A Warning, In Memory of a friend who just passed away... OT/ but health related

Hi All...

I had referred a dear friends mom to my surgeon for a consult.  She was afraid of having surgery, and decided to give a non surgical approach one more try due to her fear of surgery.  She was doing a liquid medifast type program and had lost 35 pounds in three months.  This is not a horror story related to any type of weight loss....despite weighing about 300 #, she was still in otherwise good health.  She did not yet have the comorbidities of high blood pressure or diabetes.  She had mobility issues and knee pain.

 

She died last week due to UNDIAGNOSED STREP THROAT, WHICH TURNED INTO SYSTEMIC STREP IN HER BLOODSTREAM....leading to respiratory arrest when her epiglostis in her throat swelled, cutting off her airway, she ended up then in cardiac arrest, and then in a coma, and when tests determined she had been without oxygen too long, her family took her off of life support.  She was 61.

What makes this all the more tragic is- HER FAMILY ALL HAD HAD STREP AND PLEADED WITH THE DRS TO DO A STREP TEST ON 4 OCCASIONS, AND WERE TURNED AWAY! BECAUSE SHE DID NOT HAVE CLASSIC STREP SYMPTOMS... she was in the er, admitted to the hospital twice, and upon her last discharge she told the nurse that she could no longer swallow her own salivia!!! (no classic strep symptoms?)....they still discharged her, and later that same evening as she was about to get in the car to go back to the hospital for the fourth time in a week... she collapsed, was taken by ambulance, was not intubated because it was not discovered that her throat had swollen shut- they bagged her... but apparently it was severe medical incompetence from about 6 different practitioners over a weeks time !

The family requested a strep test, was told no, she did not have it, no symptoms,  they said they were not going to treat her for something just because the rest of the family had had it.... my friend said, so dont treat her for it, TEST her for it... please just test her, was told no-

all of her 5 family member s had strep in recent weeks.... she had mild asthma and they kept treating her with steriods for the asthma (which she told them was not helping her breathing)... at 61 her last hospitalization was for the birth of her now 35 year old daughter! She was not a hypocondriac, not a drug seeker.....  her crime?  She was morbidly obese, and per her daughter, my friend, as she told me the news, she said,

" you know what?  I think they did not take her seriously, they kept referring to her weight and her asthma, despite the fact that she even had a fever... and they were unwilling to take her seriously... I really think if she had been a 120 pound woman this would have been handled differently... but they kept equating her difficulty breathing with  her weight and asthma, which has never, ever required hospitalization!"

My friend is now without her mom.  A wonderful woman, mother and grandmother, who without any college education parlayed herself into a 140,000.00 a year job.  Who was active, who planned fun things for her grand kids, who worked 60 hours a week...and who died a senseless ,needless death.. had they only listened and done a strep test while antibiotics would have worked. They finally did that test, and found it in her blood, but not until she was brought in by ambulance and was already brain dead. They started aggressive antibiotics, but then other tests revealed there was no longer meaningful brain activity   According to my friend *****searched this after her moms death.. people on steriods (which they kept pumping her full of) are more likely to succumb to death from strep.

Be your own advocate-  DEMAND- DO NOT REQUEST... demand testing be done if you have reasonable suspicions,  the drs are fallible too....and ultimately they work for YOU. My friend is blaming herself, for taking her mom home, but she also said- she wanted to go home, they kept bruising her arms with the blood pressure cuff that was too small, and she said they are hurting me.  Ironic, my friend noted, as her mother  lay in a coma, she was wearing a white padded ,soft blood pressure cuff!

My friend truly feels that her moms  weight kept them from listening to her, paying the right attention to her, and I can see why she thinks so.  They seemed to just think she had the flu, and that of course shed have trouble breathing because she was fat. They didnt have to look any further..and discharged her 3 X !!!!!!  They just kept dismissing her.

So- Jeanette-  this ones for you dear woman....You were a beautiful, loving, kind ,compassionate woman ! You will be deeply missed!  I am so sorry that your doctors failed you, it was a simple, treatable problem.  The family will be taking legal action because they were so blatantly ignored and poo poo-ed, resulting in tragedy.

And to my OH friends....take care of yourselves,  see your doctors when you have cause to, and MAKE SURE THEY SEE AND HEAR YOU and your loved ones !  And note that untreated step can be fatal.

Hugs,

Christina

Hugs and prayers.......I have been ill one way or another since Thanksgiving. Cold/flu...swollen glands and asthma/COPD. Been to the ER 4 times, in the hospital twice so far and several antiabotics & steriods later....my throat is still hurting and the glands are swollen still. They said I had RSV and Thrush. Now I am making a appointment to see my PCP and have a strep test because of what happened to your friend. I am so sorry about your friend....

 

Missey

Take care! Sorry to hear you have been so ill! She had real reason to think she could have it because of being exposed! Certainly ruling it out especially if you've had a sore throat at all!

Hugs!

Christina

Very sorry to hear but yes you are right you have to be your best advocate and demand things.

My thoughts and prayers are with you, your dear friend and her family.  This is such a horrible and tragic story.  We are our best advocate and also our families.  It sounds like you're a great friend standing in the gap for your friend and her family.  Big Hug

I am so sorry about your friend. Please know that you and her family will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Very sorry for your and your friends loss.  My thoughts and prayers are with you.

So sorry. But I hope they are suing. This is just such clear incompetence.

You are right. This is just another example of the very real bias against obese people. You are at once repulsive and invisible to most to people if you are obese, and this does include health care professionals.  I am so sorry this happened. It sounds like it should have and could have been avoided if she had simply been given the same consideration as any other non obese person in this situation. I am not normally for law suits, but I personally would sue the hell out of every single one of these people who ignored a fat person to death and needlessly broke the hearts of her family and friends !!