Medical Mistake

[cfusse]

Hello,

I apologize if my post is quite long but I need to try to explain details as much as I can.  My mother went in to a cardiologist because she was having chest pains. She is only 61 years of age with no heart problems.  She was then told that she had blockage and that a stent would need to be placed.  Nevertheless, she went to the hospital two days later for the procedure.  I was told that the doctor said that the artery was so blocked that it rerouted itself and that the doctor tried to place the stent and "blew" her artery.  She then had to have an emergency bypass.  While she was getting prepared for the surgery she had a heart attack.  Well, the bypass was successful as far as I know but what followed was horrible.  She was brought into the CCU on many machines and a ventilator.  She also had a pump in her groin that matched her heart rate in order to help it function correctly. She had so much fluid that they decided to place her on dialysis to remove the fluid because her kidneys were not functioning.  We had a cardiac surgeon come in a couple days later.  He said to us that they were going to have to go back in and replace her mitral valve because it wasnt functioning correctly. Her kidneys still are not functioning.   I recall that the less fluid overload she had, the better her mitral valve was working.  The doctors decided to let it go a few more days to see if taking the fluid off would correct the mitral valve issue.  Well, it did for a short time but then the problem came back. They decided that they were going to have to do the second surgery anyway.  So they did the second surgery which consisted of replacing the mitral valve with a pig valve and putting a ring around the tricuspid valve.  She now has not regained her kidney function as of yet.  The ventilator was taken out yesterday, for the second time.  We hope that no more problems will arise but wish we could just get our mom back.   My question is, Should the doctor that was placing the stent have just decided to do a bypass instead of trying to force the stent through?  Will her kidney function come back?   I am so afraid for my mother.  Can someone help me, please?

Thanks

[cfusse]

My real concern is, shouldnt the doctor have been able to tell that the artery was totally occluded and then decided to do a bypass originally.

[cfusse]

She did have the Echo before her stent.  Her heart valves were not bad prior to her surgery.  They said they think the valve problem is related to the heart attack which was after the stent.  Now they are saying she may have to have a pace maker.  OMG where do the problems end?  It was about six days or so between the two surgeries.  I am unsure of that as time has sort of escaped me.  

[Encephalomalcia]

Wow. Your comment is very scary.  Did she have an echocardiogram before her stent procedure?  I cannot figure out how they did not know that her heart valves were bad.  They could have done open heart surgery, bypass and fixed the valves in one operation.  Was she short of breath before this all happened?  When heart valves are bad, a person becomes short of breath. Climbing stairs is hard, energy level drops, easily tired.  Chest pains are usually caused by plugged arteries.  It does happened when the artery tears during a stent placement.  Sometimes the artery is weak. Her kidney function most likely is not good, because her heart is not working the way it should.  As her heart improves, the kidney function should improve. How long was it between the two heart surgeries?  Kidney dialysis is hard on the heart.  Hopefully, Lasix is removing some water from her now.  Watch the water gain.  It is good that she is young for this was a huge operation for her to go through.  Hope she improves each day now.  Keep us posted.