Military Medical Mistake Changes Arlington Airman
Jessica Read is still stunned about what happened to her husband. "It's very hard for us to understand."
Last week, 20-year-old Colton Read, who grew up in Arlington and who's now in the U. S. Air Force, went to have laparoscopic surgery to remove his gall-bladder at David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento.
His mother, Shelly Read-Miller says he wasn't worried. "He said 'Mom, this is routine, it's no big deal.'"
But what happened during surgery turned out to be a very big deal.
Jessica Read says around 10 a.m., about an hour into the procedure, "A nurse runs out, 'We need blood now,' and she rounds the corner and my gut feelings is, 'Oh my God, is that my husband?'"
She says his Air Force general surgeon mistakenly cut her husband's aortic artery, but waited hours to transport him to a state hospital which has a vascular surgeon. "It took them until 5:30 to get him to UC Davis. I don't understand."
Because Read lost so much blood during that time, doctors had to amputate both legs. His mother sobbed, "I watched him take his first steps, and now his legs are gone."
Read is still in intensive care, and doctors can't remove his gall bladder for fear of infection.
Now, his wife says they must keep his spirits up because he knows what happened to him. "When we've been in there he'll say, 'They're gone,' and we say, 'It's okay though. You made it through the surgery we have your life, thank God.'"
In a statement, Lt. Holly Hess, chief of public affairs at Travis Air Force Base says, "We are conducting an exhaustive review with experts from outside David Grant Medical Center, as well as an internal investigation with the goal of ensuring patient safety and quality care at the center."
Read's wife says the doctor admitted it was human error. "All my husband ever wanted to do was to deploy, all my husband ever wanted to do was serve his country. He used to tell me when we had flyovers and they played the national anthem, the chills he would get from the pride that he felt from being an American airman, and this is something an Air Force doctor has taken from him."
But because of an old federal law called the Feres Doctrine, Read, his wife, and his family members can't sue the military over what happened to him.
Until last November, retired Lt. Colonel Colby Vokey served in the U. S. Marine Corps for 21 years, the past 11 as a judge advocate, or attorney. "To me, it's disgraceful."
Vokey says the original thought behind the law was, "The military would make someone whole. That if you're hurt in the line of duty, hurt in battle, the military would take care of their own. That's certainly not the case, and certainly not the case with this young man."
A bill is pending in congress that would end this law.
For now, Read's wife says the military may place him on medical retirement, in which he'll likely receive less than half his $1600 monthly salary. "I can't understand why they won't help him when they did this to him."
Friends who serve with Read at the Ninth Intelligence Squadron at nearby Beale Air Force Base have sent him a get well card.
Jessica says she knows she must keep it altogether. "I've made up my mind. I can cry later, because right now he needs me. He needs me to be strong."
Report by Jack Fink
http://cbs11tv.com/local/medical.mistake.military.2.1091010.html
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Yoox
This upsets me deeply. David Grant is a training hospital and I would love to know if this was an experienced surgeon or someone being taught. Either way there is NO excuse--NONE--and as a medical professional I would expect this surgeon's medical degree. This was gross negligence. We should not allow the USAF to simply write him off and give him HALF his salary. His FULL salary isn't enough to live on.
1OMG, this breaks my heart! They need to do something about that doctor.I am in the healthcare profession and to me this is inexcusably.
2"Inexcusable"
3it is really upsetting,and the fact that the doctor waited hours to transport him to a state hospital is very tragic and shocking.hopefully that bill pass,so that after this kind of mistake,the victims can be repaid fully
4I would like to know what happened to the surgeon.
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"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
Wow, this is so sad - this poor man and his family! They deserve WAAAAY more than just half his monthly salary! It shocks me that this could happen and then the military wouldn't make some attempt at amends. I hope that bill passes!
6Thank you for posting this.
It's absolutely insane.
7OMG! This is just awful! My heart is broken for this poor young man and his wife. How can something like this happen? As each of you said it is inexcuseable. Interesting that the states and federal government have laws that exempt them from being sued.
The victims of the 35W bridge that fell in Minnesota encountered the same thing. The state decided how much they wanted to give the victims.
It just seems so wrong that something like this can happen. I too want to know what happened to the doctor. Human error? Sorry but that is just not acceptable in a case like this.
8I cannot imagine why THIS story is not all over the news. It should be.
