Mom's botched procedure

As the title indicates, my mom recently had a fairly common medical procedure done and it went waaaay wrong. She had been having issues with her neck and left arm, and her doctor recommended a steroid shot into her spine, targeting the space between her bone but outside of our spinal column. Within minutes of having the injection, mom started getting dizzy and was finding it very difficult to breath. She could hear everything that was going on around her but basically, the medication had gotten injected into her spinal canal and she was given an accidental epidural from her neck down. She was essentially paralyzed.

Her lungs were paralyzed so the doctor started mouth to mouth until EMS could arrive. Apparently her heart rate never decreased, nor did her oxygen levels so that was positive. When the EMS arrived, they intubated her and put her on a ventilator immediately and rushed her up to the ER. She was on a ventilator for a few hours until her lungs recovered from the paralysis.  However, at the time, the doctors were not sure of the severity of the paralysis and were unable to definitively tell us whether or not she would ever regain use of her limbs or pulmonary functions.

Throughout this experience (before she regained consciousness), Mom had been talking to God...mourning the loss of her children, grandchildren and spouse. The mourning quickly turned to disbelief....disbelief that she was deserving of inheriting the kingdom of heaven. She felt that God was not finished with her here on earth and that she had so much left to do before it was her time. When she regained consciousness, she was overcome with emotion, bursting at the seams to share this testimonial of how she had a brush with death and how this is going to shape her future.

Dr. Liljeberg, the doctor who administered the procedure incorrectly, stopped by the ER to check on her and entered the room very remorsefully, even admitting that it was his fault this had happened and he was very sorry.

Mom was discharged from the ER that same evening and Mikey & I both had come in town to help she & Bruce. Mom was slow moving but I knew she was going to be okay when she disappointedly pointed out that the paramedics cut her new red that went so well with her Chico pants & vest.





On Friday, Mike & I went with Mom to interrogate question her doctor about the previous days events and how things may have been better handled. His story lined up with what Mom had been able to recollect, although there were still discrepancies between his transcript and what he told us actually happened, and what mom knows actually happened. He was much less forth-coming with an outright admission that he made a mistake but instead offered multiple excuses that "it could have been this", "maybe it was this" and "this is part of the risk you take".  And he was not at all concerned about her residual "cloudiness" that she was experiencing.  She felt like she was getting words mixed
up, having a slow processing time and just coudy-headed in general (sounds like my 2005 PC).

Fast forward 2 weeks: Her cloudy-headedness is improved but she is still not back to normal. She gets tired quickly and can only do about half of what she used to do in an afternoon before having to head home and rest. Her self-diagnosed spinal headache has dissipated but her left shoulder and arm are still numb and she uses them as little as possible.

We are now at the point of trying to decided where to go to seek better/more thorough/more comprehensive care. Do we stay local or go to Charlotte or Winston? And where do you start? And is Dr. Liljeberg liable for any of the damages (current, future, physical, psychological, etc) and should we expect or press them to pay the hospital charges related directly to this botched procedure? What are the long term affects of this, not just physically, but when Mom goes to buy new health insurance...will her premium spike due to this incident? Same goes for life insurance. All these questions and no answers, and not even sure who to consult with to head in the right direction.

Mom is back to being her old self, at least trying her best to be. She is coming to Greenville on Friday to spend the day & night with us and go to Breakfast with Santa on Saturday. I'm sure we will wear her hiney out in the short time she is here but we can't wait to see Bebe and for her to get back to her old self!!
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