Air Force Surgeon Botches Surgery, Airman Loses Legs

[Gratiot]

A Texas Airman stationed at an Air Force Base near Sacramento, Calif. has lost both legs after surgeons reportedly botched a routine surgery to remove his gallbladder.

Colton Read, 20, underwent laproscopic surgery last week at David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento. Laproscopic surgery is a minimally invasive procedure that involves making a tiny incision to minimize pain and speed recovery time.

About an hour into the surgery, something went wrong. Read's wife Jessica told CBS11TV.com.

"A nurse runs out, 'we need blood now' and she rounds the corner and my gut feelings is 'oh my God, is that my husband?'" Jessica Read said. Read's wife said an Air Force general surgeon mistakenly cut her husband's aortic valve, which supplies blood to the heart, but waited hours to transport Colton Read to a state hospital with a vascular surgeon.

Read, who is still in intensive care, lost both legs as a result of the blood loss. Meanwhile, his gallbladder still has not been removed. Jessica Read said the doctor admitted his mistake, but under federal law the Reads cannot sue.

The future of Colton Read's career is now uncertain, FOX 40 in Sacramento reported .

Jessica Read told FOX 40 she is appalled that the Air Force is even considering medical retirement or medical discharge while Airman Read is incapable of making any type of decision. She said he is not 100 percent lucid and is still heavily medicated.

The Air Force is conducting a review of the case using outside experts.

Fox Charlotte

[Gratiot]

For now, Read's wife says the military may place him on medical retirement, in which he'll likely receive less than half his $1600 monthly salary. "I can't understand why they won't help him when they did this to him."

CBS Dallas/Fort Worth

[Gratiot]

Wife Jessica Read says she is appalled that the Air Force is even considering medical retirement or medical discharge while Airman Read is incapable of making any type of decision. She said he is not 100 percent lucid and is still heavily medicated.

Fox Sacremento

[Chris]

Wow, that is scary.

[BlueStateSaint]

Obamacare . . . 

[Flame]

Holy crap.   That surgeon should be shot.  And that airman should have EVERYTHING taken care of for him for the rest of his life.

[BEG]

This is outrageous.

[docstew]

Obamacare . . . 

As I've told anyone who wants 0bamacare, look at the military system.  We have to make have people get x-rays we know won't show anything to justify an MRI, MRI appointments can be weeks away, you can't do anything about malpractice (and if you don't think the Feres Doctrine would apply to gov't docs under 0bamacare, think again)...

I've never had a bad doc in the Army, but then again, I work with my doctors

[Airwolf]

Holy crap.   That surgeon should be shot.  And that airman should have EVERYTHING taken care of for him for the rest of his life.

Damn right. Remember people this is what your health care can be. I had a simple tooth pulled when I got back from Italy at Ft.Campbell. The dentist failed to not only make sure that my jaw was not exposed from having the tooth pulled but years later I found out the asshole also failed to remove the entire tooth. I still have a part of it inside the gum line . I found out about it when I had a civilain doctor take a dental x-ray to have another tooth fixed.

[djones520]

I'd just like to point out that civilian doctors **** stuff up as well.  I'd wager it's to the same scale, if not smaller, then what civilians face.

[Gratiot]

I'd just like to point out that civilian doctors **** stuff up as well.

+1

I'd be sad to hear if this was used as framework to why Obama'Care would be a bad idea.  Instead of focusing on this horrible tragedy that befell a courageous serviceman, and how he can be taken care of in the future.

[docstew]

I'd just like to point out that civilian doctors **** stuff up as well.  I'd wager it's to the same scale, if not smaller, then what civilians face.

Yes, they do, but if a civilian doc ****s up while working on you, you have some legal recourse.  Not so under the Feres Doctrine.

As it is, this Airman will probably be medically retired, recieving less than half his base pay of ~$1600 per month, no concurrent reciept, and not much in the way of disability money.

[formerlurker]

I'd just like to point out that civilian doctors **** stuff up as well.  I'd wager it's to the same scale, if not smaller, then what civilians face.

You have absolutely no way of knowing as they do not release such information.   Military doctors do not have to seek licensure from any state in which they practice.  It is completely outrageous.   I could tell you L&D stories that would make your skin crawl. 

Get rid of MTFs.   Have military doctors do their residency at regular hospitals.   MTFs are exhibit #1 in demonstrating how government run health care is a giant fail.

