to sue the doctor or to not sue the doctor ?

[pennyb]

Hi everyone! right now i am kinda in great dispare about what to do. It all started when i woke with a dislocated jaw. Believe it or not i never had any type of jaw problems before this day. Anyhow, my jaw got a reformed position eventually by wearing a splint, which did help. But 4 months later i did go in for jaw surgery. Now, at this time I was only having problems on the left side but the new Jaw surgeon suggested that I get both sides worked on due to the obscure difference there would be after surgery on that one side. Oh he also stated that my other side was getting pretty bad too. Anyhow, 2 full surgeries and 2 left joint flushes later I am in way more pain then i started with. My jaw surgeon had told me on my last visit with him that he no longer could help me. That due to muscle and inflamation problems it was out of his hands. Just happened to be this was only days after my insurance for jaw treatment ended.
So now, well now i am pretty much scr$wed. I have no more insurance for physical therapy nor to see another specialist, am in severe jaw, sinus, neck and shoulder pain, oh and major headaches. I don't know what to do. I went to see an orthodontist that won't help me due to the condition of my jaw and most orthodontists won't. I guess that i can understand.
So bottom line is, i know this is a long shot, but i wanna go after this guy for what he has done to me. I am gonna find out if i have nerve damage and if so this guy is gonna pay. Well actually he will either way. I can't stand that after $50,000+ this doctor can get away with just pushing me off as a patient. He even told another one of my doctors he can no longer help me. NO he can't because he knows he messed me up far beyond repair. What would you guys do?????? sorry this is so long.
best wishes to you all
hugs

[OHJELJ]

WOW! What a complete and total nightmare! I am so sorry you're going through all of this! Make sure you review all of the paperwork you signed, releases etc..prior to your surgeries. My doc puts in there that there is no guarantee that the procedure will fix the problem and that there might be side effects like nerve damage etc...they usually cover their bums pretty well before they touch you.

If you have signed documents such as these, you're pretty much in a bad place. You will just waste money with the lawyer etc...filing a case.

Your best bet is to petition your insurance co. to contiue your coverage. The law in most states says that they have to provide the minimum of care in the case of TMJ...that usually limits you to one splint, one bought of PT etc...however, if your doctor verifies that you still have a severe problem...that could buy you some more coverage so you can find a new doc....they can't deny you treatment. It's against the law.

Good luck. But please don't waste too much energy; short of leaving instruments in your jaw, it doesn't sound like there's too much you can do malpractice-wise....sorry....

Take care,
Jennifer

[kat721]

Posted>>Your best bet is to petition your insurance co. to contiue your coverage. The law in most states says that they have to provide the minimum of care in the case of TMJ...that usually limits you to one splint, one bought of PT etc...however, if your doctor verifies that you still have a severe problem...that could buy you some more coverage so you can find a new doc....they can't deny you treatment. It's against the law.<<

Yes, I agree with the above posted course of action.
You will have better luck in getting help if you go that route first.
Sueing Doctors is getting ready to be a huge difficult part of the law. More and more, the price of malpractice incurance is causing Doctors to get out of Doctoring altogether.
Doctors are banding together to protest malpractice suits because there have been so many in the past.
However, by asking insurance companies to give more help and better benefits or talking to Doctors who can work with the insurance company to approach the problem from maybe a few different levels, then at least you might get some real help for your jaw.
I recently developed jaw problems my self.
I even went to an emergency room and to a maxillofacial surgeon and neither place was particularly helpful.
However, I recently saw a Neurologist who is at least approaching the problem with a focus on getting to the
bottom of my need for pain control so my pain does not make my BP and Pulse go wild.
I am getting a triptan in 3 different types of delivery which has an amazingly positive effect on my pain. It's not cured but I don't feel like pulling out my hair and I can cope. Also I was put on an old tricylic anti depressant which is turning out to be helpful too. Trazodone is also helping me cope and for right now that's all I care about. And the good thing is that these meds are not highly controled substances so there is no angst over getting the help needed to cope. I'd rather layer my pain help with non threatening meds than go for the big controled substance because I'm looking at long term pain control and that whole controled substance issue is just too much of a medical headache.
You might also try a Doctor of Physical Medicine for help in the pain department. Those types of Doctors are better covered by insurance companies. You will also find them listed under Sports Medicine an Rehabilitative Medicine. TMJ treatment is difficult to obtain. Pain treatment is another category. Additionally, start charting your vital signs. If your BP and Pulse begin to go into consistent high levels because of pain, then control of pain and the problem then becomes a matter that can't be ignored by insurance companies and Doctors because then you are getting into the zone where pain becomes life threatening.
People can and do go into heart failure or heart attacks because of unaddressed pain.
It's a valid consideration.
kat

[pennyb]

Thanks for your replies. Unfortunatly, i have been up and down every road to get more help with the insurance company. They only covered 60 visits for tmj no matter if it's for physical therapy or a neurologist. Right now i am on tons of medication and nothing is working.
Lorcet 10/650
Carisoprodol 350
Trazadone 200
Paxil 20
wellbutrin 100
prozac 300
valium 5
ambian 10
nexium 40
nabumetone 750
trileptol 300
nasacort aq
dhea 10
oh and a few others that are personal. These medications i didn't have to go on until this whole jaw thing started. Well besides the paxil. Which of course i know makes me grind my teeth but i can't seem to get off it. I don't know you guys I am just having too hard of a time dealing with this. I know that i am probably damaged for life and there is no way i can deal with pain for all that time. I don't see how this doctor can get away with doing all this too me nor dropping me as a patient just because I no long have insurance coverage. I mean darn didn't he make enough off me already. I have also tried Nerontin and a few other drugs which are the same but none have worked. uggg i need help i can't stand being in pain all the time

[TiffanyAnn]

Hi Penny:
I don't know if you can get any money by suing this doctor but if it were me I would certainly do just that. Also I would write articles for all the local papers telling just what he did to me. I'd call the tv stations if I had to to tell my story and I would go into his office extremely angry and loudly say I was not leaving until I got some answers insurance or not. I have learned from doing this before that doctors don't want you in their waiting room talking loudly about how they were neglegent in their care of you and the condition you are in and that they are now refusing to treat you since they got all this money out of you and left you in severe pain. I've done this before and told them I was not leaving without some help and I was not going to lower my voice either. I've told them they can either deal with me or have the cops come haul me off and by the way I would be back tomorrow for the second act. Every doctor I have done this with has NOT called the cops but rather rushed me into a room and dealt with me. There have been a number of doctors I have turned into the AMA. Not that it does all that much good other than to alert them that they have been reported but if they get so many of those negative letters it will reflect on them. Anyway, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to go on and on like this. I guess you can tell that I too am angry so my advice is you go girl and make things as ugly for that SOB as you possibly can. If you don't get alot of results you will feel better for telling them off. I sure did Good Luck!
Tiffany