National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week

Taking a Stand: How to Avoid Medical Mistakes

Janet Lynn Mitchell
Author, advocate

Janet was a senior in high school, when she lost the use of her legs following surgery. On the night of her tenth surgery, she met Marty, who became her cheerleader and was alongside her as she learned to walk again. Eventually, he became her husband. Janet and Marty have been married for over twenty years and have three children. Janet's knee problems reoccurred when she was thirty-two.

She was horrified to learn she had been a victim of medical negligence, fraud and concealment. Her additional surgeries had been attempts to correct the mistakes. Janet has since become a voice for others who have suffered medical fraud. Assembly Bill 2571, borne out of her misfortunes, unanimously passed both the California Assembly and the Senate and was signed into state law on August 31, 2000.

Her story, Taking a Stand, has motivated others to "take a stand" and remain firm in their faith through the good, bad, and the outrageous. . Her stories and articles have appeared in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Multnomah's Stories for the Extreme Teen, and in magazine such as Woman's World, Light and Life, and Celebrate Life. Her Testimony, "When Doctors Make Mistakes," was published in the July/August 2005 issue of Today's Christian Woman magazine.

Visit her website

Taking a Stand: How to Avoid Medical Mistakes

Host_Mary_Shep: Welcome to the National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week seminar. My name is Mary (a.k.a. "Shep" to many of you), and I'll be your host for this hour. We will open in prayer; then our guest will present the topic, after which there will be a question and answer period, then we will close in prayer.

Her story, Taking a Stand, has motivated others to "take a stand" and remain firm in their faith through the good, bad, and the outrageous. . Her stories and articles have appeared in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Multnomah's Stories for the Extreme Teen, and in magazine such as Woman's World, Light and Life, and Celebrate Life. Her Testimony, "When Doctors Make Mistakes," was published in the July/August 2005 issue of Today's Christian Woman magazine.

Her topic for today is: "Taking a Stand: How to Avoid Medical Mistakes"

But before we begin, let's ask the Lord's blessing upon our time and our speaker.

Father, we thank you for being a loving and caring Father. We trust that today is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! We pray for those who are hurting today Lord, those who hurt physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Comfort them as they come to hear words of encouragement and love. Bless our speaker; guide the words that are spoken so that when we are done here, we will know that we have been in Your Presence. In Jesus precious name we pray, Amen.

Now, It is my pleasure to introduce Janet Lynn Mitchell! Janet, welcome and may the Lord bless you as you share with us today!

Janet_Lynn_Mitchell: "It's time you know," Dr. Ulid sighed while leaning back against the wall. Know what? I wondered, as I sat on his examining table. Instantly, Dr. Ulid broke eye contact with me. "Janet, I was there. I was in on your first surgery. Dr. Allgood cut your bone wrong. The cut went diagonally, up to the joint space of your knee, cutting your ligaments causing the instability. The rest of your surgeries were to try to fix this mistake."

Immediately my stomach drew up into knots and I wept uncontrollably. How could my doctors have done this to me? Through ten surgeries, I had trusted them! They were my heroes! My child-like faith and trust in people had, in a flash, been shaken to the core. I had been wheelchair bound through my teen years due to another's negligence.
For fifteen years my doctors had told me that my right knee problems were due to a congenital complication, "from the way God made me." Now at thirty three years old I knew that my doctors had lied...and had the nerve to blame my God!

I was angry! The thought of living the rest of my life with the consequences of someone else's secrets, mistakes, and lies made my stomach churn with furry! Dr. Ulid hadn't even said he was sorry. And yet, as a Christian, Scripture told me that I was to forgive. Truthfully, no matter how hard I tried, I could not find the desire to do so. I learned that forgiveness is an act of obedience to God, not an emotion. And I learned that forgiveness needed to begin with the decision to forgive.

Through godly counsel, I concluded that I had a responsibility to take a closer look at my medical history. I discovered that my medical records had been tampered with-some even destroyed. Exploring deeper, I discovered alarming facts that put my entire community at risk. For twenty-five years, Dr. Allgood practiced medicine and performed surgery without carrying medical malpractice insurance! Court records proved that combined, my doctors had been sued over 50 times and patients had died.

However difficult the journey, I vowed to "live out my faith" doing everything possible to prevent my doctors from injuring another. Despite the twists and turns of an eight-year legal battle, I determined that giving up was not an option. I reminded myself more than once that, God's power is not limited by the lack of fair play! From state to appellate to federal courts, God was faithful!

After "winning" my legal battles, I contacted the Medical Board of California. Regretfully, existing statute law barred them from investigating my doctors. Under the existing law, only "occurrences" that had taken place within the last seven years could be investigated. The Statute of Limitations held no provision for cases where fraud and/or concealment were issues and therefore shielded my doctors from accountability or investigation by the Medical Board!

