Need some advice (kinda legal)

Sorry but this is going to be a little long...

My MIL had surgery on her bladder in June last year to do some repair work. From this surgery she now has major issues with her leg. Without going into huge amounts of detail she had a lot of pain in it. No one could tell her exactly why etc and then 4 months later it was discovered that she had a hematoma (sp?) in her thigh muscle - since this has been left so long it now has gone solid and is fibrous so it can't just be drained. This is one of her problems, the other one in simplist terms, her muscle has come away from the bone and so flares up alot. She's been sent from specialist to specialist and physio etc the whole time with no one coming up with a plan to help or fix the issues she has. She has also had numerous tests and scans etc. She wasn't able to sit because of the pain in her leg.

She is also alergic to various types of pain meds so shes got very limited options with this.

Over the past 2 weeks her pain has become unbearable for her. She went to the after hours docs over the weekend and had appauling service. She was lying on the floor in the nurses section crying in pain and was left like this for an hour before anyone would see her. Thankfully she has written a formal complaint to the docs as well as to her ACC manager so they know how she was treated as well.

Tonight we get a call saying that she has been admitted to hospital because of the pain.

DH and I think that she should try and get some compensation for all the crap she has been made to go through. No one has helped her and all this has come from a screw up that someone made in the operating room. But neither DH nor I have any idea what her chances would be of getting compensation or what the process etc would be. So was wondering if anyone on here had any ideas?

Also another screw up that someone has made along the way is that she had a scan done on her leg about 10 days after the surgery yet no one picked up the massive hematoma? I'm not going to pretend to be a doc but they should have seen it then and if it had been dealt with then then she probably wouldn't be going through quite the amount of crap that she is now.

Also after her going through all this crap for 9 months and having no one actually help her (apart from her GP, he has tried to do as much as he can for her, but being just a plain old GP it is limited) we are trying to think of ways that we could get someone with some authority to take notice of her situation. The surgeon etc don't want to know about her anymore which I find appauling.

Basically does anyone have any thoughts??

kebakat wrote: No one has helped her and all this has come from a screw up that someone made in the operating room.

Did she sign a document saying that the Dr's are indemnified if anything goes wrong on the operating table??
I remember that I had to sign one for my c/s and my friend had to sign one for his operation on his tummy.
If she did, there is no way that you can possibly get the surgeon to take responsibilty!
I think that ACC needs to pick their asses up and get something done. Surely a reduction on her day to day life things home care, rehab. What about that GP, there has to be someone else that your mum can be referred to?
I honestly can't believe that she has reached the bottom line of healthcare.
Personally I would talk to a solicitor (maybe legal aid) and find out who the buck stops at and go directly to them.
Best of luck for your mum!

thats awful Stacey.
i'd go with Gloria's ideas, Citizins advice should be able to help out with who you should contact etc, they cna be very helpful.
Sometimes I wonder about NZ health system they are utterly pathetic really.
I hope things sort out for oyur MIL, no one should be left in that sort of pain.
Fair Go always gets a bee up someones bonnet lol.

I'm not sure what she has signed.

Hopefully with her being admitted to hospital she will actually get some decent attention and will see if she gets some real help otherwise I think DH is gonna blow up at someone!!

I'll mention the alternative therapies to her when she's feeling a little better, even if they help a little, it's still helping and better than going backwards like shes doing now!