Scholar1
Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
Fwd as recieved....But important to share....I would like to share my family's recent experience regarding medical negligence. My mother was taken to Shifa International Hospital Islamabad on the 14th of January 2017.
She had severe cough. She got admitted for that and the Drs suspected it was either TB or lung cancer. By 19th January her condition had deteriorated so badly in just 5 days that she was in ICU and me and siblings living abroad got a call to leave for Pakistan immidiately.
Biopsy was done on the 21st Jan and the results came back in a week assuring she didnt have either of them (TB and lung cancer). Suspecion was raised that it is a rare disease called Wegeners disease (lungs inflammatory disease). by this time Mum had surprisingly gone better enough to be sent home on the 26th of January.
Treatment for wegeners disease is steroids in the form of tablets if its diagnosed at an early stage. The disease could effect heart and kidneys if spread, chemotherapy is done at later stage to act fast.
Mums heart and kidneys were fine and we were still asked to get chemotherapy done for her by the doctors (Dr Aftab the pulmonologist who later reffered Mum's case to Dr Tahir Hashmi, the Rheumatologist). We were totally dependent on the Drs as they had scared us about the disease. Just to mention, we did take second opinion and were told Shifa's advice was correct and we should proceed with it.
We were given the choice of going for the expensive chemotherapy, which according to Dr Tahir Hashmi didnt have ANY side effects and was safe, and the not very expensive one which had SOME side effects. Of course we wanted Mum to get well without any pain and any family would do what we did, chose Rituximab (the expensive one, 175,000 Pakistani rupees). Mum was given Rituximab on the 3rd of February and sent home.
Within a week, Mum suffered a silent yet severe heart attack, she had developed TB and diabeties, with severe body aches, vains burst on her ankles, and this was all because the chemo HAD these side effects, which of course Dr Tahir Hashmi didnt either know, as he wasnt an Oncologist so had no idea of chemo, or did willingly to prove loyal to the hospital by extending Mums stay there due to these issues.
On the 8th of February, Mum's face swollen up in hours, three times of her face, and was rushed to hospital in the middle of night. She had blood coming out of her nose, blocking it completely, making it difficult for her to breath, her gums bled. She was once again admitted.
We were told that its the disease spreading and they would have to do another chemo to top it up and control the disease. By this time we were unaware of how inhumane Drs could be, we followed them as had no other choice, so mum was given the cheap chemo called Cyclophosphamide (90,000 PKR) this time on the 10th of February.
This medicine works at its best on the day 7,8,9 of injection. Mum had gone slight better within the next week. And the day it was supposed to work at its best was the day Mum started having difficulty breathing. Keeping in mind she was on constant oxygen supply, and in critical care. by 19th Feb, Mums breathing was so bad that the oxygen supply was at maximum level and her oxy level was in 70s/80s (which shouls be between 90-98).
My father was asked to sign the consent form as they were predicting Mum would have to be put on ventilator cz she needed support and her lungs needed rest. That was the time we realised we had badly been trapped. We were not allowed to stay in ICU with mum, and they had their own nurse there 24/7.
We would go check on her every 10,15 minutes. it was 20th of Feb when i went in to say bye to Mum cz i would come home at night, as soon as i entered Mums room, and looked at the meter, her oxy level was 60 and she was all red breathing heavily and her eyes had popped out. I ran towards her and saw she had pulled her bipap's pipe out, and there was no one in her room!!!! Keeping in mind if the oxygen level drops to 60, it could end up as a sudden heart arrest in seconds. Same thing happened again even after assuring us that it wouldnt happen again, and they put her on ventilator at 2am same night.
Mum stayed on vent for 4 days, then on bipap for 4 days, and then gradually was put on oxygen mask as her breathing was improving. When she started improving slightly, we would have Drs coming to us every morning after seeing her, always saying things like it could be a matter of hours cz she had developed "multipal hospital bound infections".
