The good parts...

The experience has certainly made me a better person than I ever was. So lets focus on what I have gained from this

1. I never take things in my life for granted. I relish each day I get to spend with my baby, my husband, my family.

2. I enjoy the simple pleasures of life that I use to take for granted.

3. I live every day as it is the last day of my life.

4. I am more knowledgeable and informative about medicine, health and my rights as a patient.

5. I no longer feel I have to go to only female doctors rather I choose doctors based on there credentials.

6. I see how online ratings are manipulated as doctors make patients enter there own ratings . A positive rating will appear as soon as true ratings are put on site.

7. I can now guide my friends to choose good care providers even for low risk normal pregnancies.

8. This blog, I have always wanted to write but never was able to. The frustration of not getting information from anywhere made me put my feelings in writing.

9. I am a better person, more compassionate, more strong and more virtous. I have experience death too closely and survived it. I can take any and all life challenges.

Criteria for selecting Prenatal care

The aim of this blog is to educate first time mother and specially some of my fellow Indians the importance of selecting good prenatal care.

I am an educated girl having worked at leading corporations in India and USA yet when it came to choosing doctors I never used my prudent judgement and chose one based on origin and sex. Coming from India I wanted a female Indian doctor and I chose the only one available in spite of hearing two negative reviews from my friends

1. Don't select the first prenatal provider you can get appointment for. I understand that we get nervous about going to doctors and annual pelvic exams are not routinely done in India. For many of us, we get our first pap smear on our first doctor visit. Don't let this be a deciding factor. When I conceived all doctors had a two week wait but for Vimi Bajaj and my abdominal scar is a constant reminder of how I get tripped into unnecessary interventions.

2. Your doctor does not have to belong to the same caste and country as you do. The doctor should be selected based on facilities and credentials and not color or creed

3. Inquire what the doctors take is on inductions and the doctors c section rate. Yes sometimes inductions are successful but they specify how intervention friendly the doctor is.

4. Ask about doctors take on epidurals, AROM, Use of IV and pitocin, eating and drinking during labor etc.

5. If possible, group practices are generally better. This is because if one person misses something other might be able to notice.

6. Ensure that the office staff is friendly and sufficient. Also make a note of all the services they offer and the facilities and equipment they have, At Vimi Bajaj one person takes urine samples, checks weigth gain, takes blood pressure,, makes appointment and even sweeps and cleans the room. Ensure that they have well equipped and knowledgeable nurses and friendly receptionist. As I have been to three four ob\gyn after my ordeal, I have found that most of them have in house ultrasound facilities available. This was not the case at Dr Bajaj

6. Question, When in hospital don't let doctors make you feel obligated or force them into something you don't want. When unhappy don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion. I had an attitude of having "complete faith" on my doctor. Turns out Vimi Bajaj was not worthy of this trust and faith.

Edward Plainfield: Not Needed

I came across this proposal for building a new Edward Plainfield Hospital. With all due respect I dont think the New hospital is needed.

I mean Edward is resorting to equivocal reports to earn revenue for its doctors and the hospital. I was told that it is the norm at Edward to consider suspicion and respiration as PE and filing defects as DVT and to not stop anti coagulation for a year. The false PE that I had costed me an extra #75,000 in medical bills. $75,000 extra revenue for Edward and its doctors

The doctor shamelessly told me that she has done this many times and they will continue doing this. Yes people get anemia and bleed, but we always give them blood transfusions. By the time patients obtain there records, switch doctors and get repeated CTAs it is almost 3-4 months in medication and therapy. And if there is no death or permanent damage, they cant do anything about it.


A new hospital means greater number of empty hospital beds and I shudder how many more people are going to be subjected to the same kind of torture that I went through

What next?

I came across this site http://www.hospitalcomplaint.com that lists the steps that one should take to resolve Quality of Care \Billing issues with the hospital.

An excellent site with concise , precise information and one that I have been using as my basis for filing complaints.

