Collias Gary A in Charleston, WV

Jerry F. Queen asked a question

Jerry F. Queen
253 Pinch Ridge Road
Elkview, WV 25071
Telephone: 304-965-7604
Email: jerryqueen1@frontier.com


Dear Sir:

I am writing about injuries that I sustained recently while I was a patient at CAMC General Hospital. I was transported from my home by ambulance and taken to CAMC General Hospital’s emergency room. While I was in the emergency room, the hospital nurses allowed me to fall and hurt myself. On January, 29, 2013 I had a left hernia operation performed by Dr. Tilley. After I got home the day of my hernia surgery, my left side did not hurt very much. However, the next day my left side started to hurt me real bad. It felt like someone was hitting my left side with an ax. I called Dr. Tilley’s office and he was not in so I was transferred to his back-up physician that simply told me to lay flat on my back. I thought that he would at least prescribe a stronger pain pill but he did not. What the back-up doctor said to do (to lay flat on my back) was a joke because the pain became more intense and I was really hurting bad. Out of desperation and the fact that I was hurting so badly, I became like a wounded animal. I took too many pills thinking that they would help to keep my left side from hurting. My family panicked when they could not wake me and they called for an ambulance and I was transported to CAMC General Hospital’s Emergency Department. I had prostate cancer surgery performed in May, 2008 at CAMC Memorial Hospital by Dr. Tierney and I also had surgery in August, 2012 to have an incontinence device installed in me by Dr. Lohri at CAMC Memorial Hospital so that I would not have to wear adult dampers because of incontinence. On January 30, 2013 while I was in the emergency room I kept telling the emergency nurses that I needed to urinate and they were getting ready to put into me a catheter. I was wearing one of two medical Alert bracelets that stated do not use any catheter in patient because it will do extensive damage to the patient and it was also written in my personal file in the hospital computers for any medical personnel to look at. The nurses did not even look inside of my medical Alert bracelet, but simply gave the bracelet to my cousin to take home. My cousin was at the CAMC General Emergency Room with me and he had to show the emergency department hospital nurses how to push a button to get me to urinate. All of this information was in my file on the computer since my incontinence device operation was performed at CAMC Memorial Hospital by Dr. Lohri and Dr. Lohri told me and my family that he had written my incontinence operation into my permanent hospital file in August, 2012 and he also wrote how to get the device to operate if I was unconscious or heavily medicated. If someone in the emergency room would have read my file then they would have known what to do to get me to urinate. If my cousin had not been with me than the nurses in the emergency room would have used a catheter and it would really have messed up my urine track badly. I was admitted to the hospital, but no one in the emergency room had put on my chart or called anyone on the floor where I was being transferred to about how to get me to urinate in the event that I was unconscious or highly medicated. I found out the next day February 1, 2013 that the nurses in the emergency department had let me fall and injure myself and then I found out later that same day that the nurses on the 6th. floor where I was to be transferred to, also allowed me to fall and injure myself again. The nurses panicked and ordered X-rays of my head. My face looked like I had been beaten with a baseball bat. My family took pictures of my facial injuries and everyone who has seen the pictures said that they would not have recognized me if I hadn’t told them whom the pictures were taken. No one at the CAMC General has ever mentioned the results of my head X-rays (if there were injuries or if there were no injuries). Some Doctor or nurse should have told me or my family what the results of the CT X-rays showed. my family was very angry and upset after they came to visit me on February 1, 2013 and saw that my face was swollen, with all kinds of bruises, cuts, scrapes and abrasions all over my scalp, forehead and face with black/red eyes and they said that I looked like I had been beaten with a baseball bat. It is quite apparent that neither CAMC Memorial nor CAMC General Hospital’s communicate with each other when it comes to a patient’s hospital records. CAMC General Hospital did not know anything about me having the incontinence device operation performed by Dr. Lohri on August 17, 2012 at CAMC Memorial Hospital. I think that is gross negligence/incompetence when not one nurse at CAMC General hospital Emergency Room looked at my hospital records on the computer of all of my past operations or procedures that I have had performed at CAMC Hospitals. I thought that my personal hospital records are supposed to be entered into a permanent file on a computer where any hospital nurses or doctors could look at my past hospital history, what operations that I have had performed, what medications that I am taking and my complete medical history file. The emergency room nurses did not even pass along to my permanent floor nurse’s on the 6th floor how to get me to urinate if I was still unconscious or highly medicated. Again, I think that this is gross negligence and incompetency on the part of the emergency department nurses for not advising the nurses on the 6th floor that I had an incontinence device inside of me and how to get the device to allow me to urinate.
I was told by my (roommate in the hospital) Gary Gray the next day that I was begging to urinate ( it was about 3:00 a.m.) Gary said that he walked down to the nursing station and told the nurses that the new man in his room (me) was moaning and begging to urinate. Three nurses came to my room and none of the nurses knew anything about me having an incontinence device installed in me or how to get me to urinate. None of the emergency department nurses had passed along any of the information needed by the nurses on the 6th floor how to get me to urinate if it was necessary. My roommate (Gary Gray) told me the next day that the nurses said that they were going to have to use a catheter on me. I told the nurses that they could not use a catheter on me because it would do a lot of damage to my urinary track. If any of the hospital personnel had read my medical file in the computer then they would have known how to use the incontinence device that was put inside of me. No one at the hospital had read anything about me on their computers or they would have known just what to have done to get me to urinate without wanting to always use a catheter. When I came to the hospital I was wearing two medical alert bracelets that I wear all of the time, the bracelets that I was wearing stated not to use a catheter on this patient because it would do great harm to his urinary track. My bracelets were removed by the emergency room personnel and given to my cousin to take home. The emergency department removed the bracelets from my wrists without even reading what the bracelets said. Also, after my cousin had shown the emergency nurses how to get me to urinate, the Emergency Department did not write the procedure on my chart. I told the nurses that they cannot use a catheter on me, because they would do more damage than good for me. The floor nurses finally called my doctor and he told them how to get me to urinate by pushing a button and for them to not use a catheter on me for any reason. This whole thing happened again, when the new shift came on duty, none of the nurses that were taking care of me up until it was shift change told any of the new nurses coming on duty how to get me to urinate or had written it down on my chart for any medical personnel to see and know how to perform the simple procedure. Finally the next morning my cousin (Ray Smith) came to the hospital very early to see how I was doing. He found out that the nurses tried several times to use a catheter on me. My cousin became angry and said that he had shown the emergency room nurses how to push a button that would have allowed me to urinate without any problems. Also, I was allowed to fall out of my bed during the night and injure myself again because the bed that I was in had no side rails or safety bars to keep any patient from falling out. My face looked like I had been beaten with a baseball bat and my family was very upset and my family took pictures of my injuries to my face and they talked with the nurses in the nurse’s station and my family was told that I had fallen several times. I thought that when a patient is admitted to a hospital for care, that the patient is supposed to be looked after especially if the patient is unconscious or heavily medicated. I would like to know if one floor at CAMC General Hospital does communicate with hospital personnel on other floors when it comes to a patient’s health. To me this again is gross negligence/incompetence when one department at CAMC General does not pass on information that is beneficial on behalf of the patient. I am a 72 year old man and I have trouble walking and I certainly did not need to be dropped or allowed to fall several times during my hospital stay. I think that it is gross negligence/incompetence when nurses or any hospital personnel allows a patient to fall or be dropped and injured when the patient is unconscious or highly medicated.

