Ｒｅａｌ Ｐａｔｉｅｎｔ Ｓｔｏｒｉｅｓ: When Communication Doesn’t Happen

After a misdiagnosed infection and several ineffective antibiotic prescriptions, Andrea ended up with the infection in her bloodstream, a resulting aneurysm, almost bleeding to death and septic shock. After surgery, a medically induced coma and a month in the ICU, Andrea went from being a strong & active 67 year old to someone who lost 40 lbs, almost had to learn to walk again, and who suffered a lot of post-sepsis effects like fatigue, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress for years.

At the time Andrea didn’t know to ask, ‘what could go wrong’ with what seemed like a minor infection. She didn’t know what proper testing of the infection should look like. She wasn’t told what to expect from the antibiotic treatment. She wasn’t given any recovery expectations to follow-up on. Any one of those might have given Andrea more information to act on and prevent what happened, a seemingly minor medical concern that became life-threatening, because of lack of communication.

It is your right to ask questions and to speak up for your safety. It’s your health – be part of the conversation.

 

* 𝘐𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯’𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘢 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘢 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺.