�

     My husband, Dave, died at Cleveland clinic Dec. 16, 2007, less than 2

months after he had been sent there for aortic valve surgery. This is my

husband's story of being sent to a place where their so called "world class 

care"  is NOT what all the Cleveland clinic ads lead you to believe. We had no 

idea what Cleveland clinic was about. Had I known just 1/8 of what I have 

found out about this place, my husband would never have gone there. We 

went there under the impression that the clinic was going to help heal not 

harm him.

     Dave was sent to Cleveland clinic because he had a stroke in Sept.of that 

year and tests had shown that he had a blood clot or infection on his aortic 

valve. Dave's cardiologist in our hometown told us that Cleveland clinic was 

better when we told him that we wanted to go to the University of Michigan. 

My husband trusted this doctor, but we found out later that he had done his 

internship at Cleveland clinic so that is why he sent us there.  Dave was told 

to be at Cleveland clinic on Oct. 22, 2007. 

     The first day was spent having an inordinate amount of testing done after 

which Dave was told he was being admitted. We were told that Dave's 

survival rate was 80 percent. That first week was spent having more testing 

done. With all the tests that were being done we weren't told that Dave 

had a low red blood cell count.  Dave saw a lot of doctors but not his 

surgeon. When we asked about this we were told that you don't see this

doctor until the night before the surgery. We also never knew when a doctor

walked in if we would see him the next time or some new doctor. We would

ask each one when Dave would be having his valve surgery and they all

had a different answer. It was like nobody was on the same page. Dave just

wanted to have his surgery done with and get out of there. He was tired of all

the run around that we would get if we asked any questions.

     Dave had colitis for about 3 years and he was on medicine that kept it 

under control. When he got to the Cleveland clinic the amount of this 

medicine was cut by 2/3; we were never told why or that it been cut down. He 

also was put back on an antibiotic that he had already finished taking at 

home for an absess under his arm. This antibiotic is known to cause yeast 

infection. We were told by the nurses that Dave needed to be seen by the 

infectious disease doctors because the abscess did not seem to be healing;   

that the ID doctor had been notified on the 23rd and would be in soon. The 

ID doctor did not see Dave until the 28th at which time she said had just 

gotten the order 3 hours earlier, so five more days had gone by. The abscess

was lanced and packed with gauze and was supposed to be changed 2 times

a day.

      Dave finally got to meet his surgeon, at 6 am on the 27th of October

and he told Dave that his surgery would on the 30th of Oct. and that it would 

be about 6 hours long. Dave went down to OR at 11 am and my in-laws and I

went to the waiting room. While I was there a young man told us that his 

wife was also having valve surgery. He told me the day before he had to 

leave his wife's room and that when he returned a nurse was trying get his 

wife to sign a form for an experimental valve. He told her never sign 

anything when he was not there.

     At 5 pm I got a call from the surgeon saying Dave did not have a blood 

clot or infection but that it was scar tissue causing his aortic valve to be 

stuck. He said Dave was doing good. He did not tell me about a patch that 

was put on a vein that ( in his words) "developed a defect up on retraction".   

Except for a brief phone call when the surgery was over, I did not get to talk 

to this doctor until the 12th of Nov. so any of the questions I had about 

Dave's surgery went unanswered. I was not told that Dave was bleeding when 

I asked the next day how he was doing. 

     On the first of Nov. Dave was transferred to the 8th floor. The second day

there, Dave had to go to the bathroom and I called the nurse because the 

sign across from his bed said do not get out bed unless you have a nurse's 

help. He also needed a pain pill. No one came to help him and we waited 

until he could not wait any longer. I helped him to the bathroom and when he 

came out several nurses came running saying that Dave was in a-fib. His 

heart rate 160 bpm. He was like this for  most of the day, with the nurses 

trying to get his heart rate down. About 11 pm a nurse told me that if they 

couldn't get his heart rate stabilized that he could go into organ failure. I was 

in tears and Dave was scared. At 11:30 this same nurse said "oh a miracle. 

His heart rate is down to 83." I asked what they did and she said they gave 

him a pain pill. 

     The next day Dave ended backup in ICU, where a tube was put down to 

his stomach, because his stomach was distended. On the 4th a doctor 

came into the ICU and said that Dave needed surgery as he had a bowel 

obstruction. We were totally surprised by this and didn't know what to think. 

We asked when and the doctor said now so we said OK. We were told the 

surgery would be about 2 hours. Three hours later I got a call saying that 

Dave had a kinked and perforated bowel and that a bowel resection had been 

done and that was all that I was told. I got the feeling that these doctors 

didn't want to answer any questions so its easier to call rather than come and 

talk to the patients family. 

      On the 5th I had to go home to pay bills, get clean clothes, etc. I

didn't want to leave but I thought that Dave would OK as this was supposed

to be the top heart hosptial. I called every 4 hours to see how Dave was

doing and was told that he was doing good. I found out otherwise after Dave

died and read his medical records. Dave was still in the ICU unit when I

returned to Cleveland clinic several days later. He seemed to be doing good. 

