Doctor cut out my uvula without my permission!! HELP!!
I had a tonsillectomy and deviated septum surgery on June 8th. To say the least that was the most horriffic experience I had ever gone through.
Anyways.... When I first got my tonsils removed I noticed that my uvula was missing and I had been experiencing weird, uncomfortable, embarrassing side effects such as making funny noises when I swallow food or drink. I am not talking little noises loud enough for other people to hear, or if I swallow food or drinks it goes half way up my nose and then back down. I am also unable to cough up things, etc.
On my final follow up appointment, I asked the doctor if he cut out my uvula. He said no and made the comment"Are things shooting out of your nose!" He said that he didn't cut out my uvula and that it "was hiding and in stress because of the surgery!". Ok so I believe him, he is the doctor my uvula is coming back!! Well.. It is now July 24 and I still don't have my uvula and I am still going through these embarrasing moments.
Has anyone ever heard of your uvula being in stress and hiding and coming back? I mean come on, there are only so many places for it to hide.lol... If the doctor happened to accidently cut mine out, am I able to sue?
I mean I am not the sue happy type but I feel that if the doctor accidently cut something out without my consent and now I am having hardship over it I think something should be done.
Please let me know!! I am really interested to know if my uvuvla will come out of hiding! lol
Re: Doctor cut out my uvula without my permission!! HELP!!
I see no one has answered you yet so I will put in my thoughts here. I think a quick check by another doctor would tell you rather he removed it or if is "in shock and hiding" which does not make good sense to me. If he did remove it, there is no telling WHAT else he could have done that you don't know about.
Before surgery, everything he was going to do should have been fully explained to you and any and all side effects you could experience.. Geez, I just sat in on a pre-surgery consult with my son for his dog and everything was explained including all that could happen as a result of that surgery! That vet spent a good 30 minutes going over EVERYTHING!
Re: Doctor cut out my uvula without my permission!! HELP!!
This happened to me too. I had my tonsils and adenoids removed when I was 18 and the surgeon told my mom that he had to "shave it down" because it was swelling up and blocking my airway...come to find out from another ENT that he most likely accidentally knicked it during surgery, therefore causing it to swell and apparantly this is a pretty common occurance with this type of surgery. Well actually he cut off the entire thing-there is no uvula there. I would obtain the operative report from the surgical facility where they did your surgery at, if he did cut it off (I have NEVER heard of a uvula hiding.....that sounds like crap to me) it should say it in the operative report or in the pathology report (from the specimens they send to the lab to be evaluated). My surgeon never mentioned it in the operative report....but hmm somehow the pathologist noted the tissue in the pathology report. 1 word-lawsuit.
Re: Doctor cut out my uvula without my permission!! HELP!!
I had a tonsillectomy on July 23. After surgery, my uvula was pretty big. As everything healed, it pretty much disappeared. It just swoops down a little. Some posters on this board have talked about their uvula choking and gagging them because of swelling. So, at my second follow-up appointment, I asked if he had to shave it off because of swelling. He said it was swelling during surgery so he clipped it. That was okay with me. I'd rather have it clipped off than choke and gag on it during recovery. I certainly don't think it's anything worth suing over.
Re: Doctor cut out my uvula without my permission!! HELP!!
I actually did not decide to sue because I was advised by an attorney that in order for it to be a viable lawsuit that I would have had to prove that the missing uvula was causing me to have a decrease in function and/or other issues...which it really doesn't. The only thing that did bother me was the extra pain it caused immediately following surgery (according to the nurse), and also the fact that the doctor pretty much didn't even mention it in the operative report was strange. But it was cut off definitely because you can see where it was and tell it had been cut off. Sometimes I guess surgeons have to make decisions like this and like I said it shouldn't really cause you any long term problems or changes in the way you live. good luck to you though.