9I hope that we all pray for his complete recovery and the courage and fortitude of his family. I hope that we will pray also for the medical personnel responsible for this horror: they certainly need it too.
10You wonder why life hands out this kind of thing as it makes our lives almost too difficult to bear. The shock of catastrophes either makes us wither away or move forward. Clearly this man and his family need our help and I will be looking to see how that help might best be given in the near future. In that regard, I hope no one minds my sharing a story.
I recall when my mother was recovering from lung cancer, having a portion of one lung removed. I came down to be with her as she convalesced at home. One afternoon, she was resting comfortably in bed and I was feeling pretty down in the dumps about the whole affair, wondering what my brother and I might have to do to help her, wondering how Mother would recuperate, the complications and limitations and so forth. In the midst of my self-pity, the doorbell rang. When I opened it there was a man and he was smiling at me. That wouldn't have been all that remarkable except that he was missing the central part of his face, including all of his nose. I guessed, after a momentary lapse, that this man had had sinus cancer. Seeing a man missing a major portion of his face suddenly in front of you at the door is a moment for which you cannot readily prepare yourself.
He ignored my look of shock and introduced himself, saying his wife and he were casual friends of my mom, that they had been out picking strawberries, and thought my mother might like some. I accepted them graciously as he asked after her health and we chatted pleasantly for a moment at the door, but as his wife was waiting in the car, he was soon gone.
Returning back into the house, I set the quart or so of the lovely fresh berries on the kitchen counter, simply staring at them and in about thirty seconds I was bawling my eyes out. I realized what my look must have said to this man at seeing his disfigurement and I was ashamed of myself, but he hadn't cared at all. He had been smiling as if nothing was out of the ordinary. I thought of how he might well have been secreted away in his house, away from people who stared at his face with disgust just like I had. I realized how tiring and wearing that probably was for him. But instead of worrying about the looks or comments he might receive from anyone else, he and his wife had gone out picking strawberries on a beautiful Saturday afternoon! On top of that, they thought so much of others that they brought some berries for my ailing mother.
It was such a simple gift and yet it touched me deeply because it was heroic. It was a wonderful lesson about how to face life, but it was a better lesson concerning which one of us was really disfigured. More than anything, it put into perspective just how difficult circumstances really weren't for me. I still marvel at how a simple act of kindness became so valuable.
We can look at how much life has taken from us all too easily and turn in on ourselves. Even this story above leaves that kind of feeling that we just want to shrink from the displeasure. But, no matter how how much we suffer, there is always someone else who needs our help, our encouragement. I hope I am never again so shocked by the horror that life deals out so that I think only of myself and forget how others need encouragement, even in a small way. I have learned that it makes a big difference.
Ele...thank you for sharing your story. Life does hand us travesty and we must find our own silver lining.
This young man, at the peak of youth is forever changed by something that should have been an uneventful surgery lasting no more than a mere hour to hour and half. I have a certain level of compassion for the surgeon as he/she will have to live with this mistake too--but live and death is what we work with in healthcare--and we receive extensive training for those "odd-freakish" things when things go awry. This was past a simple mistake--stepping over the line to gross negligence.
We never know for sure the "why" of something. I spent a long time being very angry at my injury until I decided that what I could change I would, and what I can't then I'd deal with it. Ultimately my injury forced me to look beyond myself and then look for ways to help others in my predicament.
This young man is facing far more than I did. I hope he finds a motivating force to use his injury to facilitate change. Whether it is a change in policies for military who are injured...or finding someway to assist others who have experienced disabilities.
11
to both stories - yours - CheekyRH and yours Eleuthera - THANK YOU BOTH
12The more I think about this story and it does come from a reliable news source, the more I have a problem with it. It states the aortic artery was cut and that led to the amputation. With one of the 3 major arteries cut he would have bleed out in minutes and he could not have been moved until stabilized. He would have bleed out in transport. I would really like to know what happened in the O.R. and if needed, a vascular surgeon could have been brought into the hospital. There is more to this. Something is missing from the story.
El I hope your mom is doing better.
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"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
I would love to have you as a menter, El. Love your depth, compassion, ability to reflect and grow from the encounters in life. You really sound like a great and interesting person.
14Thank you for the compliments, but as I didn't take the lessons willingly, I don't deserve any credit. Thank you nonetheless.
