removal electrode pacemaker,

[Ronein]

Hello,
I'm sorry that my English is not so well.(I don;t live in the USA).
My mother had an infected electrode pacemaker.
It was recommnded for her to remove the old electrode (which was infected).
During the operation when the doctor tried to remove the elecrerode there were created some holes in the vein.
My love mother was died because of loss of blood.
The doctor said that the vein was too narrow and it was broken because of that.
I want to ask please some questions:
1-What is the statistics of die cases in this kind of operation?
2-Could it be a mistke of the doctor that cause to it?
thanks
Joe

[Mom2four85]

I know what you mean about logic - sometimes I think it all goes out the window when a crisis or emergency such as this happens.   some things doctors do make no sense to me; yet we're supposed to put our faith in them and go along with what they say blindly

During my ablation; which was supposed to be routine simple and eas;y something happened and I went into V-Fib; my heart stopped completely (Asystole) then went into Vfib twice more...the first time with the Asystole they tried to revive me but it didn't work; thankfully before the 2nd countdown my heart restarted on it's own...but the dr kept on and my heart stopped 2 more times and had to be hit again.

I still wonder WHY they didn't just quit after the first time; which I asked the EP...his response was he wanted to see if it was a fluke or if he uncovered a hidden problem...3rd time was pure stupidity on his part - and I still dont understand why he kept on with the procedure.

I ended up with a pacemaker/defibrillator that has done nothing but caused me problems the past 3 years that I may not have needed had he stopped the procecdure...

I hope you can find some answers and peace about your mother's passing.

ps. you may want to ask about the stats in the expert forum; this is a patient forum and probably not alot of answers on that here

[Ronein]

Dear Mom2four85,
I'm not medical doctor but my logic says that it is the function of the Surgeon to stop the bleeding and response quickly.
The surgeon made a small incision and then took the electrode out in a special technique and then closed the incision and then noticed that the blood pressure is 0 ,which meaning a very large amount of blood flew into the stomach.

[Mom2four85]

I'm so sorry for your loss of your mother.  The risks should have been told to her and may be in her paperwork that she signed at the doctors and hospital.

I'm supposed to have my ICD leads looked at and repaired/replaced and been warned of the risks - the procedure is pretty risky and can cause all kinds of complications.

I would speak to an attorney in your area to see about medical malpractice and to subpeona her records to see what happened.  If you don't do that I would at least send a complaint to the medical board who governs the hospital/doctors and make sure they are made aware of the complications.

[Ronein]

Dear Midijane ,
Thanks a lot for your response.
My mother died during the operation from loss of blood.
She didn;t know that the risk is so high and she can die in the middle of operation.

[Midijane]

Hello Joe,

I am sorry for what you have been going through. Hope you are doing ok.

All I can tell you here is that anytime a person has a pacemaker electrode removed/replaced, it comes with more risks so that a doctor will always admit the patient overnight or for a couple of days just to keep an eye on things. The complications are very real and can be life threatening.

Take care of yourself and hugs.