On February 18, 2013 I had a meeting with the CAMC Administrator Mr. Michael D. Williams and his staff concerning what had happened to me while I was in their care at the hospital. I simply told Mr. Williams and his board members what I thought of the unprofessional care that I received while I was a patient at CAMC General Hospital. He apologized and he said that he would get back to me. On February 28, 2013, I received a letter from the Administrator of CAMC General Hospital (Mr. Michael D. Williams) telling me that he has been investigating what I had said to him about what had happened to me while I was a patient at CAMC General and he admitted in a letter that I have from him that his investigation has confirmed that I was allowed to fall at least two times and hurt myself. Ever since I fell into the hard floor at CAMC General Hospital, I have had a headache behind both of my eyes just above my nose and my neck makes a popping sound whenever I move it in certain positions. I also, have a swollen left rib cage that hurts every time that I move anything on my left side. My breathing is labored on my left side because of the pain on the left side of my rib cage. If I touch the area that is swollen on my left rib cage it hurts, if I roll over on my left side while sleeping then the pain wakes me up. I do not have the volume of air entering and leaving my lungs as I should have. The pain in my left rib cage keeps me from breathing correctly. I went to my family doctor, Dr. Robert Johnston and he feels like I broke the cartilage that is between the ribs, I talked to Dr. Al. Pfister and he too thinks that I have broken the rib cartilage that is between the 4th and 5th rib. I also talked to Dr.Tilley and he also thinks that I broke the cartilage on my left rib cage when I was allowed to fall do to negligence/incompetence of the hospital personnel. The new doctor that I saw on Thursday (March 14, 2013) Dr. Edmundo E. Figueroa, also thinks that I have broken cartilage on my left rib cage due to negligence/incompetence of the hospital personnel. The area on my left rib cage that hurts all of the time is swollen, distorted and it feels like something is out of place, broken, damaged or like all of the doctors have stated that I have talked to seem to think that I have broken cartridge on my left rib cage. Dr. Figueroa ordered for me to have x-rays taken and I had x-rays taken. Dr. Figueroa said that the x-rays would only show broken or cracked ribs. The x-rays taken of my left rib cage will not show broken cartilage. The x-rays will not show any cracked or broken cartilage. My family and I feel that CAMC General Hospital would not have said one word to me about my injuries if I had not called and asked for a meeting with the Administrator and his board about what had happened to me while I was a patient in CAMC General Hospital. I wanted answers as to what happened to me while I was a patient at CAMC General Hospital.

Do you think that I would have a negligence, malpractice or personal injury case against the CAMC General Hospital?


If you would like to see the pictures that my family took of me while I was in the hospital and to see copies of the two letter to me from the CAMC General Administrator (Mr. Williams) I would be glad to bring them to you. Since I had the incontinence device installed in me by Dr. Lohri, I have had another operation performed by Dr. Lohri at CAMC Memorial Hospital on May 6, 2013 and I was not dropped in the floor and injured like I was when I was admitted to CAMC General Hospital , previously.

Thank you

Jerry F. Queen