Severe hip pain and back pain with other orthopaedic problems, in a relative who was being investigated for other unrelated medical symptoms.
Sent for an orthopaedic consultation. She was triaged by a physiotherapist whose spine exam appeared non-existent and hip examination would have failed a medical student his exams. They did take a hip radiograph and recognise that there was arthritis.
At the initial visit with an orthopaedic surgeon, they entered the room with a consent form in hand. No consideration seemed to have been given to the other medical condition nor to the spine problems. The surgical approach proposed results in an unacceptable incidence of abductor weakness.
The anaesthetist did examine her, but proposed a spinal anaesthesia without apparently recognizing just how difficult it would become to get a needle in. She did not succeed in over an hour.
In short, no one seemed to examine this woman as a whole and understand all the inter-related pathologies and their implications.
"The lack of responsibility by any one individual in patient care"
About: Torbay Hospital / Colorectal surgery Torbay Hospital Colorectal surgery TQ2 7AA Torbay Hospital / Trauma and orthopaedics Torbay Hospital Trauma and orthopaedics TQ2 7AA
Posted by unimserv (as ),
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