I then made the decision to get my medical records. It took me two weeks to filter through a folder that made me look like a severely sick maniac. I only had a few doctor’s appointments in the 20 years prior to 1993. And now, looking at these records made me sick, because I saw all of the times that I had been put at risk, while I had trusted the doctors to be in control of my health and my life. Getting my records gave me a better understanding of what had happened to me – why my social life had been such a disaster all those years, all the money I had spent on co-pays, and all of the frustration and fear. The file was a foot thick and didn’t even include hospital or test reports. As I sifted through the pounds of paper, making an outline, I highlighted all of the times my leg pain was mentioned, all the times pulses were not heard in my left leg, and the many times doctors suspected claudication. I also saw another time that Dr. Cowgill mentioned completing a physical exam that had not been done, this one dated 4/19/06. This was a fairly recent appointment, only a few weeks before the exam he supposedly did on 5/31/06, so I vividly remembered the dates. I then called Jacquelyn Wineke again and this time filled out a written complaint report and asked again for a referral to Dr. Acher at the UW. After several weeks, this was also denied.
I then made a decision to leave Dean Health Plan and get other insurance. Because I had lost my job due to budget cuts, it gave me the opportunity to change my health care provider. I would have to wait for a few months, but maybe it would save my life, considering how things had been going. I had conducted research on which health care provider would allow me to switch doctors based on my condition and their expertise. Hopefully, this would prevent me from being shuffled between doctors within the same system, as well as subjected to decisions influenced by professional and corporate concerns.
In the meantime, I didn’t want any more mistakes to be made by doctors as a result of miscommunication and I wanted to have a clear document explaining my history. I picked up the phone one day and called a writer, A.B. Orlick, to help me put my outline together. She was so concerned that she began searching the Internet to find resources for me. She called an agency in New York, P.U.L.S.E., which helps make a difference for patients who have had bad experiences with the health care system. I spoke with Ilene Corina, who called me and then called the Center for Patient Partnerships at UW-Madison. They got in touch with me and were willing to follow me through the medical system.
I got my insurance changed to Physician’s Mutual in August of 2006. I had to wait for almost 3 months to get to Dr. Acher, the vascular surgeon at the UW Hospital. He ordered an MR angiogram and an exercise PVR exam. Dr. Acher feared a heart problem and said, “I won’t touch her until I have a heart catheterization in order to exclude a major heart condition.” He was considering an aorta-femoral bi-femoral bypass, if there were no other cardiac concerns. Dr. Stone at the UW ordered the catheterization. I specifically asked that they not go in on the right groin area, explaining that there was bad trouble there. Recalling the last angiogram with the bruising, I told them that the surgeon was not able to get in on that right side. Again at the hospital just before the catheterization, I made this request again. The young doctor I spoke with just said, “You’re slim and healthy - you will be a piece of cake, easiest one today.” This made me nervous, but as the head of the vascular department, Dr. Georgio Gamelli, was to do my procedure, I decided not to worry.
I wasn’t awake for the first part, so it may have been Dr. Gamelli who performed the heart catheterization. However, I was awake for the last part of it, and I was horrified to realize that it was the younger doctor who was working on me. He told me that the heart catheterization was finished and only the leg procedure was left. I lay there, knowing it was that young kid I had talked to, the one who had seemed unconcerned about what I had told him about the right groin area. It wasn’t until the end of the procedure that the older doctor came in to check.
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