Perhaps this may not be the proper forum, or maybe even possible...
However, my Father recently had a variety of heart problems - stemming basically from complications from the surgery.
I am looking for a doctor that can review the information that I have and let me know if he should have been discharged when he was...
If you aren't a doctor but know someone who is and wouldn't mind taking a look, please let me know
A bit of the background...
My father had a mild heart attack, and the hospital did a cathederization - they basically ran a wire/camera through from his upper thigh artery to take a peek inside the heart. Unfortunately, during the procedure, the "perferated" the heart or a vein/artery near the heart. They didn't notice this at the time. He was told that the heart attack had caused very little damage - if any - and that he would have 100% recovery.
The hospital kept him for three days for observation. The day he was discharged, they did an echocardiogram (including an ultrasound) to make sure that everything was fine. They then discharged him.
At around 4:00 am the next morning, I get a call from my father, gasping for breath - ".... Can't.... Breathe...." Then the phone died. To make a long story short, I called an ambulance, drove over there, and gave him nitroglycerin as he was showing tell-tale signs of a heart attack (vomiting, difficulty breathing, chest pain, etc...)
Once he arrived at the hospital, they discovered that the cause was a hole in the heart that was put there during the initial catherazation process. It apparently bled so much that the sac surrounding his heart was so filled with fluid that his heart couldn't properly beat due to the pressure.
To alleviate the pressure, they did a periocardial window and allowed it to drain. Unfortunately, because his blood pressure was so low (not only due to the inability for his heart to beat properly, but also because of the nitroglycerin I had given him) he was not given any pain killers nor put under general anastesia during the operation. However, he was put on some type of IV drip that increased his blood pressure.
When he was released from surgery, the hospital gave him 48 ml of morphine as well as 1000 mg of Vicoden. He ended up overdosing on the narcotics, so they had to give him Narcovit to counteract the drugs.
Over the next few days there was a series of mishaps and issues that don't really need to be explained unless people are actually interested, but suffice it to say had I not been there watching what everyone did he would likely have been killed by the nursing staff. (For instance, they were going to inject him with penicillin - which he is deathly allergic to... so said the allergy bracelet he was wearing)
Anyway, there was extensive damage caused and he now has a lot of problems related to the damage (He had a defbrillator implanted, has on several occasions fallen into a potentially lethal arrythmia (ventricular tachycardia) has to go to physical therapy, ect)
I'm curious, though, as to whether or not you can see the fluid built up around the heart on the information that I have. I find it difficult to believe that he was in the hospital for three days with no bleeding, then less than 24 hours later the sac is so filled with fluid (over 500 ml) that his heart cannot beat under the compression.
If anyone happens to be a doctor, or know a doctor, or can possibly help me out with this, I would be very, very appreciative.
I have all the written reports about his stay at the hospital, as well as a disc that includes video taken from the day he was initially discharged.
**I apologize for the likely many spelling mistakes, especially when it comes to the medical terminology - I did the best I could**