My father in law recently went in to have his cataracts done. Now as far we knew it is a very common & simple procedure.
My wife accompanied him to the hospital but wasn't allowed to be with him once he left the waiting room.
He was then given a local anaesthetic, he then thinks he waited about an hour & a half before going into surgery. Turns out he was in agony as the surgeon was working & it took him a while to speak up saying how much pain he was in. They then tried to administer more anaesthetic but the pain was so bad. My question is had the original L A worn off & if he was in so much pain was the 2nd dose too late?
The operation was then aborted. The problem is his eye is still very sore & he doesn't want to go back. This was only one eye, he has to have them both done but they only do one at a time. If he doesn't get them done he will go blind. We think there is a claim for medical negligence but don't know how we can prove it. He also has glaucoma & the surgeon says it has worsened hence the problems he experienced. We are of the view the surgeon is covering his back & in fact he waited too long after initial anaesthetic.
Anybody any thoughts or similar experiences?
Many thanks.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Ask for him to be referred to another surgeon x I think you should get him sorted before going down the medical negligence route.
The longer it's left may affect his chances of keeping reasonable site.
Speak to PALs too.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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In my experience local anaesthetic takes at most 20/30 minutes to work. Leaving for longer is negligent, especially if they begin the procedure and have to abort after readministering. I'd contact an independant council and seek help, sounds like theyre trying to cover their assess |
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By *leepyangelCouple
over a year ago
over the hill and far away |
There are 2 types of local Anaesthetic which are used. One is bupivicaine which is longer acting is up to 4 hours. The most popular use is lidocaine which starts to take affect after a couple of minutes but is short acting.
in cataract surgery the Anaesthetic can wear off and sometimes might require a top up by the surgeon or they might just use local Anaesthetic drops.
An hour and a half is excessive to have to wait for procedure. Sounds like patient previous could have had complications.
Write a letter to the hospitals CEO and ask for a meeting. The operation still needs doing but you will be offered another doctor.
Good luck x |
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By *aitinkCouple
over a year ago
York |
An experience like that can lead to a painphobia and different people can need stronger or weaker doses. Some people on the Autistic spectrum react very strongly to analgesics and typically respond better to half doses.
But yes, after an hour and a half the analgesia should have been reviewed. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I've had both my eyes done for cataracts.
The first 4 years ago and the 2nd 3 weeks ago.
With the first I had LA this was administered approx. an hour before I had surgery. Also had the numbing drops in the eye put in, in 3 lots, over 3 hours beforehand.
With the second eye I elected NOT to have LA just the numbing drops. Yes there was discomfort/pain during the op but not so bad that the surgeon had to stop, and the recovery without the LA was much better.
It is a scary op as your eye is kept forced open and you can see (although blurred) what is going on. But the benefits are worth the 20 minutes of discomfort.
Hope you manage to persuade him to have the procedure. |
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