     That evening Dave was sent to back to the 8th floor. During the next 5 

days I was glad I was there because I was the one changing his sheets and 

his hospital gown, helping with his meals, helping him to use the bathroom,

getting him fresh water and giving Dave sponge baths. It was during Dave's

sponge bath that I noticed that Dave had a huge purple bruise on his groin

and in the middle it was crusted over. I brought it to the attention of his

nurse who circled it and picked at the crusted part that had green stuff

oozing out of it. She covered it with gauze and said that was probably

where his catherizatian had been done.

     Several times when I went into Dave's room I saw that his urinal was 

placed on his eating table. I know that Dave didn't put it there because he 

always put it on his side rail. No wonder that this place has a problem with 

infection. The nurses wanted Dave to walk a little every day. The first time 

Dave got out of bed to take his walk I asked his nurse if she could help. She 

snapped at me and said "that she was too busy" .

     Dave was put on lasix and told that his water was being limited. Dave

developed thrush and was put on swish and swallow. On the 12th his surgeon

and a woman doctor came in. She was Dave's bowel doctor. We were told 

that Dave could go home in a couple of days. On the morning of the 14th, his 

doctor came in and said that Dave could go home that day and that the 

nurses would bring in his discharge papers. Dave had told me that the bowel 

doctor had been in before I got there and had him walk down the hall, looked 

at his incision and gave him staple cutters for our doctor back home to 

remove the stitches and said he could go home. 

     I had to go back to the hotel and check out. When I got back to Cleveland

clinic, there was still no paperwork. Several times a nurse would come in,

took his temperature which was 99 and asked if the bowel doctor had been

in. Nobody seemed to be listening when Dave told them she had been in.

      While we were waiting for the paperwork to be brought in Dave had to 

use the bathroom and when I helped him out of bed I noticed that the front 

of his gown had a bloody discharge on it. It was also on his sheet. When I 

helped him back to bed I saw that the bandage on his stomach had not been 

taped securely and was hanging off him. Dave called the nurse and she came 

in and put a new one on.

     By this time we were tired of waiting for his discharge papers so I told the

nurse to bring them in. The nurse returned with a young doctor and said that 

she thought Dave had an infection in his stomach incision. The doctor looked 

at the incision, said it was not infected and the paperwork was brought in. 

We left Cleveland clinic about 4 pm. During the 3 weeks at Cleveland clinic

Dave lost 20 lbs. Dave was glad to get out there.

      On Nov 15, only a day after he was home, I took Dave to our local 

hospital, Bronson, with a fever of 101. Dave begged me not to take him back

to the hospital. We spent all night in the ER. We were told Dave had a 

surface infection. They had failed to notice this when he was discharged at  

the Cleveland clinic. He was put on antibiotics. On the 16th a doctor came 

in and took out the staples on Dave's stomach. There was 1" slit that had not 

healed. It was covered up. Later the gauze was removed and there was  a   

gaping hole in his stomach. On the 17th Dave was coughing up blood. His 

temp had gone up to 103 that day. On the 18th the cardiologist came in and 

said that Dave would need a tee exam on his aortic valve. Dave was sent to 

ICU where the exam was done, During the exam I was told by a ID doctor 

that Dave had yeast infection & it needed to be dealt with immediately or he 

could die, the result of the antibiotics he had been given at Ceveland 

clinic. We were told by the doctor that the infection was not in the valve 

and that the exam would be repeated in a couple of days. Also that Dave 

would be getting stronger antibiotics and an anti fungal. On the 19th a 

tpn and catheter tube were put into Dave. I heard a doctor tell Dave's nurse 

that he was dehydrated. On the 20th a doctor came in and said Dave would 

have to go back to Cleveland clinic as he had endocarditis and Cleveland clinic 

was the only one that would touch him. Dave was so glad to see a familiar 

face but the feeling I got from this doctor was one of coolness. On the 

evening of the 2lst Dave was sent back to Cleveland clinic by ambulance. We 

arrived about midnight, where Dave was put on the transplant floor and not 

the cardiac floor. When I left the parking lot, the attendant asked if my 

husband had just been brought in. I said yes. She told me to take him as far 

away from Cleveland clinic as possible as there a lot of complaints about the 

place. I wish I had listened to her.

     On the 22nd a cardiologist came in and told us that Dave would be having 

a tee exam on the 23rd and surgery on the 26th or 27th. He also said he

would have Dave moved to the cardiac floor. Another doctor came in, looked at

Dave's stomach wound, said there could be an abscess so an ultrasound was

done. Later yet another doctor came in changed the packing and said it 

looked pretty good. On the 23rd  we noticed that Dave's mattress was

cracked and in poor condition so another mattress was brought in.  On the 

24th a wound vac was put on Dave's stomach wound. The doctor told us there 

was no abscess there. The next couple of days seemed to be quiet so Dave 

was able to rest. Not a lot of testing was done. An infectious disease doctor 

came in, and said that the tpn tube needed to be taken out. He made the

comment that Dave looked stupid because he had tucked the tube up 

between his glasses to get it out of the way. I could not believe the how rude 

this doctor was to my husband.

