Lewis Blackman was a healthy 1…

Lewis Blackman was a healthy 15-year-old who was very intelligent and had a bright future ahead of him before his life was cut short. According to MONK, J.”Lewis was born with a condition called pectus excavatum. It means a crease in the chest cavity.

” This type of condition can cause respiratory problems if not repaired (Monk, 2002). Helen Haskell who is Lewis’s mom saw an article of a new procedure that could help correct Lewis’s condition with less extensive surgical hours and a faster turnaround recovery time. Her family contacted their family Doctor who agreed this was a great idea. Helen Haskell contacted Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and spoke to doctors about Lewis’s condition and decided on doing the procedure and was scheduled for the morning of November 2, 2000. Dr. Edward Tagge was the lead surgeon in this procedure that took 2 ½ hours to perform. Lewis came out of the surgery procedure with some pain and was given a pain medicine called Toradol.

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It is a very strong pain killer that helps with chest pain (Monk, 2002). Toradol has very serious side effects that can be deadly and When given this medication the patient must be monitored. Lewis’s first sign of a side effect was not being able to pass urine. Two days after the procedure Lewis starts having a slight fever and has abdominal pain. This abdominal pain Lewis is going through does not call for a doctor to come see him but was told by the nurse that the pain was coming from having gas and not moving around. As Helen takes Lewis to walk around he starts showing other signs that something is really wrong. Lewis is starting to feel weak, skin is looking pale and his belly grows hard which is a sign of internal bleeding (Monk, 2002).

Helen’s request to have a physician come see her son has been ignored and a chief resident who is 4 months out of Osteopath school comes to see what is wrong with Lewis. Lewis had all the signs of a serious side effect of the medication that no one seemed to take seriously. He had fevers, urine blockage, feeling weak, change of skin color, was in extreme stomach pain, belly harden and growth. All these serious side affects that Lewis was presenting were failed to be recognized by the nurses and immature residents (“Medical Malpractice Story: Lewis Wardlaw Blackman”, n.d.). This was a very powerful pain medication that had been given after surgery and after all these fatal reactions Lewis was experiencing a physician was never called.

If a physician would have been called, a simple order of a blood test would have let them know that Lewis was bleeding internally, and his life would have been saved. Lewis’s family settled out of court with the hospital for $950,000 (“Medical Malpractice Story: Lewis Wardlaw Blackman”, n.d.). MUSC now requires nurses and residents to call a doctor if a patient or family member requests it. Patients will also be given information explaining their rights (Monk, 2002). I feel no parent should ever go through something like this.

The irresponsible nurses and residents should be held accountable. I also feel that any pain medication that has very serious even deadly side effects should require a doctor to check up on the patients regardless of any symptoms. These signs that Lewis was presenting were more than enough to have called in a doctor. I am relieved to read that the hospital rule has been changed and now the patient or family member’s request for a doctor be acknowledged.