[formerlurker]

Yes, they do, but if a civilian doc ****s up while working on you, you have some legal recourse.  Not so under the Feres Doctrine.

As it is, this Airman will probably be medically retired, recieving less than half his base pay of ~$1600 per month, no concurrent reciept, and not much in the way of disability money.

... and the surgeon who did this to him will probably move away from surgery into another field of practice with zero malpractice charges trailing him.    His future patients, and insurance carrier who will carry the risk for him when he goes to private practice, will have no idea he did this. 

Just crazy.

[vesta111]

... and the surgeon who did this to him will probably move away from surgery into another field of practice with zero malpractice charges trailing him.    His future patients, and insurance carrier who will carry the risk for him when he goes to private practice, will have no idea he did this. 

Just crazy.

  to you Former,

On another forum I tried to speak on the problems that plague VA. hospitals but was shouted down until months later when the conditions at the hospitals were exposed.

Where were the nay Sayers then, duh, they preferred to get on the rag about transsexuals.

I know how Travis Air Force Hospital operates, and somehow we all survived the care with limbs intact.

 Came close for kiddie number 4 when they contacted Staff in the nursery and no one picked it up until both lungs collapsed at 3 weeks of age.

Gall bladder removed the old way, I have a 9 inch incision from that 2 week in the hospital ordeal.

Good old Travis kept us alive but night mares still arise from time to time from those episodes.

Portsmouth Naval Hospital  in VA. was interesting, placed on a burn ward for 3 rd. degree burns I found since I could change my dressings myself, I went home with a gross of silverdean, swabs you name it. I had all the codeine I wanted, and came out of that spell better off then the people that stayed at the hospital.

When one is just passing through for 4-20 years, with luck all will go well with just a few problems.

I watched and lived in this society for over 40 years, born into it, 4 kids born into it. Naturally in all that time I had a better chance to see the changes, for the good and for the bad.

It is a whole new world since I became divorced and into the civilian medical care society.

I find in civilian care one has options and can make demands that people cannot make under medical care.  We are encouraged to take part in our health care, get on the computer and research into what ever ails Yeah. 

Doctors do not swear into their profession absolute, they have a life and time is important for them.

When patients begin to research their problem they find new ideas and procedures that their doctor may have never heard of before. 

Today I have choices with insurance, go for an operation that may or not fix the problem, get 2-4 different openions from specialists, the decision on my health care is up to ME.

When the time comes for me to go on Medicare----- whole new world, back to the past. 

[Flame]

Yes, they do, but if a civilian doc ****s up while working on you, you have some legal recourse.  Not so under the Feres Doctrine.

As it is, this Airman will probably be medically retired, recieving less than half his base pay of ~$1600 per month, no concurrent reciept, and not much in the way of disability money.

Exactly....if this were a civilian affair, he's have a lawsuit to fall back on, and in this case, a very justified lawsuit.

[djones520]

You have absolutely no way of knowing as they do not release such information.   Military doctors do not have to seek licensure from any state in which they practice.  It is completely outrageous.   I could tell you L&D stories that would make your skin crawl. 

Get rid of MTFs.   Have military doctors do their residency at regular hospitals.   MTFs are exhibit #1 in demonstrating how government run health care is a giant fail.

Might want to get a bit of info before shooting your mouth off Former.  All military doctors have to go through the same training and licensing that civilian doctors have to go through.  Every doc who joins the military must have a state liscence first.

And guess what.  My Primary Care Physician (a Captain in the Air Force) does practice his residency at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Belleville, Illinois.

And military care will not be a damn thing like Obamacare.  Unless Obamacare is willing to do relatively minor, but costly and not wholy necessary surgeries that took a week from identification to surgery.  Like my wifes laser surgery to repair a tear in her cornea.  That had to be handled in a Japanese hospital nonetheless.  Or her bunionectomy. 

The care we recieved by the OBGYN and Physicians office for my sons birth was amazing spectacular.  No chances where taken, no question even given to the cost of a c-section, or the week that my son had to spend under a lamp to get his jaundice under control.  Unlike my best friend whose baby almost drowned to death (and had to be on a respirator the first month of her life) because her civilian doctors refused to do a c-section until she was a month overdue.

