You might think that being in a well known health care facility would protect you from being in danger while you are recovering from surgery.
It just isn’t true.
My mom almost died at a well recommended rehab center, one mile from a major hospital, where she had received surgery prior to heading to the rehab center. She had to be rushed to the ER and she barely survived multiple surgeries, and was in intensive care twice. All of this because she did not receive treatment in a timely manner, for gangrene that no one noticed! If not for a passionate and caring physician’s assistant, who threatened to call the police if the rehab center did not bring my mom in, she would have died within 24 hours, in excruciating pain.
My mom was in various hospitals for six months as a result of the rehab center’s inadequate response to a life threatening situation. For months I had to be at the hospital daily to be sure she received appropriate care, I even wound up advising on how to handle her pain management, and I am not a doctor or nurse.
This is not the way it should be in the USA, but it is and you need to know how to protect yourself and your loved ones.
Patient Beware will prepare you for your worst nightmare and for a very broken system that doesn’t work as you might imagine for anything that is not a simple fix. And, even then you need to be vigilant, if you want to get out alive.