Richard Doyle
On January 9, 2003, my 64-year-old father, Richard Doyle of Pittsburgh, died of septic shock. He was husband of 43 years to Nancy. He had 5 children and 7 grandchildren. He was retired for 2 years and he was very loved and full of life. He had colon surgery in December 2002. He must have developed some type of infection following surgery because he spent all of December in the hospital. (Sepsis and Surgery) A nasogastric tube was put in and out. He had no appetite, but at the end of December, he was sent home. It was New Years Eve Day. He was sick, but happy to be home.
My mother called his surgeon repeatedly reporting he had no appetite and terrible diarrhea. His surgeon ordered appetite enhancer prescriptions, but they didn’t work. After a few days of being home, my father collapsed in the bathroom and an ambulance was called. I rushed over my parents’ home and the EMT was very angry, exclaiming that dad was very dehydrated. The EMT began a line right as dad sat in his Lazyboy. We put him on a stretcher; he couldn’t walk, he was so weak.
As the ambulance doors closed, we made the mistake of having them transport him to the same hospital/doctor that sent
him home so sick and couldn’t figure out why that entire month he spent in that hospital. His surgeon came into his ER room and said, you have the gut bug, Richard, it’s going around. Dad was gray/ashen looking, so thirsty, weak, clammy, and he had pain in his back. The doctor ordered labs, but they weren’t done. X-rays were taken, then he was sent up to a regular room, where he collapsed in the middle of the night and began vomiting black. He was put i ICU where he languished for 3 days. We begged his surgeon for answers. What was happening in his gut and we asked point blank if dad had an infection. No his surgeon kept insisting….no infection. His gastroenterologist visited and said to wait until morning and they’d order more testing.
My dad worsen
ed overnight. We asked for an infectious disease doctor to consult. The infectious disease doctor said my father’s kidneys were failing and they didn’t know why. Suddenly, we thought we were on the right track with new doctors, but the next day, no doctors would see him, telling us he had a surgeon already. Dad’s back was killing him, due to the kidney failure. Finally, his surgeon decided to do a laparoscopy to “take a peek inside his gut.” Dad was certain he was too weak for surgery. He said, “I’ll never make it. Look at me, I can’t even hold my arm up.” We encouraged dad that it would be okay.
His blood pressure was 40/20. Essentially, we sent dad to his death. Almost as if he were euthanized like a pet. We believe dad died on the table. It took forever for them to bring him up to his room. His surgeon explained “He found dalmation type spot of gangrene and had to remove all of one of his intestines and a lot of the other one. (I can’t remember which intestine was which.) The surgeon was on his knees telling us. He had a sickened, pained look about him.
A nurse informe
d us to prepare to see him because she didn’t recognize dad after surgery. As we waited for him to be brought up, we heard a code blue being called as he was brought off the elevator. They whisked him into his ICU room, where he was hand bagged while they tried to revive him. We stood just outside his door in total shock and horror. He was gone. When they allowed us to see him, his head was 5x its size (from all the fluids I suppose). He looked like a monster. I’ll never forget my mothers words, “Oh, Dick, they made a mess out of you.” He looked like a monster, unrecognizable. That was it. We waited for the death certificate. He died of septic shock, gangrenous bowel and heart failure. How could this happen? Mom said no autopsy, he’d been through enough. They met and began dating at age 15. Together 49 years. Now he was dead at 64, just barely into their retirement.
Nobody was punished for malpractice. We contacted hospital and conveyed our dissatisfaction with the misdiagnosis, requested his medical records, but the doctor still practices medicine. We consulted an attorney, but without an autopsy, no one wanted the case.
Source: by Bridget Doyle-Fink (Richard's daughter)
