How could they have not told me?

As some of you might remember, I was hit by a truck in Jan. 08. I was in the hospital for a few weeks, and I had quite a few serious injuries. I broke my right femur in two spots, had a fractured pelvis, a fractured skull, and a serious brain injury. I thought that was all. In May 08 I filed for disability, but was denied. In July 08 I tried to go back to work, and I did work off and on for a while, but I couldn't deal with it.

I obtained a lawyer and appealed for my disability. After my lawyer went thru all of my medical files, she told me that aside from all of my injuries I had known about, I also had two fractures in my lower back.

I had my hearing last Thursday for disability, and I just got a letter yesterday with the decision of my hearing. It came back fully favorable, but also had all of the findings about my injuries from recent MRI's and X-rays. I have a bulging disc.

I am soooo mad that the hospital never told me about my back injury! I could have seriously injured myself even worse than it already is, from going back to work way too soon, lifting things that are too heavy for someone with a back injury to lift safely. If I would have known about my back injury from the start, I wouldn't have tried to go back to work! I'm sure that is the reason I have a bulging disk! I believe the hospital SHOULD have freaking TOLD me I had a back injury to keep me from further injuring myself!

Oh my gosh, that is awful! Um... can someone say Negligence? Jeez. Yeah, you really should have known all that info and kept your body rested. I don't know if it's worth the hassle of pursing anything with the hospital over this, but I wish you all the best for the future!!!

They really should have told you. I would try taking that up with the hospital, if possible, and if you have the MRI reports from then.

Now, a bulging disc on it's own isn't a serious cause for alarm. A large amount of the population walks around with various degrees of spine issues, including bulging discs, and never really know. I have one with a tear/smaller herniation, DH has two with no herniations.
Have you been having a lot of pain that would stem from that disc? If so, definitely see a spine specialist about it now.

I find that astonishing. Just amazingly lousy care on the part of your doctors.

That is horrible! I can't believe you weren't told about the back injury!! I wish you the best in getting through all that.

Thanks guys..

Strange_wings, yeah I have a lot of pain in my lower back. Maybe I will go try to find a specialist!

I don't think there is anything I can do about the hospital not telling me though. Its been more than two years so the Statute of limitations is up. And my lawyer told me its really hard to prove negligience or malpractice when it comes to a hospital.

Im just really, really mad that they never told me because I could have made things way worse just for the simple fact that I went back to work WAY before I should have. I mean, I was off my feet for about 5 months, but as soon as I was able to walk again I went back to work. As a waitress, at a busy restaurant, lifting really heavy trays. When that didn't work out I went to a deli, where lifting heavy boxes of lunchmeat and trays of 2 liter soda, other trays of 20 oz sodas. Also, part of that job was coming in on grocery order days and lifting heavy boxes of anything we sold in order to put it all away. I wouldn't have done any of that if I had known I had a back injury. I'm just mad I could have really made things way worse.

I had more trust in doctors and hospitals, and the healthcare system in general. Since my accident though, that trust has gone way down. I not only have had problems with that hospital I was taken to after my accident (which BTW is a great hospital with an awesome trauma center), but with family physicians also. I'm 23, and bc of the extreme pain that I am in, I need pain killers. None of the non-narcotic meds they tried for my pain didn't work (one of the docs in the hospital even said that some people need a narcotic to help with the pain). Because of my age, I can't find a doctor that will write me scripts for pain meds tht work. I even had one doctor tell me that they didn't care that I was in pain. Thankfully, my current doctor has been giving me vicodin and referred me to pain management. I finally got all of my xrays and MRIs together so now I can actually go to pain management, and hopefully get my life back on track. The pain is so extreme, I can't even exercise like I used to, and I feel like my body is wasting away.

Anyway, sorry for the continued rambling, I just need to be able to dicuss this stuff.

When you tried to go back to work, did the doctor ok this or did you do this completely on your own? I find it very strange that you weren't told about your back injury or placed on lifting restrictions.

No, I didnt get an ok from a doctor to go back to work.. I find it strange too that I wasn't told about the back injury, because I thought hospitals had to tell you everything. Nobody knew about the back injury until my disability lawyer was going thru all of my hospital files from the accident and saw that I had 2 fractures in the lower spine.

Originally Posted by KiTTYL0VE4

Strange_wings, yeah I have a lot of pain in my lower back. Maybe I will go try to find a specialist!

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If you go to a good pain management center soon, maybe they can help you find one? or start looking around online, remember that people will complain if there's something wrong with a doctor.

I don't understand why they would think that you don't need proper pain control? You were hit by a truck, that's pretty serious.
As for getting your back to feeling better, with bulging discs one of the main things that help is staying as active as you possibly can to keep your back and abdominal muscles strong. I hope you can find someone to work with you on that in some way.

As for not being told things. I've found that unless you ask and push for answers, you'll only be told the bare minimum. It's as if most doctors and nurses think their patients are to dumb to understand anything.
Back in August '08 I had went to the ER, they did some blood work there - apparently including a liver panel, then mistreated me with the wrong medication. Well, when I went back to my doctor the following week he flipped - my blood work from that ER visit showed that they should have never let me leave the hospital. During that ordeal, at one point my liver enzymes were 12 (AST) and 8 (ALT) times higher than they should have been - plus my red and white blood cell numbers fell low. Had I known it was like that in the ER I would have checked myself into the hospital right then and there. NO ONE told me this, all I got was a vague "your blood work looks bad" from my doctors later.. Get copies of everything and press for exact answers to your questions.
The only person you can truly trust to look out for you, is YOU.