The Incorrect proceedure was performed on me...will it hurt me?

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cindyo1114

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I have a caged fusion at L4, L5 and S1 from three years ago. My back is causing me pain still. I went in and talked to my doctor about it and he explained a proceedure called rhysotomy to me. I scheduled an appointment to have a rhysotomy and instead they performed a LT Discogram L3 - S1. It was the most painful thing that has ever happened to me. The discharge paper I received has another persons name and birthday on it so I can only assume that a discogram is not the same proceedure as a rhysotomy. Did could they have any permanent damage to me by doing this proceedure? I can tell you whatever they did did not help my pain level!
 
YIKES! :eek: A discogram is an invasive procedure that has the potential of causing harm to the patient even in a patient who requires the procedure for diagnostic reasons. Chances are, once you recover from the effects of the procedure, it will not have caused you any harm...but you might want to run it past your doctors just to be sure. People who have a discogram are often uncomfortable for several days, even up to a week or a bit longer.

I hope you have brought this mistake to the attention of everyone involved -- was it done in a hospital or clinic setting?

There is lots of information available online for both procedures. You might want to do some reading so you know what was supposed to happen to you vs. what procedure was actually performed. (rhizotomy and discogram) There's no way this mix-up should have occurred.
 
cindy, I just read your post and my jaw just dropped!! I wondered how you were doing? Hope everything got settled:)....janiee
 
I am certainly not any kind of medical expert but I believe that these are completely different procedures. The rizotomy is not a huge deal and should not cause that much pain. I have had 3 of them. If I were in your shoes, I would return to the medical center or clinic w/a copy of your discharge papers and tell them ASAP what happened. This is vital because it lets them know that their internal system of control, such as performing the correct procedure on the correct patient failed in this one instance. But, they may have a systematic flaw in that system that could impact others. Please, please, return to them. It would seem to me that they also need to treat your current level of pain. For my last rizotomy, I went to the pain center at the "#1 ranked hospital in the US" and they put the post-op note of another patient who had a different procedure in my chart by mistake. I would have never know this if I had not requested a copy of the procedure recorRAB for my local PM physician. But at least I did have the correct procedure done. The medical center then found the correct procedure and put this in my chart. But until this documentation problem was cleared up, my follow-up visit was totally screwed up b/c they were addressing the follow-up issues related to a procedure that I did not even have. I wish you the best of luck.
 
OMG :eek: I cant believe that happened to you! I know what they feel like, I just had mine about 2 months ago b4 my surgery. I about fell off the table. They didnt even check ur braclet when you went back there? Did the other person get ur procedure done then? Id sue them thats for sure! So maybe it is good though because if it hurt that means it was a positive discogram and you would need surgery...prolly the surgery you were suppose to have lol. Mine hurt sooo bad and the right now I am about 4 weeks post-op L5S1 fusion. I hope you are not damaged in ANY way and get rid of the pain from that procedure at least! Best of luck, God bless you!
Btw....where do you live if you dont mind me asking?
 
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