mom just passed away; could dr. have been wrong?

[donnyt951]

My mother passed away a few days ago. She had been having trouble passing food, vomiting and not eating, so we took her to get an x-ray and they found out she had stage 4 colon cancer and that a growth was blocking her bowels. So they sent her to a better equipped hospital where they performed a colonoscopy. Then her bowel became perforated due to the colonoscopy.

At this point, the dr. gave us 2 options. Do the aggressive surgery or keep her on antibiotics and hope the perforation heals itself. My concern is that the Dr. gave us alot of reasons for not having the aggressive surgery; like a colorectomy (bag in side of stomach for waste), a tube in her neck, alot of other things which i forget. He also gave us an ultimatum that if we chose the antibiotics, choosing the surgery later would be meaningless.

I felt like the Dr. did not want to bother with the surgery and lead us to believe that the perforation can be healed on antibiotics alone. However I googled perforations and almost all the sites say a perforation requires surgery almost, without question, or it can lead to death. That is why we chose to go with the antibiotics and because, at first, my mother didn't want the surgery because of superstitious beliefs. However seeing her fight for her life and in pain made me wonder if we made the right decision. I know we signed the waiver before the colonoscopy, but my mother didn't die of cancer. She died of a perforated bowel. All this in the span of about 5 days.

Has this happened to anyone, where they felt like the Dr. lead them to take the less costly route and is there anything I can do?

I also later learned that about 25-30 years ago, my mother practiced geophagy (eating dirt) I know this could have been a reason for her blockages, but does anyone know what dirt may look like inside the body to an x-ray (ultra-sound?) Can it collect around the organs and appear as small black masses which a dr. could mistake for cancer?

[Mnaval]

My mom had laprascopic hysterectomy in 2014, and the Dr perforated her bowel.  The Dr and staff knew about it and did not repair it for two days.  By that time it was too late.  My mom also passed away.  The dr also told me to my face and on her death certificate that my mom had cancer.  All lab results show a benign tumor.  We did obtain an attorney, but the medical expert will not support the claim of neglect!  He says Drs have 48 hours to look for sepsis!  Like you, I have done much research on perforated bowel.  Like you, everything I've read states it needs to be repaired immediately or death is likely.  I wonder if it was the Drs mom, if he would have waited 48 hours to repair her bowel.  Do you know of a support group to help me deal with all of this grief?  I am still having a hard time.  I feel like the dr and staff are getting away with murder.

[donnyt951]

Thank you all for your comments. I have heard of some people coming back from stage 4 cancer from alternative treatments, ie: ****** therapy and such. I just can't help but wonder maybe if we just went with the surgery, we could have tried some of those treatments even though I know it would have been along shot.

[kocherize]

First of all, I'm so sorry for your loss.  It sounds like your mother had a blockage from colon or rectal cancer.  You said that she was found to have stage 4 cancer, which means that it is incurable.  Obviously I don't know how extensive her disease was, but with stage 4 disease, life expectancy is usually less than 2 years.  I presume the colonoscopy was performed to try to establish a diagnosis and perhaps relieve her blockage to some degree.  As you mentioned, unfortunately she had a perforation from the procedure.  I'm not sure I agree with everything your doctors told you; however, I think that the decision really did come down to how aggressive you and your family wanted to be from a surgical standpoint.  In your mother's condition, whatever surgery she would have had would be to take care of the perforation but would ultimately not have made a difference with regard to her cancer.  Without knowing the details of the case I can't say whether the decision not to operate was the correct one or not.  She most certainly would have had an ostomy (bag) and may have been very sick after surgery, requiring her to be on a ventilator for an extended period of time.  Was the person who did the colonoscopy a GI doctor or a surgeon?  Did you speak to a surgeon?  While it's true that most perforations after colonoscopy require surgery, some can be managed without depending on the circumstances.  Unfortunately it sounds like your mother had a scenario where you had to decide between 2 not very good options.  I hope this helps a little, anyway.  Again, I'm sorry for your loss and hope you can find comfort in your family and your faith.

[mammo]

I am so sorry. I know your frustrations, pain, anger and questions.  I lost my son to medical negligence, so trust me...I'm not on the doctor's side. It sounds like they gave you the option to remove the colon and give your mom a J-Pouch which is very common surgery these days. My son has had one since he was 12 and is now 40. I'm not sure why they felt she would have needed a tube in her neck???  Did the doctor say that the surgery would have gotten rid of the cancer?  Because of all the unanswered questions I would get your mother's medical records (all of them) and see another GI specialist and go from there.  Be prepared, you won't find another doctor to go against her doctor.  He may say that things should have been done differently, but he will never testify to this.  In a medical negligence suit, the attorney has to find someone out of state to come in and testify that what they did was negligent.  It's tough, and painful.  We had a signed deposition from another doctor who said in the deposition that my son should never have been in the condition he was, and that the two doctors rwere negligent.  What happens is the doctor(s) and/or hopsital pay off the attorneys, and you're left feeling even more betrayed.  It's all BS, but you can at least get an attorney and see what you can do.  It takes years and years, the doctor's attorneys find so many reasons to postpone the hearings and you continue to suffer.  I'm all for getting these doctors because the bury their mistakes and feel they can tell us anything!  I had a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic which is 6 hours away treat my son for a raging infection that the hospital here wasn't treating him for, and told him to go home and spend some quality time with his boys!  This doctor at the Cleveland Clinic also went on and on about how poorly these two doctors treated my son, and how they just gave up on him.  But when it came down to trying to sue these two doctors...he wouldn't testify.  They protect each other and it's such a scam!  Personally, I wish we could have continued to find another attorney and get the SOB's that killed my son, he left behind 2 little boys that needed financial help, and these two doctors owed them that much.  I think your mother's case warrants looking into, but just be prepared for a very long, and painful battle.  They protect themselves with all the waivers they have you sign.  I wish you all the best, and know I probably haven't been much help.  But I do understand, and I hope you can get some cloosure with this.  Take care.