Subj : Re: Question about "clotbusters"
To   : alt.tv.er
From : Sharon Three
Date : Tue Sep 13 2005 09:00:15

From Newsgroup: alt.tv.er

I'm the only doctor around here, I think, but, I'm sorry, I don't know the 
specific protocols for treating strokes.  I do know that there are many 
patients who aren't able to receive them because they have other medical 
conditions that contraindicate the use of them.

Many hospitals, including the one where I practice, don't have radiologists 
present 24 hours a day to read xrays, but they do have the ability to 
transmit the images over the computer to the radiologist at home or at 
another facility so that the CT can be read even if the radiologist isn't 
there.  Cleveland Clinic uses this method for all of its hospitals.

I think you could contact your father's attending neurologist and ask 
him/her these questions and get some answers.  If you're not satisfied, 
then, of course, you can pursue legal action.  BTW, the correct name for the 
'clotbuster' is TPA and asking why your dad didn't get it is a good idea, 
IMO.

I'm so sorry you lost your father.

Doc Sharon


"ALIDA SPRY" <a_spry@yahoo.com> wrote in message 
news:28gVe.2348$R9.1284@trnddc02...
> Hello all,
>
> I'm usually just a lurker but I was wondering if some of the doctors here 
> could tell me if/ when clotbusters are used for stroke patients and when 
> would they not be used.  The reason for my question is that my father just 
> passed away on August 16 and he had a stroke only a few days before.  I'm 
> wondering about the care and treatment he was given (or lack of I should 
> say).  He happened to be talking to my brother on his cell phone at the 
> time of the stroke and he started coughing a lot then he got back on the 
> phone and my brother noticed his speech was slurred so he called me to go 
> check on my dad who happened to be right down the street from my house 
> getting something to eat at the time.
>
> Anyway, I drove right over and he was in his car and actually tried to 
> drive but he went over the median in the parking lot and tapped a parked 
> car while I was approaching.  He was alert and asking what happened but he 
> was drooling a little and he couldn't move his left side.  So some people 
> there called 911 and he was taken to the local hospital.  I had to wait 
> for the police because the guy whose car my dad hit was being a jerk and 
> wanted to file a police report even though there was nothing wrong with 
> his car and even the cop told him it wasn't a reportable incident because 
> it was a medical situation.  Anyway, I would guess that from the time of 
> the onset of the stroke to arrival at the hospital it was maybe half an 
> hour at most. Anyway, we waited for at least 20 minutes before we could 
> even go in to see him in the ER and then they did a CAT scan and a chest 
> X-ray and we were told to wait for the cardiologist to come in to review 
> them (it was a Friday night so apparently she wasn't there?).
>
> Well, I'd say at least an hour if not more went by and my brother and I 
> got impatient of waiting for someone to tell us what the heck was going on 
> so we finally went out to the nurses station to ask when the doctor was 
> going to get there and we were told that she wasn't even coming in but had 
> told them to give my dad aspirin and a blood thinner (I think it was 
> Plavix or something like that). He was coughing so much though that he 
> nearly aspirated the aspirin tablet so the nurse threw the blood thinner 
> tablet in the trash!  He didn't get an injectable blood thinner (Heprin) 
> until sometime after he was finally moved up to the ICU which was like 
> 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning. (The stroke happened at about 7:40pm.)
>
> There were MANY other things that bothered me about his care but the thing 
> that keeps nagging at me is that I've always heard that the sooner you get 
> the stroke victim to the hospital, the better it is because the 
> clotbusters are supposed to be given in the first 1-3 hours.  Now, I'm not 
> a doctor and it's hard to think clearly when it's your loved one lying on 
> that gurney, but while we were there I kept thinking they'll give him 
> something because they know what they're doing so then why do I feel like 
> they should have done something more?
>
> I'd appreciate any insight anyone can offer on the standard protocol for 
> the use of clotbusters.
>
> Thanks for reading and sorry it's such a long post.
>
> Alida
>

.