IUD mis-placement

[MrsHoff]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? ALABAMA

Last year after having my 2nd child in 2 years i decided to get a Mirena IUD. I am super worried about things like this because i am always that 1 in 1000 person that something bad happens. On the day of my appointment i talk with my OB/GYN (not my usual one, mine was not available but they are in the same practice) about the side affects and possibilities of something not normal happening. I read EVERYTHING about it before hand and knew what to ask. I specifically asked her what the odds were of the IUD imbedding itself into my uterus. Her reply was "dont worry about that. since you are married and have only one sex partner you will be fine. that is typically a concern only for women who have many partners". So with this answer i say, okay lets do it. The pain i experienced while she was inserting the IUD was unbearable- worse than labor pains. I screamed- twice, and bled like crazy after she was finished. I also felt very light headed and BARELY made it to the snack bar to order a coke before passing out in the hospital lobby. For about 2 weeks i was very uncomfortable. I had random sharp pains in my vagina, couldnt sit in certain positions and was still bleeding. I called the OB/GYN office several times to ask if that was normal and they said yes just to take some motrin and it would stop soon. 4 weeks later i went back for a check up. The doctor couldnt find the strings that are attached that u use to make sure its in place correctly. She ordered an ultrasound- they couldnt find the IUD. Next she ordered a CAT scan. I get down there and they end up doing an x-ray instead. the IUD was floating in my Abdominal cavity. The next week i had to go back to have the CAT scan and an emergency laproscopic surgery was ordered to remove it. I was covered by Medicaid for pregnancy & post-pardum birth control. The surgery went fine and the IUD was removed without any problems. A few weeks later i receive a bill for the anesthesia (almost $900) AND a bill from the OB office for $200. There is no way i am paying for this seeing as i specifically asked her about this and was told not to worry. The charge from the OB office is for a pregnancy test and ultrasound they did to be sure i hadnt gotten pregnant since i *thought* i had a working form of birth control for a whole month.
I want to sue the doctor for the amount of the bills that medicaid wont cover and also for time lost at work and pain & suffering. Im not sure if i need to file as Malpractice or not. I was going to file in small claims court but it says that you cant file malpractice in small claims. I just dont know where to go or what to file or anything. please help me!!

 

[ecmst12]

I'm really unclear on how that's even POSSIBLE.

Medicaid should cover everything. The whole point of medicaid is that it's for people who can't afford to pay anything out of pocket. Did you call them about it yet?

 

[MrsHoff]

iud reply

yep, i did contact medicaid. i received a letter from them stating that they did not receive a letter of explaination from the doctor for why she needed to do the surgery (aparently if you opt for an IUD as birth control from medicaid they only cover the placement and not removal of it?? i dont know) anyways, i called and spoke to the doctors office, and they had received the same letter. I was informed that they would mail off a letter and see what happened. Next thing i know im getting a bill from the anesthesia department for $886. I also got that other bill from the doctor office for $200. i was TOLD that i was allowed 3 post opt appts that medicaid would cover and this was one of them. of course i asked for a pregnancy test since i had THOUGHT for a whole month i had an appropriate form of birth control in place later to find out that it wasnt. (and i had a 3 month old) i called the doctors office to ask about the bill, was placed on hold, and later told that someone from their billing department would call me back....that was MONTHS ago. I had to find a new OBGYN to go to since my old one will not accept me until the bills are paid. Like i said before, im not sure who to go to first or what to even ask!

 

[ecmst12]

Start with calling medicaid and asking if they got the letter from your doctor.

Also, you could have gotten a pregnancy test from the drug store for a lot less money.

 

[justalayman]

Also, you could have gotten a pregnancy test from the drug store for a lot less money.

but if the doctor is assuming any liability should the OP be pregnant (which they are) and OB is installing an IUD, doctor is proper in determining, themselves, there is no pregnancy with legally supportable tests.
CYA

MrsHoff, a preg test or ultrasound is not part of a postpartum visit. They were part of the process for the install of the IUD, which I would think, would be covered as well. Coding. It's all in the coding.

 

[las365]

It has been a while since I read up on the potential complications of Mirena insertion and use, but I believe what happened with yours is a known (rare) complication and you probably signed a release that covered it.

In my personal experience, the insertion is indeed extremely painful, and I don't think that aspect is adequately addressed in the literature, nor was it revealed in advance by my OBGYN (or yours apparently). That isn't actionable, though. As for the two weeks of strong discomfort, again in my experience, that is normal. So I don't think the lack of alarm at your doctor's office when you reported that was negligent.