So The next step as mentioned on http://www.hospitalcomplaint.com/qci.html are
1. Filing a complaint with JCHO
2. Filing a complaint with Ministry of Health
3. And most importantly as suggested by Edward itself to
Department of Professional Regulation

Missing Answers

In my quest for information, I had asked two questions to the hospital staff
1. What is the procedure for treating suspected PEs at Edward

2. Procedure for getting medical records modified.

I did not receive answer to either of those in the mail. Also as I was told that I should make a complaint with the Department of Professional Regulation about the doctors. Maybe thats the next step

Heard back from Patient Advocate

So I finally did receive a letter from the patient Advocate:

1. My letter has been forwarded to Vice President of Medical Affairs

2. As mentioned before, the case was forwarded to Peer Review Committe and their recommendation is confidential

3. As doctors as not employees of hospital, I am encouraged to speak to my doctors about my plan of care

But I have already told you that doctors are not ready to talk. Vimi Bajaj tried to torture me physically when I asked for my records And the cardiologist who treated me with anticoagulants Stanley Clark did not visit me once it was determined that no PE\DVT exists. I was sent a different cardiologist to inform me about the same.

Still waiting from Patient Advocate

My blog and my story is a quest of getting justice without going on to the legal system. No amount of money can bring back the pain I endured and the time I lost with my baby. I believe that is the way to go to empower not only pregnant women but to people in general about the medical system

Yes things can go wrong, Yes there are risks but often these are avoidable had doctors been more proactive. The entire emphasis is giving more and more unnecessary medication as "Hospital beds that are filled are revenue streams"

So anyway, I had received a letter from patient advocate of the Edward hospital in late September that my case would be reviewed by the committee on Oct 8th and I would receive a written response

I had a subsequent meeting with her on Oct 1st and she was one of the nicest person I had met at Edward. However am still waiting for her letter describing what was the outcome of the meeting of the grievance committee

Meeting with the patient advocate\Modifying medical records

I had a meeting with the patient advocate of the Edward Hospital. She was very nice and understanding about the whole issue and she said that my letter has been forwarded to the Vice President of Risk management

I know maybe nothing will come out of it as she said that Hospital employ doctors as independent contractors and hence cannot do anything about it. She asked me to write to Department of professional regulation about it.

She spent almost an hour talking with me about everything and it was really nice. I also asked her about the process for getting my medical records modified. Though my records have lots of false information by Dr Bajaj, there is one that I particularly need taken care of

On Day 3, It was 36 hours after the CT Scan. Dr Bajaj had asked me not to breastfeed but Dr Quejada said it was ok to breastfeed. It is recommended to wait 24 hours after scan to start feeding but we had decided to wait 48 hours.

Before the baby came, I had gotten out of bed and lost a lot of blood. I was placed on strict bedrest catherised again. And I was given an antibiotic which was incompatible with the heparin drip. So I had to have a fresh IV in second arm. That IV failed 5 times because my blood was too thin. With IVs in both arm, when my baby was bought to me, I asked Bharat to hold him
Dr Bajaj has written in my records "Patient refuses to hold and nurse the baby". I hope Arnav doesnt think I am a bad mom. I was missing my baby away in the nursery all the time, yearning for him. How can I refuse to hold the baby

Talk About It

How many people often tell you that forget about the issue. The problem is sometimes we just dont want to forget about it. We want to talk with our loved ones and friends about how this still hurts and terrifies us

Getting over it does not means not talking about it. That makes us feel that they feel that this issue is not important. It makes me feel that no one cares about what I went through. Hence this blog. It lets me talk to myself about how I feel about all this

More to come

Based on the google analytics reports sending traffic to my site and at my own frustration on the lack of information available on the net, my next few posts will cover
1. Coumadin and Breastfeeding
2. Procedure for getting your medical records
3. Procedure for modifying your medical records
4. Quality of care complaint procedure against your physician and hospital
5. Pregnancy on Coumadin

Please send me any more topics you would like see covered on this blog

The good doctors

While I was unfortunate to have a very bad experience with my gynecologist, I would be failing in my duties if I dont thank some of the very nice doctors who saved my life

