Complaint process?

Trialia

I had oral surgery just last week, and the surgeon who performed it, despite having the details of my Ehlers-Danlos syndrome explained to him, decided to brace his pliers on a good tooth to pull out a bad one. Now that tooth hurts more than any of the gaps combined, because the collagen in my gums is defective (due to EDS) and cannot hold them well. I also have a bone spur just barely under the skin where the upper tooth was extracted.

Do any of you know how I'd go about finding exactly which doctor performed my surgery (I was sedated, so can't remember his name) and whether there's a way for me to make a formal complaint? He ran over me roughshod, insisted on using local anaesthesia which did not work (and I told him that it wouldn't, again due to EDS), and pretty much ignored all the details of my disability and its effects on my oral health and medical treatment, in favour of his own route. He bullied me into accepting local anaesthetic and IV sedation, the combination of which has made me very sick in the week post-op, by saying that he would not perform my extractions without them - despite my having had an extraction elsewhere without anaesthesia in the past and having no trouble with general anaesthetic and proven problems with local and sedatives. And I knew they needed to come out, so I gave in, but I definitely want to make a complaint if I can.

Does anyone here know how I'd go about that? Thanks!

CarerQuie

I wonder if PALS would be the place to start? xx

sunnyone

Trialia wrote: »

I had oral surgery just last week, and the surgeon who performed it, despite having the details of my Ehlers-Danlos syndrome explained to him, decided to brace his pliers on a good tooth to pull out a bad one. Now that tooth hurts more than any of the gaps combined, because the collagen in my gums is defective (due to EDS) and cannot hold them well. I also have a bone spur just barely under the skin where the upper tooth was extracted.

Do any of you know how I'd go about finding exactly which doctor performed my surgery (I was sedated, so can't remember his name) and whether there's a way for me to make a formal complaint? He ran over me roughshod, insisted on using local anaesthesia which did not work (and I told him that it wouldn't, again due to EDS), and pretty much ignored all the details of my disability and its effects on my oral health and medical treatment, in favour of his own route. He bullied me into accepting local anaesthetic and IV sedation, the combination of which has made me very sick in the week post-op, by saying that he would not perform my extractions without them - despite my having had an extraction elsewhere without anaesthesia in the past and having no trouble with general anaesthetic and proven problems with local and sedatives. And I knew they needed to come out, so I gave in, but I definitely want to make a complaint if I can.

Does anyone here know how I'd go about that? Thanks!

Im sorry that you had such a bad time, I would complain if they had done that for any of my disabilities especially since the locals not working on us thing is very well known!

Was it done at a dental hospital (or NHS fully run place) or a privatly run dental surgery?

dmg24

Before complaining, contact PALS and ask them to get an explanation as to why he wanted to use a local, why he braced the other tooth etc. There could be valid clinical reasons for doing so. Until you get this information, you are overreacting.

Trialia

Thanks, CarerQuie. I'll look into it; I know the hospital has a dedicated PALS office somewhere about, but I'd forgotten. I've seen it, though (goodness knows I spend plenty of time there in various departments! :P ). Thanks.

sunnyone wrote: »

Im sorry that you had such a bad time, I would complain if they had done that for any of my disabilities especially since the locals not working on us thing is very well known!

Was it done at a dental hospital (or NHS fully run place) or a privatly run dental surgery?

I know, right? He insisted he would not do it without local, refused to explain why when I asked him - and put to him direct that they don't tend to work on patients with EDS anyway.

Full NHS hospital, the oral/maxillofacial department, as that's where the dental hospital referred me (because of having EDS and it being mostly systemic).

KxMx

I would think you should have been provided with an explanation after the procedure if it became clinically neccessary to do so.

It amazes me what carp people on here will put up with from the NHS considering we pay their wages. Treating medical staff as gods is a very old fashioned attitude.

kurgon

I think the idea of going to PALS is a good idea, but I would also make a written application to review your notes. PALS can help with this but cannot do it for you. Do however bear in mind that PALS can only look at resoltuion of an issue through talking and is not the process for a formal complaint. If this is the route you wish to go down (and personally fromt he details you provide I would) then you need to find out what your local trust's complaint procedure is, then follow it. Don't let them bully you, or fob you off without a full and proper investigation. One thing that I feel you should end up with is a personal care plan that details how you should be treated in the future.

Trialia

kurgon wrote: »

I think the idea of going to PALS is a good idea, but I would also make a written application to review your notes. PALS can help with this but cannot do it for you. Do however bear in mind that PALS can only look at resoltuion of an issue through talking and is not the process for a formal complaint. If this is the route you wish to go down (and personally fromt he details you provide I would) then you need to find out what your local trust's complaint procedure is, then follow it. Don't let them bully you, or fob you off without a full and proper investigation. One thing that I feel you should end up with is a personal care plan that details how you should be treated in the future.

Absolutely - that last is a fantastic idea. I wonder why it didn't occur to me before! I think I'll take that one up at the next appointment with my EDS specialist - she's at the same hospital, in their rheumatology department. I'm sure she'll be able to help me to figure out - and also, put in proper clinical terms - the specific things about my condition that other departments would need to know before treating me. That dental surgeon just didn't want to know - which is incredibly unhelpful since having EDS was why the dental hospital referred me to the general hospital in the first place!

A&E have it down; I was in and out of there in two hours last time as opposed to the five hours before they realised I was a regular and most of the time have simple dislocations that can be easily reduced, so now they just take me into triage, check me over and question me, then send me straight to X-ray, check the X-ray, bring me back and relocate whatever needs doing. Simple and doesn't keep me in there nearly so long.

Unfortunately, I'm prone to letting myself be bullied into things by medical professionals, as my short-term memory's not so great and I take a while to process things. I do try not to let them do it, but in this instance I'd been waiting two years for the extractions and just wanted them out before I got a systemic infection from them, as I'd been warned I might get. But yes, I would definitely want to make a more formal complaint. I was over there this morning for occupational therapy and am back later this week, so I'll see what I can do. (PALS was closed while I was there, anyway!)

KxMx, perhaps, but I was still fairly heavily sedated post-op. I could have done with his explanation before it, but his manner was so pressuring I couldn't manage to argue for it. Vaguely threatening too - that he would not do it if he couldn't do X, for example. I did not like it.