 

[MrsHoff]

lets try this again

okay i think yall are missing the point. Yes, that is a RARE complication with Mirena... OVER TIME. Not within 3 weeks. During my insertion the doctor punctured my uterus with the IUD which is why it pushed through into my abdominal cavity. Yes, it is painful- but not this painful. i spoke to SEVERAL people prior to having it done, including the nurse who walked me to the room, who said it was slightly uncomfortable but nothing big. i PASSED out from it, which is NOT normal. The pain i experienced for the next 2 weeks was due to the IUD being half way in and half way out of my uterus, again NOT a normal pain. When you cant sit down because it hurts so bad or fall to the floor in pain randomly out of no where, thats not normal.
Yes, medicaid DID receive the letter, which is why i was not billed for the entire surgery. And if the IUD was not properly placed i had every right to ask for a pregnancy test to be done to ensure i was not pregnant, thus it should have been covered. Obviously if you get an IUD and are told it is in place and will start working immediately, and then later find that it was never in the correct place it is the doctors responsibility to do a test to ensure pregnancy has not occured.
Once again i am not wanting to sue the doctor for thousands of dollars, i just want the rest of the bills paid so its not on my record.

 

[ecmst12]

Um, you left out the part about your uterus being punctured before.

 

[lya]

Maybe we should explain it in terms of why an act of negligence, or acts of negligence, may not equal a lawsuit.

If the physician was negligent in anything, from what I can ascertain, it is in lack of responding to a patient's complaints of pain, worsening pain, the inability to sit normally, etc. If the patient is supposed to know that perforation of the uterus is within the expected range of outcomes, therefore a known risk of the procedure, is the physician not also supposed to know of the same? Is the physician not held to a higher standard of "knows or should know" than is the patient?

If the physician had seen the patient earlier, or instructed the patient to attempt to touch the strings and to report any failure to locate the strings, what would have been different? Absolutely nothing. That is why there is no lawsuit even though negligence may have occurred.

The IUD perforated the uterus. It had to come out. Taking it out requires surgery; surgery requires anesthesia. Both costs ridiculous amounts of money.

Medicaid pays for pre-insertion/pre-birth control initiation pregnancy testing. The next time it will pay is if the woman has reason to believe she is pregnant, or if the MD believes the woman may be pregnant.

It defies logic that a pregnancy test is not indicated after a failed attempt to initiate birth control. It also defies logic, to a lesser degree, that a woman in so much pain and distress would have intercourse and need a pregnancy test!

Logic has nothing to do with Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance payment of benefits.

Therefore!

Although the MD may have been negligent by ignoring his/her patient's complaints of physical distress, no damage (expense) occurred that wasn't going to occur anyway. The surgery was going to have be done and the pregnancy test was going to have to be done [if the patient (who is in constant agony) had sexual intercourse without using an alternate form of birth control].

Somebody's got to pay the bills not covered by Medicaid; and, that someone is the patient.

 

[MrsHoff]

Attn: Iya

thanks for your reply- HOWEVER- i understand the "risks" of things of this nature. I posted another question and re-phrased what i was actually asking. Medicaid pays for birth control after you have your baby. You can choose whatever you want, pills, patch, IUD, implant, etc and it is paid for. Due to the nature of why i needed the IUD to be removed, they (being Medicaid) pays for that as well. And yes, there are "strings" for you to check and be sure it is still in place

- HOWEVER- My doc told me NOT to check for the strings until after my 4 week appointment so she could show me how. At this appointment when she went to check the strings, is when she couldnt find them and i was sent for a CAT scan. And speaking of the sexual intercourse- it was not a constant pain and we did not have sex for a while after it was inserted. When you get an IUD you are told it works IMMEDIATELY and i was given the okay to have sex as soon as it was placed.

So yes, when i THOUGHT that my form of birth control was in place when in fact it was not i simply asked if they had done a pregnancy test (its pretty routine for the OB to do one at every visit) and the nurse told me she would check. I believe i had the right to ask that since i thought i had a valid for of birth control when i didnt because it was not in place.

**If you read the other post i have (i am going to delete this one) you will see that i discovered that the packet i had (out of my Mirena box) was an OLD one and the warnings had been revised 07/10/08 and they ADDED the perferation warning at that time. Mine was placed late Aug 2008 and i know FOR A FACT that the perferation warning was NOT in there.