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Dear everyone, I am reaching out because I’m really devastated and would welcome any advice. On Friday, I had a bunionectomy on the NHS. It was supposed to include surgery on the two hammertoes. When I came to after the anaesthetic, I realised that the hammer toes had not been done. I was told that my consultant had been called away on an emergency and probably had to finish the operation quickly. This slightly contradicted with him phoning me and saying that he hadn’t realised that I was in so much pain from the hammertoes. To be honest, I was in no pain from the bunion (though now it is excruciating!) and only the hammertoe pain persuaded me to go ahead with the operation. I was crying on the ward for 3 1/2 hours and then all night after the operation. I have written a polite email to request a meeting with him and have been told I will be meeting with somebody from the team. I don’t know what to do. When I came to, I desperately wanted to go back into the theatre immediately so that I could have the hammer toes done but apparently one has to wait until all of the swelling et cetera has gone down which will take months. I was supposed to be moving abroad at the end of February and now that is in question if I have to go back and have another operation on the hammertoes. I’m even thinking I might have to save up and try and do it privately. Any words of wisdom or advice greatly appreciated! Thank you so much.
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What is NHS? I have private insurance in USA and just had my second foot surgery yesterday. All the instructions should have been written on pre-op form? Mine was messed up they had the wrong foot but corrected or before I went in. It’s so scary and sorry you are going through this.
I had lapidus on aug 28. I have a painful hammertoe. My surgeon told me sometimes the hammertoe is caused from the misalignment of your big toe and often will realign once the big toe is aligned. Sound like hocus Pocus ! Truly wish you luck. Be strong. Keep us posted
I'd be seeing a solicitor...
How upsetting 😔. Does the hospital have a PALS department? You could phone & ask/check website. They might be able to help & advocate for you
Nhs is a joke! Im a retired qualified nurse!
I’m concerned that the plan wasn’t discussed fully immediately before surgery to enable you to give informed consent. If it had been this would have given you chance to query what they were/weren’t doing!!
Sorry to see this it’s terrible you were treated like that. Seems these days NHS is only for life saving emergencies; I had to have my appendix out last year and the NHS saved my life but for my bunion which was painful but not life threatening I had no choice but to go private.
Oh I’m so sorry to hear that you only had partial surgery. Your surgical team have really let you down. Not only will you need further surgery but another anaesthetic. At your meeting with your Consultant I noted that another member of the team was also going to be present. Sounds like he/she wants a witness. If at all possible I would suggest that you too bring someone to this meeting partly as a witness but also to help advocate for you. Explain your plight with regard to moving and see what your consultant suggests re. your painful hammertoes. A formal complaint may be required if they are not bending over backwards to treat your hammertoes asap. Wishing you the best for the future.
What hospital.
My done at tuesdays
- NHS stands for national health service in the UK and it is the health service that everybody uses unless they have private insurance which is much rarer than it is in the US. The operation had been agreed on but consultants here sometimes play God and he made a different decision during the operation. In the US I would probably be able to sue but when I spoke to a lawyer here they said that it was very difficult if a surgeon said that he had medical reasons for changing his mind. Of course that’s what he is saying now and it’s his word against mine. It’s been really difficult and I wish I had never agreed to have the operation. Much love and many hugs
I think you are right because I think that if the bunionectomy had been done properly which it wasn’t the hammertoe might’ve been a lot better. Unfortunately, even the Bunyan ectomy that you’ve done has left the big toe in nearly exactly the same position as it was before pressing in on that second toe and causing it to buckle. To be honest that’s one reason why I don’t want to go ahead with his plan which is to have now a separate later operation on the hammertoes because I don’t trust him and I think if I had a revision of the bunionectomy by someone who was good that might do the trick. Thank you so much for your kind words and support: they really mean a lot.🙏❤️
- thank you. I have been thinking about that but I’m a little bit overwhelmed about where to start. There seem to be all these companies online with no win no fee promises and I just wanted to have the surgery. Several of my friends have said that I would be entitled to compensation and one of those friends is a surgeon. I don’t really like confrontation and I feel very low at the moment-both in pain and with depression but I’m wondering if that is the route that I should go down. Any advice welcome!
I wouldn't go to a no win no fee lawyer. I'd ask for a fixed price interview and advice. Before you do that, write down everything that has led up to this operation and your recollection of what was said, particularly about your hammer toes and also the doctor being called away.
thank you so much for the advice. I found out that the no win no fee lawyers are a bit of a risk because if you end up losing you end up paying all the hospital legal fees so your idea is much better: thanks again.
- yes, they told me to contact them after I have spoken to the consultant’s team on Wednesday next week. I don’t know why I have to wait because I know that the consultant’s team is going to just try and white wash it.
-thank you very much. I had given informed consent a few months before to the Bunionectomy and the hammertoe surgery. The surgeon came in for a couple of minutes beforehand but I assumed we were just going ahead as planned. I’m trying not to cry because I have to continue teaching online and every time I think about it all look down at my foot I just burst into tears.
❤️
oh dear. So hard to keep going when you’re trying to deal with so much distress.
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