I wrote Assemblyman Bill Campbell of California. I shared with him my story. He then introduced legislation born out of my medical disaster. Assembly Bill AB2571 was my hope in changing the future for others. Within six months AB2571 passed the California Assembly and the Senate with not one "no" vote. On August 31, 2000, Assembly Bill AB2571 was signed into law! No longer can California doctors change medical records or conceal medical information and rely on the statute of limitations to exonerate them from investigation by the California Medical Board.

Through my experiences, I am reminded that God cares immensely about each one of us. I have great peace knowing that I walked a road that I was destined to walk. How richly blessed I am-that God trusted me with pain.

SO WHAT DOES A PERSON DO WHEN THEY FEEL A MEDICAL MISTAKE HAS OCCURRED?

What if he or she is victim of medical negligence and/or fraud? How does one hang onto his/her faith while experiencing the unbelievable? I suggest taking the following eight steps:

1. Allow yourself to feel the range of emotions that come with disappointment, betrayal, and loss. Understand that it's okay to be angry and that Psalm 3:3 states that God is the "lifter of your head."
2. Know that God is the expert at bringing good out of evil. Cling to His promises in Scripture. Expect God to act on your behalf and meet your every need. He has never forsaken those who trust in Him.
3. Forgive the doctors and the medical professional who caused you harm. You can read my book Taking a Stand to read my journey to forgiveness.
4. Understand that forgiveness is not a feeling you come to, but an act of obedience to God. Know that forgiveness never changes the past, it only frees your future.
5. Ask God to show you how to move forward with your life.
6. Become an informed, educated medical consumer.
7. Trust again. Seek medical attention as needed. Know that God uses the hands of health care providers to heal.
8. MY STORY REMINDS US THAT OUR PHYSICIANS ARE NOT INFALLIBLE GODS, BUT THAT MOST ARE KNOWLEDGEABLE, SKILLED HUMAN BEINGS WITH A DESIRE TO HEAL. HOWEVER STATISTICS DO SHOW:
- One out of every four orthopedic surgeons have cut or will operate on the wrong limb at some point in his or her career.
- Medical mistakes kill between 44,000 to 98,000 hospitalized Americans each year. Thousands more are injured, causing permanent disabilities, many not even knowing their doctors are at fault.
- Presently, our laws do not require doctors to inform the patient of the true cause of his or her condition. Only when the patient specifically asks is a doctor legally bound to offer any information about the cause of his condition.
- Medical malpractice and/or negligence is the eighth most common cause of death in America! These preventable deaths exceed the deaths attributed to car accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS!

Through my experience I now believe that we, the patient can partner with our doctor to help prevent mistakes. These are some of the ways to do this.

TIPS FOR MANAGING YOUR OWN HEALTH CARE

" Select Your Own Doctor: Make an educated choice. When choosing a doctor, interview him or her. What are his/her areas of specialty? Where did he/she attend medical school and how long he/she has been practicing? Who is on call for the physician when he/she is off duty? At what hospitals does he/she have staff privileges? One may also want to consider additional factors such as the gender and age of the physician and what languages the doctor speaks.
" Prepare Before Your Appointment: Make a written list of all concerns and questions you have pertaining to your health. Include all medications, vitamins and herbs that you are presently taking.
" You Must Feel Comfortable
" Get a Second Opinion: Never accept one doctor's diagnosis or surgical recommendation as the only way of regaining your health. Always, get a second opinion regarding advised surgery and/or extensive medical treatment. Seek a second opinion outside of the area where your doctor practices.
" Understand What You Are Signing: Before signing any hospital form, ask if you do not understand something. Most hospital admission forms ask you to initial an agreement that you will settle complaints by arbitration, thus waving your rights to a jury trial if a medical error would occur. The patient has the right and option not to sign on this dotted line.
" Make Sure You Are Informed: Before signing the Informed Consent form, make sure that you agree to the surgery and clearly understand and the possible side effects or results.

All these tips and more are posted on my website www.JanetLynnMitchell.com

But I want to make sure that you know that Great Doctors Can Make Mistakes.
Know that medical errors are not usually the fault of a bad doctor, but are made by good, yet imperfect physicians, using their human skills to bring wholeness and healing. Medical professionals do make mistakes, they do at times forget, and they in no way know everything. Expect excellence, but not perfection.

Not only can we ask good questions and follow our doctor's prescribed plan for treatment we can also drop him/her a note of thanks, sealed with a prayer.

Going through my med/mal experience has taught me many things.

Host_Mary_Shep: Can you expound a bit on what your journey to forgiveness was like?