Their opinion was changing so rapidly that suspicion was arising and we had started thinking by they were playing up with us and finding more ways to get money out of our pockets. Dr Aftab, Dr Sohail, Dr Mobeen all of them need proper counselling skills to communicate with critical patient's attendents. Nowhere in the world does the Dr come to the attendants with the words so painful that I can't write them here. It's said everywhere we are trying, you keep praying.
By that time we had a very clear idea that they were a gang of looters and we were trapped, so we had to change our plan of action, cz the clock was ticking and we were told by Dr Aftab that they could put Mum on ventilator again (everything was improving she just had slightly low BP and that was their concern!). Thankfully, Brig Dr Arshad Naseem at MH Rawalpindi agreed to take up Mum's case and we moved Mum to MH on the 6th of March. That agony until the moment she left SIH, can't be written or expressed here.
We started having the shocks right after the initial and then the detailed assessment of Mum at MH,
1 - Mum didn't need chemotherapy in the first place. Even she did, Drs at Shifa should have done a simple blood test to see if the first chemo would suit her or not. That would have resulted in Mum not having a heart attack, TB, diabetes and swollen face.
2- Second chemo caused her simple pnemonia spread all over her lungs ending up on ventilator.
3- NOT A SINGLE HOSPITAL BOUND INFECTION detected in Mums blood and urine tests. which accouding to Shifa she had 5 of them (1 urine, 1 fungal, 2 becterial and 1 viral)!!!
4- There was no need of 5 antibiotic drips given daily for 2 weeks or so as there was NO infection.
5- Mum was sent home after 11 days of treatment with NO serious/major issues.
6- Only medicines given were Tb and pnemonia ones, that was caused by chemo.
In the end, i would request everyone to pray for my mother's full recovery and long life as the damage done by Drs at Shifa International Hospital are still keeping her recovery at a slow pace. During Mums stay at SIH i used to see dead bodies every day. Hospital is a game of life and death but their death rate is very high.
I would urge everyone to please spread the word, and avoid these private slaughtering houses cz they do this deliberately just to get money out of our pockets. Our loved ones are just a business to them. The trauma my family went through, I pray no one else goes through it again.
Please share, one life saved is one life lived.
She had severe cough. She got admitted for that and the Drs suspected it was either TB or lung cancer. By 19th January her condition had deteriorated so badly in just 5 days that she was in ICU and me and siblings living abroad got a call to leave for Pakistan immidiately.
Biopsy was done on the 21st Jan and the results came back in a week assuring she didnt have either of them (TB and lung cancer). Suspecion was raised that it is a rare disease called Wegeners disease (lungs inflammatory disease). by this time Mum had surprisingly gone better enough to be sent home on the 26th of January.
Treatment for wegeners disease is steroids in the form of tablets if its diagnosed at an early stage. The disease could effect heart and kidneys if spread, chemotherapy is done at later stage to act fast.
Mums heart and kidneys were fine and we were still asked to get chemotherapy done for her by the doctors (Dr Aftab the pulmonologist who later reffered Mum's case to Dr Tahir Hashmi, the Rheumatologist). We were totally dependent on the Drs as they had scared us about the disease. Just to mention, we did take second opinion and were told Shifa's advice was correct and we should proceed with it.
We were given the choice of going for the expensive chemotherapy, which according to Dr Tahir Hashmi didnt have ANY side effects and was safe, and the not very expensive one which had SOME side effects. Of course we wanted Mum to get well without any pain and any family would do what we did, chose Rituximab (the expensive one, 175,000 Pakistani rupees). Mum was given Rituximab on the 3rd of February and sent home.
Within a week, Mum suffered a silent yet severe heart attack, she had developed TB and diabeties, with severe body aches, vains burst on her ankles, and this was all because the chemo HAD these side effects, which of course Dr Tahir Hashmi didnt either know, as he wasnt an Oncologist so had no idea of chemo, or did willingly to prove loyal to the hospital by extending Mums stay there due to these issues.
On the 8th of February, Mum's face swollen up in hours, three times of her face, and was rushed to hospital in the middle of night. She had blood coming out of her nose, blocking it completely, making it difficult for her to breath, her gums bled. She was once again admitted.
