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Letter to the Editor

Hospitals can be dangerous and unsafe

Diane Cole
Posted 6/17/22

Pennsylvania

To the editor:

My loved one had sepsis from gastric outlet obstruction. It was misdiagnosed three times. No MRIs were taken, only cat scans and x-rays.

With my loved …

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Letter to the Editor

Hospitals can be dangerous and unsafe

Posted

Pennsylvania

To the editor:

My loved one had sepsis from gastric outlet obstruction. It was misdiagnosed three times. No MRIs were taken, only cat scans and x-rays.

With my loved one’s condition, a mass, not a blockage, she never needed a nasogastric tube (drains fluids from the stomach). The ER staff are not trained correctly on how to insert the tube; the doctor needs to train nurses or insert it himself. When the nurse inserted the tube two tries (each time you have to pull it all the way out and put back in through the nostrils), the tube ended up in her lungs both times.

The doctor was called to reinsert it into her stomach. Still not working, the doctor called the nurse to push it down further. Still not working! Nurses need to go over a patient’s history and conditions like difficulty swallowing (had two strokes and aspiration). The nurse gave my loved one a drink of water inserting the tube the first time saying “the tube slides down better with water.”

My loved one was choking on it as she slid the tube down her nostril. When she finished, I sat my loved one up so they could cough up the water and catch their breath. No one used water to insert the tube the next three times! My loved one spoke with a frog voice from all the irritation.

My point: If you have a loved one in the hospital or emergency room, do keep a close watch, keep track of them so they stay safe. Very sad, but very true.

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