This is a subject that not many folks bring up but in my opinion, and in this technology age needs to be taken into consideration.
When patients come in to get an HT, there is always a level of stress and excitement mixed together. Having taken so many blood pressures when the patient first steps into the OR and sits in the chair, I can say with all "confidence that the average blood pressure is somewhere around 145/95 or greater… average adult is around 120/80. This is normal. Well who cares about this? Well, the message I am trying to speak here is this. We live in a time where we can document and photograph everything easily. I think that sometimes amongst all of the excitement and stress we (the patient) forgets this important element.
Taking pictures before you walk in the door of the HT clinic, during the procedure, and then after you walk out of the procedure can prove to be beneficial to you the patient. Documenting what you feel and putting a time and date by everything you write can also prove beneficial if need be post operatively.
Still confused as to what I am talking about? Let’s take a look at the good clinic and bad clinic and then you tell me the answer.
A good clinic when asked can I have a copy of every picture you took of me pre-operatively including my consult pictures will say of course i will have the picture CD ready for you before you leave?
A bad clinic when asked the same question will say things like: Um I will get that too you. Um, I will email it to you or even worse, we have to charge a fee or even doubly worse, Um we can’t seem to find them.
Why go through this when all you have to do is go buy a relatively inexpensive digital camera and take several angles of pictures of your recipient and your donor. You are already spending thousands of dollars on an investment that you really don’t know what is going to happen in reality. Why not take $100-200 dollars and invest in a camera and notebook and document everything possible? If later down the road you need to show that physician something that did not grow there will be no way possible that he can deny your complaint.
The reason why I have initiated this thread is because I saw too many times when patients would call on a doctor i used to work for and those excuses I wrote above were common. And I was saddened. Below is a quote from such a doctor that a guy on a different thread does not have a fighting chance because of his HT doctor denies even having his pictures.
"PostPosted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 10:28 am Post subject: Reply with quote
Ok , I seen martinick yesterday and it didnt go well.She said it wasnt her problem that most the grafts didnt grow through , She said it must have been something i had done that destroyed them. I know this is tottal bullshit , She told me i should see it as a glass half full rather then a glass being half empty, I caught her out lying 3 times while in the appointment and i couldnt control myself. I lost it at the b****, She tried to label me as a body dysmorphic becuase i didnt bow down and take her results without question. This is way from over , On monday i will call the health complaints commission about some negligent t6hings she did while operating on me. She was uninterested and told me it was my fault and that my baldness had progrssed ( which it hasnt at all )
****Also my prior and post op pics magically were not in my files , They had disapeared ( she said because of a worker that let her down ) But im not an idiot , she has probably lost them on purpose because it shows her crappy work. ****
She was also seeing a women before me and the women was waiting in the waiting room as i was getting angry in martinicks office , as i was walking out i told the lady . Please dont let this woman touch you. She ruined my hair and my life for 2 years.This will never end , I will live my life to make sure no one gets screwed by this witch again. And as for damo , you didnt even contact her. she knew nothing about you, She even denied knowing you. "
I got an email the other day from a former patient that said the doctor he had a transplant from was harassing him asking in a threatening manner that he better stop posting negative things about his work. The patient writes me and says that he has never posted in his life.
It is time to take your investment into your hands and make it part of the routine as IS the consult and all of the pre-op work-up paper work.
One patient came in and handed me his camera and said take random pictures of the procedure. I gladly did this. It is simple.
What are your thoughts?
I really hope all your legal issues pan out for you. This is one case I would really like to know the intricacies of. I already have an opinion but obviously can’t discuss on this open forum. The delete monkeys are everywhere.