We were told that its the disease spreading and they would have to do another chemo to top it up and control the disease. By this time we were unaware of how inhumane Drs could be, we followed them as had no other choice, so mum was given the cheap chemo called Cyclophosphamide (90,000 PKR) this time on the 10th of February.
This medicine works at its best on the day 7,8,9 of injection. Mum had gone slight better within the next week. And the day it was supposed to work at its best was the day Mum started having difficulty breathing. Keeping in mind she was on constant oxygen supply, and in critical care. by 19th Feb, Mums breathing was so bad that the oxygen supply was at maximum level and her oxy level was in 70s/80s (which shouls be between 90-98).
My father was asked to sign the consent form as they were predicting Mum would have to be put on ventilator cz she needed support and her lungs needed rest. That was the time we realised we had badly been trapped. We were not allowed to stay in ICU with mum, and they had their own nurse there 24/7.
We would go check on her every 10,15 minutes. it was 20th of Feb when i went in to say bye to Mum cz i would come home at night, as soon as i entered Mums room, and looked at the meter, her oxy level was 60 and she was all red breathing heavily and her eyes had popped out. I ran towards her and saw she had pulled her bipap's pipe out, and there was no one in her room!!!! Keeping in mind if the oxygen level drops to 60, it could end up as a sudden heart arrest in seconds. Same thing happened again even after assuring us that it wouldnt happen again, and they put her on ventilator at 2am same night.
Mum stayed on vent for 4 days, then on bipap for 4 days, and then gradually was put on oxygen mask as her breathing was improving. When she started improving slightly, we would have Drs coming to us every morning after seeing her, always saying things like it could be a matter of hours cz she had developed "multipal hospital bound infections".
Their opinion was changing so rapidly that suspicion was arising and we had started thinking by they were playing up with us and finding more ways to get money out of our pockets. Dr Aftab, Dr Sohail, Dr Mobeen all of them need proper counselling skills to communicate with critical patient's attendents. Nowhere in the world does the Dr come to the attendants with the words so painful that I can't write them here. It's said everywhere we are trying, you keep praying.
By that time we had a very clear idea that they were a gang of looters and we were trapped, so we had to change our plan of action, cz the clock was ticking and we were told by Dr Aftab that they could put Mum on ventilator again (everything was improving she just had slightly low BP and that was their concern!). Thankfully, Brig Dr Arshad Naseem at MH Rawalpindi agreed to take up Mum's case and we moved Mum to MH on the 6th of March. That agony until the moment she left SIH, can't be written or expressed here.
We started having the shocks right after the initial and then the detailed assessment of Mum at MH,
1 - Mum didn't need chemotherapy in the first place. Even she did, Drs at Shifa should have done a simple blood test to see if the first chemo would suit her or not. That would have resulted in Mum not having a heart attack, TB, diabetes and swollen face.
2- Second chemo caused her simple pnemonia spread all over her lungs ending up on ventilator.
3- NOT A SINGLE HOSPITAL BOUND INFECTION detected in Mums blood and urine tests. which accouding to Shifa she had 5 of them (1 urine, 1 fungal, 2 becterial and 1 viral)!!!
4- There was no need of 5 antibiotic drips given daily for 2 weeks or so as there was NO infection.
5- Mum was sent home after 11 days of treatment with NO serious/major issues.
6- Only medicines given were Tb and pnemonia ones, that was caused by chemo.
In the end, i would request everyone to pray for my mother's full recovery and long life as the damage done by Drs at Shifa International Hospital are still keeping her recovery at a slow pace. During Mums stay at SIH i used to see dead bodies every day. Hospital is a game of life and death but their death rate is very high.
I would urge everyone to please spread the word, and avoid these private slaughtering houses cz they do this deliberately just to get money out of our pockets. Our loved ones are just a business to them. The trauma my family went through, I pray no one else goes through it again.
Please share, one life saved is one life lived.
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