Okay oh wise ones...This case involves a 36 year old woman nursing an 11
month old and occassionally a 3 year old.  Here is the real crux of the
malpractice "case study" and  its counter defammation of character and
liable suit see http://www.proaxis.com/~drmom/
if you haven't and you'll get most of the story with detailed photos (you
may click on for blow-ups).  Why I'm writing to you is that it dawned on me
that if ANY one of us did this, our butts would be flying into court so
fast, that we wouldn't know which end was up.  Here's my question...Can
someone out there tell me for sure what the STANDARD OF CARE is for post
surgical patients (this can be breastfeeding related if we say this is a
c/section patient, okay?) when it comes to providing backup coverage?  Let's
say a woman has had surgery and her doctor notices her c/section incision is
developing a seroma so he drains off 250 ml of fluid THE DAY BEFORE HE
LEAVES TOWN FOR A ONE WEEK VACATION IN HAWAII    (as does his RN--the only
other authorized medical professional in the office is a medical assistant)
and does not even call in (note:  there are no other MDs in this town with
the same degree of specialization of this particular MD, but several with
close and "good-enough" fill-in credentials).  During that time, the woman's
abdomen builds up a substantial amount of fluid and she starts calling the
Dr. in question to speak with the med. assistant who says, call dr. general
surgeon that he said would be the best for you to see.  So, this woman does
only to find out that Dr. general surg is on vacation (it's Easter) and that
NO backup arrangements are ever made with that office, including in this
case.  The woman calls back to the original doc's med assist who says "call
your primary care doc".  Primary care says "oh no, we don't touch surgical
patients."  Patient calls a friend who is a retired surgeon and he say's
"you are in serious do-do...better get yourself in to see a real surgeon
soon."  That night the wound spews at least 2 cups of pussy fluid of the
center of the necrotic wound.  After spewing stops around 2 AM  patient
believes crisis over--lacking any child care for 11 month old nursing baby,
3 year old  and 8 year old...waits until morning and begins calling for
help.  The back up to the "supposed" Backup surgeon says "meet me in the ER
immediately."   Patient admitted for IV antibiotics....later on
debridment....more on the website.

WHAT IS THE BREACH OF THE STANDARD OF CARE?  Please post to LN and email me
privately.  I think this is a valuable teaching tool if we keep it at the
level of professional analysis.  TIA!

--Chris Hafner-Eaton, PhD, MPH, CHES, IBCLC    [log in to unmask]
Corvallis, OREGON
€€€INFANT CUISINE AND MOTHER CARE: LACTATION CONSULTING & PERINATAL CARE€€€

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html