I've spent all 25 years of my life recieving care from military physicians.  I've had two complaints the entire time, and they where both relatively minor.  I've never had a single problem with dealing with insurance when forced to see a civilian doctor, or like I mentioned, working with a whole nother nations medical system.

[NHSparky]

And yet I've seen more missed diagnoses and treatments in military care facilities than elsewhere.  You're too young to remember it, but there have actually been court-martialed for negligence.  Donal Billig, anyone?

LINK

BTW--he got it overturned on appeal and went back into civilian practice in Virginia.  Sleep well.

How about the Marine who had Stage 4 melanoma only to be told it was a "wart"?  BTW--he died in 2007.  Congress is currently considering ending the policy. 

I've seen good doctors in the military.  I've also seen some incredibly shitty ones--you know, the kind that join because that way, they don't have to pay malpractice insurance?

[djones520]

And yet I've seen more missed diagnoses and treatments in military care facilities than elsewhere.  You're too young to remember it, but there have actually been court-martialed for negligence.  Donal Billig, anyone?

LINK

BTW--he got it overturned on appeal and went back into civilian practice in Virginia.  Sleep well.

How about the Marine who had Stage 4 melanoma only to be told it was a "wart"?  BTW--he died in 2007.  Congress is currently considering ending the policy. 

I've seen good doctors in the military.  I've also seen some incredibly shitty ones--you know, the kind that join because that way, they don't have to pay malpractice insurance?

I've seen equally shitty doctors on the outside.  Just last month my mother was told by an Orthopedic surgeon (who had her bill ready before she was even seen) that she just needed a new pair of shoes to correct the problem of her heel bone shifting (she shattered it about 12 years ago, and had to have it screwed back together).  After seeking some second opinions, she has found a doctor who actually looked at the issue, and will be doing the reconstructive surgery that should have been done 4 surgeries ago.

[NHSparky]

But on the outside, there is recourse--malpractice, state medical boards, etc.  No such mechanism exists and no need for improvement is deemed necessary by the military medical establishment.

Like I said before, they didn't call it "Crippler AMC" for nothing.

[seabelle]

I think these eff-ups happen in the best of hospitals too, otherwise God would not have started malpractice insurance 

[Gratiot]

I think these eff-ups happen in the best of hospitals too, otherwise God would not have started malpractice insurance 

Agreed.  It's just in the "best of hospitals" a patient has recourse, in this military hospital, there is none.

[NHSparky]

Agreed.  It's just in the "best of hospitals" a patient has recourse, in this military hospital, there is none.

Amen.  I don't know how many times I've seen/heard of just utter "give-a-shit" attitude from the military medical establishment.  Like I said, I've seen the other end of the spectrum as well.  But in one case, I've seen a kid walk (sort of) in with a broken (!) ankle and the corpsman just give him a Motrin and MAYBE a 3-day light duty chit.  Two days later when the kid can't get his boot on they took him to the clinic and got him an X-ray.  As a result, said 21-year old got screws in his ankle cause he jacked it up so badly instead of having it treated.

Kinda like the time I tore off the skin off my heel (about 2" in diameter and the bone was peeking through and bleeding quite nicely, thank you very much).  I drove myself to the clinic at Pearl, parked in front of the ER entrance, and hopped in.  About two minutes later, some dickhead LT came in and started bitching about whose truck was that parked in the doctor parking, blah, blah, blah.  I explained it was mine, and showed him my foot, and tried to tell him that was the closest non-handicapped/non-emergency parking.  Didn't slow him down a ****ing bit.  I was actually ORDERED to move my truck before I would receive treatment, which I did--without help from the staff or even the offer of so much as a pair of crutches.  Needless to say, the complaint I filed against him went absolutely nowhere.

[formerlurker]

Might want to get a bit of info before shooting your mouth off Former....  

