Atrial fribulation lead to kidney failure which resulted in sepsis followed by death over one months time.

On 11/09/08 my wife was taken to the ER with atrial fribulation (heart rate of 141) and was admitted to the hospital for coudamine/heprin/coudamin treatment. Three weeks laterand still hospitalized, she began acute kidney failure with an INR of 10.3 due to excessive oral coudamine dosage. She had a temporary dialysis port inserted near her collar bone area and was released from the hospital after two dialysis treatments. Less than two days later, she went into shock shaking and non-responsive, and was readmitted to the ICU, where dialysis was performed six days in a row resulting in shock again, during the sixth day treatment, whcih was immediately stopped. The next day she could no longer maintain a sufficient blood pressure, although now on six different drug IV drips,resulting in death on 12/08/08. Where did things go astray and was any of this treatment necessay or could have she survived with the atrial fribulation without treatment? Did I do wrong in taking her to the ER back in November?I tried my best at that time!

[bundleblocker]

I am so sorry Roy.  You did what you thought was best. I would have done the same.

This was not your fault.

[jondsam]

You trust the doctors and hope that they will do everything right.  You did the proper thing, however afib is usually not life threating.  If you suspect something was performed wrong, I would hire a lawyer, and file a lawsuit.  Sorry to hear about your loss

[Brooke_38]

Hello...

My heart is heavy as I read what has happend to your dear wife. I am so sorry for your loss. Please do not fell any guilt for what has happened. Your wife was in need of emergency care and you did what anyone of us would do, you sought emergency treatment for her.

Once she was brought to the hospital, responsibility for her well being was accepted by her treating Dr. I am struggling with what went wrong while she was there...I am an RN and it really appears to me, that if she was otherwise healthy, this should not have been the outcome of a patient being admitted for treatment of afib.

Were they checking her PT/PTT and INR every day? If her dosage of coumadin was an excessive amount, was she given Vitamin K (the antidote to counteract the affects of coumadin)? Was her renal function normal before her admission? The most important question is what did they tell you was the cause of death?

My prayers are with you while you grieve this great loss.