I am constantly reminded of a quote by Helen Keller about a subject which is much out of fashion in the world today, especially when the pursuit of happiness has taken off in an effort to outrun our better humanity and concern for one another. Indeed she wrote a lot on this subject but this one seems to stand out for me:
"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
A well known pastor echoed this sentiment recently and received the ire of those who object to suffering and, on the face of it, what he suggested was very harsh. He said that God wasn't as concerned with our comfort in our lives as he was with our character. The real issue is that we probably wouldn't develop much character on our own. If I may inject a bit of personal theology, I find it fascinating how our own nature is to avoid our sufferings and suggest that we know better than God how things ought to work. This of course was Satan's major sin, insisting that he knew better than God. I think each of us tends to do that quite a bit.
15It takes quite a bit to be able to embrace our sufferings, not only because it is counter-intuitive, but because it doesn't happen just because we know what we should do. If all that were required to do the right thing were knowledge and free will, Spanx never would have been invented. In order to develop character, suffering must be embraced. This in turn develops humility and greater character.
Thomas Merton, the mystic Roman Catholic writer, said:
"The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt."
Sadly avoidance of suffering seems to be the place where modern society has decided to make its last stand. Wealth and power is lauded over personal character and Godly things are seen, as was the case with a recent post, as ways in which people (women) can be restricted. Still I have greater sense of hope when I see what is possible with people and as long as we have faith in the possibility of better things, perhaps that will be sufficient to encourage others also. In the above case, I hope someone reaches out in just this way.
RE #13...samantha........Warning, following content is graphic.
Usually when any major artery is accidentally cut, it is immediately clamped off while a decision is made about how to repair the problem. Fortunately in the only two cases where I have see this mishap occur in the OR, we were able to get another surgeon in there post haste.
16Because they clamped off the artery and probably panicked, every moment that was clamped tissue was lost. They had to have made several attempts to repair this themselves...hence the extreme blood loss. That blood loss (considering the artery involved and probable level it was most likely cut) made that even more difficult and extreme. When they realized they were going to lose him if they didn't transfer him--those legs were already gone. He was almost gone.
To complicate the issue this surgery was laparoscopic...so they hadn't opened him up--merely filled the abdominal cavity with air/gas...when the artery was cut it had a huge void suddenly to fill and the blood obscured the laparoscopic device--so they had to open him up and then find the problem...much like looking for something in a giant bowl of pudding...pudding that was increasing in volume at a frightening rate.
Not that graphic. I know about clamping off and the loss of blood to those areas causes death to the tissue and muscles.
17Another question i had if it was gallbladder surgery how did they manage to cut the artery? Are we sure it was laparoscopic - which is the usual method used these days. Three holes and pull the rocked filled sack out, not 3 holes and bleed a man to death. There is information we are missing. I still want to know what happened to the surgeon. Is he still cutting?
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"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
I'd like to know what happened to the surgeon as well...and more so...if he was in training. David Grant is a teaching Hospital. It was my last duty assignment while in the USAF.
There is always an increase of mistakes in a learning environment--but there should have been supervision.
Often the gallbladder can lie near the aorta depending upon the person's build. A common misconception is that we are all exactly like the anatomical diagrams. The gallbladder is a similar color to the aorta--but it does not pulse like an artery. In laperoscopic procedures--it can be disorienting--like looking around an unfamiliar closet with a tiny penlight...as you literally see only a tiny portion of the area at a time.
18Sorry I was distracted by the truck bursting into flames outside my office. That and all the firefighters and sirens. If he was a resident were was his attending? I wonder what he thought he saw? That little sack lying under the liver vs. a descending artery.
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"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
What and awful thing. And there is no excuse.
20Wow Eleuthera - the point is: GOD ONLY WANTS OUR BEST - however the lesson will be - we will improve greatly and see the bigger picture MORE AND MORE
Thank you so much for that deep insight 
21The article doesn't say if he was an attending or a resident--in fact, I think it is a little bizarre that the Dr's name was not in the article. There is an admission of screwing it up--but no name.
I want the name. I don't think this surgeon should have the capability of anonymity.
22That is another good point. Here when a Dr. screw's up or does something good their name is in the article. It brings more questions to this whole thing. Is he being protected? Is the article completely factual?
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"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
How awful!!!!! I hope that something happens to help him.
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