the whim of whatever Bozo is on duty at the moment. Some years back down in Durango, Colorado I was driving home from visiting a friend who lived outside of town. Suddenly this huge elk jumps out on the road in front of me, basicly sticking out its tongue and putting its hooves up next to its antlers, daring me to hit it. Well, I swerved out of its way and hit my brakes which caused me to skid into a ditch next to the road and my car flipped over, sending me head first thru the closed sun roof of the car (I know, bad girl, should'a had my seat belt on). Not only did I suffer a serious concussion, I also broke all the ribs on my left side, my left collar bone, and my left elbow. The broken ribs punctured my left lung, causing it to collapse. To make things interesting, my heart decided to stop beating when I arrived (via paramedics and ambulance) at Durango's then teeny emergency medical center. At that time in Durango the doc's took turns being the one on call. They didn't even hang around the hospital, but just went home with their pager. It was a week night and I suppose the doc on call figured the chances of his being needed that night were nil, so he proceeded to down the better part of a quart of Jack Daniel's. When he arrived in the ER, he was so drunk he didn't know what he was doing. Thank God for the paramedics who saved my life. All the doc did was give me a tracheotomy which was done too high and severely damaged my larynx. I recovered from the accident itself fine, but I couldn't speak for several months afterwards and had to have two surgeries up in Denver to fix my voice and clear the scar tissue which was in danger of shutting off my air passage way. Believe me, I wanted to sue that doctor for malpractice big time, but the hospital did a cover up job that would have done Richard Nixon proud. I later met one of the paramedics who had saved my life and he told me the full story. This man had the courage to fly in the face of the local medical establishment and reported my doctor to the appropriate state authorities, and that doctor lost his license. Thank God.

07-19-2004, 07:49 PM	#3
marichiko Guest Posts: n/a	Sometimes you can't choose your doctor, and you're at the whim of whatever Bozo is on duty at the moment. Some years back down in Durango, Colorado I was driving home from visiting a friend who lived outside of town. Suddenly this huge elk jumps out on the road in front of me, basicly sticking out its tongue and putting its hooves up next to its antlers, daring me to hit it. Well, I swerved out of its way and hit my brakes which caused me to skid into a ditch next to the road and my car flipped over, sending me head first thru the closed sun roof of the car (I know, bad girl, should'a had my seat belt on). Not only did I suffer a serious concussion, I also broke all the ribs on my left side, my left collar bone, and my left elbow. The broken ribs punctured my left lung, causing it to collapse. To make things interesting, my heart decided to stop beating when I arrived (via paramedics and ambulance) at Durango's then teeny emergency medical center. At that time in Durango the doc's took turns being the one on call. They didn't even hang around the hospital, but just went home with their pager. It was a week night and I suppose the doc on call figured the chances of his being needed that night were nil, so he proceeded to down the better part of a quart of Jack Daniel's. When he arrived in the ER, he was so drunk he didn't know what he was doing. Thank God for the paramedics who saved my life. All the doc did was give me a tracheotomy which was done too high and severely damaged my larynx. I recovered from the accident itself fine, but I couldn't speak for several months afterwards and had to have two surgeries up in Denver to fix my voice and clear the scar tissue which was in danger of shutting off my air passage way. Believe me, I wanted to sue that doctor for malpractice big time, but the hospital did a cover up job that would have done Richard Nixon proud. I later met one of the paramedics who had saved my life and he told me the full story. This man had the courage to fly in the face of the local medical establishment and reported my doctor to the appropriate state authorities, and that doctor lost his license. Thank God.