Janet_Lynn_Mitchell: Forgiveness was a journey for me. I had to learn that I could speak the words of forgiveness despite what I saw, felt or thought. I thought of Christ on the cross in pain. No one said they were sorry. They continued to harm him and it was then that he spoke the words to his father regarding forgiveness.

Host_Mary_Shep: When it is all said and done, "WE" are still left with the 'broken body'. What do you believe is the most important key in making sure that a person becomes "BETTER" rather than "BITTER" after this kind of awful experience?

Janet_Lynn_Mitchell: Instead of making a list of what we can't do. We need to make a poster board list of what we can do! We ask God "what's next." He promises us that He will bring good out of evil. And he is faithful!

This does not mean that we won't grieve what we have lost. God gave us each of our emotions. Anger, sadness and grief are all created by him. Then we need to not be afraid of our emotions. And let God heal us.

I am seeing many questions that I'd like to take time to answer. After this chat, feel free to email me at JanetLMprodigy.net.

Host_Mary_Shep: With all of the 'ambulance chasing' attorneys we see on the television trying to get people to sue their doctors for any problems that you can imagine, how, as a Christian, do we reconcile the balance between an 'honest, human mistake' and a blatant 'malpractice'? For example, when a child is born with a particular disease, we now have attorneys advertising to 'help get a fair settlement' -- don't we need allow for 'real honest errors'? Your thoughts?

Janet_Lynn_Mitchell: I am not sure we all understand the issues of medical mistakes. When someone has a car accident, do we try to hide our car insurance from those we have harmed? No, because we have this insurance for this reason. I am against people suing a doctor when it is not called for. I even suggest talking with your doctor if a mistake has been made and ask him what he can do to help. The reality is, most people have to find out about a mistake on their own and many times it is too late to correct the problem.

Lynnette: How do you balance forgiveness with the fight to change things? Aren't the kind of opposing things?

Janet_Lynn_Mitchell: No, Forgiveness does not mean that what the doctors did was okay. They needed to be stopped before they harmed another. My forgiveness does not negate my doctor's consequence.

Lynnette: My situation is not nearly as drastic as yours was, but I was treated VERY poorly by my doctor. Is there anything I can do to keep that from happening to someone else?

Janet_Lynn_Mitchell: Yes, you must file a complaint with the Medical Board of your state. I say "must" because it is their job to discover what happened and then provide the needed training your doctor might need.
My doctor's had been sued over 50 times. Some of these patients had died. If I forgave and then did nothing. More people could have lost their lives. I believe that as Christians we have a responsibility to do something to stop someone causing harm. I have the steps listed on my website www.JanetLynnMitchell.com. And you can read my story and the steps I took to uncover the fraud of my case in my book, Taking a Stand.

p.j: In 2000, First surgery - doctor left a piece of tool inside Pain kept on. Surgery 3 - another doctor found the piece of tool fused over my intestines. I didn't sue. Doctors kept leading me on with tons of details and I made over 100 phone calls. Lawyer said my time was up; which was why the doctor had kept me spinning my wheels. so, I never did sue him. I had no idea it would effect me for life and now I wish I had at least sued him. every time I eat, I pay with much pain. I tried to prevent the same from happening to others, but no, the doctor did even worse to another. One good thing- made me unable to get fat! (only good point really) I just accept that it affects me every single day, and families as well because of friction about where to eat and what. My trust with doctors is gone. So, just let go is all I can do right? I'm still trying to figure out what sets me off years after.

Janet_Lynn_Mitchell: Pj I would love for you to contact me at JanetLM@prodigy.net. I think I have been where you are. And I know that it is HARD.

It is my prayer that God will bless and keep each of you. I know that this is a tough subject and situation to live through. Know that if you ask God to walk this journey with you, he will. Feel free to contact me, just to talk or to pray.

Host_Mary_Shep: Our time has come to a close, much too quickly I am afraid! Thank you, Janet... let's close in prayer!

Father God, thank you for this time of humbling us and showing us that we are no worse off than we choose to believe we are. As Janet has so beautifully stated "We need to learn that we can speak the words of forgiveness, despite what we see, feel or think."
Please, Lord, keep this with us in all areas of our lives, not only the big things, but the small; the person we are angry with and don't choose to forgive, the person who cuts us off, the person who has said things that hurt us, the CHURCH group that hasn't met our needs - in all things, help us to remember we need YOU most. And we ask a special blessing upon all who have faced this type of malpractice injustice - help them Lord to get the help they need, and to come through it with a deeper and closer faith in Jesus. Remind us that acceptance is neither a denial of the current condition nor is it a belief that things can never get better. Open our eyes Lord! We ask this all in the precious name of Jesus, the one who died for us, Amen.