Among other things, the licensing process for military doctors is less stringent than for civilian doctors. Understandably, since military physicians are frequently transferred from one installation to another, it would be unworkable to require them to obtain a new license every time they landed in a new state. As a result, military doctors may practice anywhere so long as they hold a valid license from any state. But so broad was this licensing rule that it encompassed even doctors holding "special licenses" from the State of Oklahoma. These licenses do not require physicians to pass the medical exams Oklahoma and other states require for most licenses. Holders of special licenses are not authorized to practice medicine on civilians in the state, but can practice in prisons, on Indian reservations, and in the military, as well as work in laboratories that handle human organs for transplant purposes. One doctor flunked various state exams 30 times between 1973 and 1992 before obtaining a special license that enabled him to become an Air Force doctor. Another military doctor had failed 14 times; yet another had taken licensing exams 18 times, in Louisiana, Arizona, Alabama, Tennessee, and Oklahoma, before obtaining the Oklahoma special. In previous jobs he had delivered pizza, worked in a furniture store, and made sales pitches as a telemarketer. All told, in our reporting for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, we found that at least 77 Army, Navy, and Air Force physicians (out of the more than 15,000 total) held the special licenses.

But the military licensing policy has broader implications. For civilian doctors, state licenses involve more than simply passing a test and opening an office. State boards can discipline physicians, and data compiled by the Public Citizen Health Research Group contain over 16,000 cases of doctors who have been disciplined for everything from repeated cases of malpractice to murder. However, a military doctor who is licensed in Texas and practicing in Alabama is beyond the reach of the Texas state medical board, which does not have the budget to send investigators to another state. And a physician stationed at a military reservation in one state while holding a license from another state is of little interest to the medical board in the state where he practices.

Military officials also acknowledge that the services routinely fail to report doctors to the National Practitioners Data Bank when malpractice claims are paid. In fact, Army medical care providers were accused of malpractice in more than 900 incidents in 1994 and 1995, and the government paid $66 million to settle malpractice claims, according to computerized records. Yet, it reported only one practitioner to the National Practitioners Data Bank.

Most Americans have never heard of the National Practitioners Data Bank; access to the data it contains is strictly limited to hospitals, state medical boards, HMOs, and government agencies that may need to investigate the background of a job applicant. When Congress created it, members acknowledged that having to pay a malpractice judgment or settlement does not necessarily mean a doctor is incompetent. But repeated claims can signal problems. The data bank is searched 8,000 times a day, and one in nine searches matches a name with a stored report.

When the data bank was created, however, Defense Department lobbyists got military hospitals excluded. Instead, the secretary of defense and the secretary of health and human services have signed a "memorandum of understanding" under which each branch of the services decides if a doctor whose action resulted in a malpractice payment by the government should be reported. In the case of Emily Houck, a committee of Navy physicians met behind closed doors and reviewed whether the treatment Dr. Edner C. Monsanto provided satisfied the "standard of care" The committee concluded that Dr. Monsanto's decisions had been proper and, notwithstanding a $4.2 million settlement, he was not reported to the registry. (In an earlier case involving Dr. Monsanto, a committee concluded that his care had not met prevailing medical standards. That case, in which the government paid slightly less than $2 million to settle the claim, was reported to the data bank.)

Of course, even highly qualified doctors sometimes have trouble providing the best care for military patients, in part because of a lack of systems to track patient records. Doctors are frequently required to see patients they've never seen before and who have been passed from doctor to doctor. Some patients don't meet their surgeons until they are in operating rooms or until an operation is over. A perhaps extreme example of how this lack of continuity of care can undercut treatment is the case of Tech. Sgt. Arthur A. Wells, who saw 10 doctors in nearly three years at McChord Air Force Base, just outside Tacoma, Wash. Only five of the 10 doctors reported board certification to the American Medical Association--four in family practice and one in orthopedics. None was a board certified cancer specialist.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n9_v30/ai_21103423/pg_2/?tag=content;col1


I was neighbors with a doctor with the "special license."   

No accountability whatsoever.   Scary scary stuff.    I am blessed I don't live close to one so I am not forced to have my children treated by their staff.   I am equally blessed that my children were delivered at civilian hospitals where I and they received care from board certified physicians. 

[docstew]

In my 10 year career, I have worked with 8 doctors (7 MD, 1 DO), and 12 PAs.  All but one of the PAs I would have no problem or concerns with them seeing myself or any member of my family.  All but that one have always been as professional and skilled as any civilian doctor I've ever seen.  Many joined the military to pay off their med school debts, or to attend med school in the first place.

This thread has gone from discussion of a tragic accident, to discussions of legal recourse and possible/probable lack of same under 0bamacare, and now to characterizing military doctors and the military medical system as substandard.  Can we avoid these characterizations?  I will acknowledge that mistakes are made, but doctors are humans, and that will happen.