1. Dr Leonard Sherman
He is the radiologist who read my second CT scan and had the guts to go against his colleague and tell them that there is no DVT or PE. He is the one who saved me from getting the IVC Filter. He is my god, no words can ever fail to express my gratitude and thanks to him

I don't know if I'll ever be lucky enough to meet you but I thank you each and every day of my life

2. Dr Todd Singer

The Interventional Radiologist who did the surgery for draining fluid from my abdomen. Since I was on heparin, I couldn't be given spinal anaesthesia. He offered me general but I was worried that they would proceed with IVC Filter while I am asleep

He was so calm and talking to me during the procedure , telling me about the baby he and his wife had 5 months back. Even when I was shouting uncontrollably he told me very nicely "Don't worry, things will be fine. I have seen your records. You don't need a filter"

Dr Singer, you don't know how much your kind attitude mattered to a lonely frightened girl.

Unhappy with your maternity care

Then complaint. Make your voice heard so that others may not be subjected to the same torture you were subjected to.

http://cfmidwifery.org/Resources/item.aspx?ID=1

Many times we choose to keep quite and ignore because We are afraid of letting the world know that we have been treated so badly. I was afraid will people still think me as the bright and smart girl when I could not take care of my own well being, when I couldn’t take right decision about my own child. I felt guilty that I couldn’t judge people correctly

I felt ashamed, guilty, failure. I was afraid of what people will think. I was scared arguing and asking Vimi Bajaj for my records because I was scared of going to any doctor. I believed that my doctor had my best interests in mind but this was not the case.

But there is nothing wrong and ashamed of in putting in words what you are feeling. Save someone the heart break. Let the world know that when Vimi Bajaj could do this to a healthy smart educated girl, she can do this to anyone. Complain and ensure that your voice is heard. Spread the word, be brave and this is the pathway to healing emotionally and physically

Refuse To Be a Womb Pod: What doctors have to say for themselves#links#links#links#links

I came across this interesting story on Refuse to be a womb bad. Enlightening indeed
Refuse To Be a Womb Pod: What doctors have to say for themselves#links#links#links#links

Writing is Therapeutic

Nothing to me has been more therapeutic than putting in writing what I feel about the whole incident. Puting in words that I feel betrayed and hurt about all this. Many times we keep quiet aout how we feel by another person's wrongdoing.

Then again we are giving chance to such individuals to hurt people again and again. Like it was told to me by the heamatologist "We do it always, a person has to say suspicion and we start the treatment". And by the time person sees his or her medical records it is too late for him or her to do anything. At the end of three months when he sees suspicion the window has gone out to verify whether clots existed in first place.

Why choose a doctor wisely?

After my hospital ordeal, for first two weeks I was shocked. Then I started looking into new doctors and was shocked when all doctors denied to look at my c section wound.

I had a gaping 5 inch x 1 inch x 1 inch wound that dripped enough to soak half a dozen pads per day. Because of liability issues all doctors refused to touch it till Dr Vimi Bajaj gives me my records or request in writing

Since Dr Bajaj refused to give me my records, I was left with no choice but to depend on her for my wound care. So better be safe than sorry. Choose doctors judiciously because once the case is spoiled, you would have a hard time finding someone who would even touch you till the first one is healed

Happy Birthday Sweetheart

Today is my darling husband's birthday. I am such blessed to have a wonderful. loving , caring husband and not only this he is very handsome and also is in a great job. What more can a girl ask for.

All through my hospital ordeal he has been a pillar of strength. He leaves for work at 5.40 in the morning to avoid traffic. For 16 weeks, he would get up at 4.00, clean and pack my wound, then go to work, then come back at 5.00 clean my wound again, play with the baby while I get some rest

Many time people asked him, doesnt he gets disgusted and he would reply, "Oh!, Its nothing", No one could have done what he did.

And he puts up with my cribbings and cries, give me endurance that things will be all right

Happy Birthday sweetheart and Thank you for everything you mean to me