found out the hospital lied to me

[Kaitlind]

I miscarried  in 2007, a week shy of my 17th birthday. I had no idea I was pregnant, but I was about 12 weeks. I'm now 16+ 4 and after having by first obgyn appointment I discovered the hospital lied to me. They told me I had an ectopic tubal pregnancy, and that was the reason why I was in so much pain. I was in and out of the hospital for a week following the miscarriage because the pain was so horrible I couldn't sit up, stand or walk. The obgyn says that because my body dispelled the fetus, it was just a miscarriage, not an ectopic pregnancy. At 17, never having dealt with this before, I didn't know to question the hospital. The hospital told me one of fallopian tubes burst and detached, and because of that my chances of having children when I get older would be very slim.  So I've gone the past five years thinking I only had one working ovary, but in reality its all systems a go. I'm so frustrated and upset that the hospital would give me wrong information.

[Kaitlind]

Thank you for your response. I'm not going to do anything other then make sure I get one he ck of an in depth physical after, I just needed to rant. It's very infuriating and it makes my head spin because I wish I knew enough then to question the doctors and get more information.

[AnnieBrooke]

It's too bad that what you were told then does not jibe with what you are being told now.  I imagine that it would be infuriating.  

The problem is that now, you have no way to know where the inaccuracy is.  Maybe they put someone else's records in your file and it really happened as they said it did.  Maybe someone incompetent told you something at the time that didn't happen.  Maybe it did happen but they didn't write it down correctly in the files because of an oversight.  Even maybe the doctor who told you this now was wrong in some way.  

The question is, what are you after now?  To bring a case for malpractice, you would have to show that you were damaged by what they did; i.e., because of what they did, you had damages, a bad outcome.  They would argue that the miscarriage was not preventable, and that you did not come to harm from believing that you only had one working ovary.  If you were to claim that because you believed that, you had an unexpected birth, you could possibly prevail, but you would also have to be able to prove that they said to you what they did, about the ovary.  If it is not noted in your records, you'll have trouble proving that.

You might consider a board complaint against the ob-gyn who apparently mishandled communications with you when you were 17, and maybe you would have some satisfaction in that.  At least you could present your complaint.

Again, I'm sorry, but congratulations on your present pregnancy,