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Varicose Veins\Laser Surgery\Postoperative Persistent Pain\Unrelieved\Hospital Compensation

Summary

Persistent pain in the lower leg after varicose vein surgery. Persistent pain means it is permanent.

Treatment Record

Detailed Treatment Process

Outcome of Treatment

Unrelieved calf pain affecting walking. Unrelieved means permanent.

Outcome Analysis

Regarding the persistent pain, the hospital stated that no cause could be identified. The implication was that the pain might be subjectively fabricated by the patient. Repeated postoperative leg ultrasounds indeed found no definite lesions. However, ultrasound visualization of the deep veins in the calf may be limited. In other words, thrombosis may exist in the deep veins of the calf but cannot be detected by ultrasound. For evaluating deep veins in the calf, medical practice generally recommends CT venography (CTV). In this case, the doctors did not perform it. Would vascular surgery specialists not know this? They certainly would. Yet they did not proceed with it. This may be one reason the hospital offered financial compensation. If thrombosis was present in the deep veins of the calf, what was its source? This could relate to preoperative preparation, such as inadequate assessment of the patient’s coagulation status, or proceeding with laser surgery despite known factors that made it unsuitable, ultimately allowing superficial vein thrombosis to extend or spread into the deep veins.

Experience Discrepancy Index

Over-Treatment 2
Lack of Informed Consent 7
Outcome Misrepresentation 7
Financial Exploitation 3
Rehabilitation Neglect 5
Diagnostic Inaccuracy 6
Communication Breakdown 6
Procedural Complications 7
Lack of Accountability 2
Delayed Intervention 8
EDI 53

Audit Intervention

If the patient had maintained contact with this website while receiving medical care, many of these events could have been avoided. The persistent pain would not have occurred.

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