     On the 27th we were told that the cardiologist would be in to talk about

Dave's surgery which would be done on either the 28th ot 29th. We asked 

again about him being moved to the cardiac floor.; so Dave was moved to 

a private room.  When the doctor came in, he said the surgery would the 28th 

or 29th and that it would 10 to 12 hours long. He would be putting in a 

human tissue valve because there was lower risk of infection with this type 

valve.

     A nurse told us that Dave's surgery was scheduled for the 29th at 7 am

which is the first round. Dave's appetite was better than I had seen all week.

Dave's parents came in from Michigan. That evening two doctors stopped 

in and asked if they could do a study during Dave's surgery. We read the

information that was left and decided it was not a good idea. More 

experiments!

     My in-laws and I got to the Cleveland clinic at 6 am on Nov.29th. Dave

was already up. The nurses woke him at 5 am to get him ready for surgery.

His chest was washed and his IV's were removed. At 7 am no one showed up

to take Dave to the OR. We were still waiting at 9 am. Asked the nurses why

Dave hadn't gone to OR. They said they didn't know what was going on.

About 10 am his nurse said he would probably be in the 2nd round which

was anywhere from 11 am to 1 pm. We expressed our concern to the nurse

about the fact this was 10 to 11 hour surgery and was told that there was 

plenty of doctors that would be able to do his surgery til 1 or 2 in the morning.

Dave was exhausted, hungry and stressed out from the wait. At 1:30pm Dave

finally went to the OR. His words to me before he was taken into OR were 

that we would get through this together. 

     My in-laws and I went to the waiting room. At 8 pm the surgeon calls and 

tells me that he's tired and Dave is stressed. He was sewing Dave up and 

sending him back to ICU and would finish tomorrow at 7 am.  I could not 

believe it. They had told me they would be able to complete the operation in 

one day. We got to see Dave for a few minutes.

     The next day Dave went back to the OR at 8 am. At 2 pm I went to the 

desk to find out what was happening with my husband. I was told the doctor 

just got out his scrubs. An hour later he called, and said they scraped out the 

infection and a new valve was put in. He also said that the next 24 to 48 hrs. 

were critical because of bleeding. An hour later I got to see Dave for a few 

minutes. I found after Dave died that a vein had been injured during this 

surgery. I was never told about this. When we left that evening the nurse 

said the bleeding was stopping.

     The next morning at 3 am I got a call from Cleveland clinic saying Dave 

was being taken back to OR because of bleeding. I saw Dave before he was 

taken to the OR. About 2 hrs. later I got a call saying the bleeding had been 

stopped. This was three days of surgery he had went through. I went and 

got my in laws. We stayed all day so we could be with Dave as much as we 

were allowed to be. I asked how Dave was doing and the response was  

critical but stable.  I saw the surgeon outside the waiting room, and I asked 

if I could talk to him. We walked down the hall since Cleveland clinic doesn't 

seem to have a conference room. I wanted to know how my husband ended  

up in this condition as he had walked in here over a month ago in good 

condition. He yelled at me saying he had just f--*ing worked on my husband 

for 2 days. I was very shocked by his language. He said that it must have 

happened during the bowel surgery and then said I could take Dave out of 

there. I told him Dave did not want to come back to Cleveland clinic but this 

was the only place that would touch him since they had done the original 

surgery. I walked away with the feeling that I was not going to get that 

question or any other questions I had answered.

     On Dec. 2nd when I went in to see Dave and the nurse said they were

slowly taking Dave off the sedative. When I was with Dave, I happened

to touch his left arm. It felt cold. Every time I went to see Dave his arm still

felt cold so I told the nurse. The next time it was warm. The next time it was

cold again. I asked the nurse and she said Dave must have had a stroke. The 

next day a neurologist was brought in. He said they would be easing his 

sedative off a little to do some testing to see how bad the stroke had been. 

Later I was told it just affected his left arm. I had returned to Dave's cubicle 

where I saw that his eyes were wide open. My thoughts were that he was 

awake, but then I saw eyes roll back. I said he's having a seizure. Please 

do something to stop it. The nurse came running from across the room 

snapping that there was nothing that could be done to stop it and for me to 

leave. He had a 45 second seizure.

     On the 4th Dave's doctor and another one came in. Was told that Dave 

was doing ok and that he would tell Dave about the stroke when the time 

was right. By this time Dave was responding to commands and moving

his legs. I felt optimistic about his recovery. On the 5th Dave was doing

pretty good but did not like the breathing tube. Because his right arm had

been tied down, he was chewing on the tube. When I went to leave his nurse

came running across the room put her arm around Dave's neck. yelling at

me to leave and yelling at Dave. I just stood there transfixed because I could

not believe how rough she was being with him. It looked like Dave was

fighting against her arm. I was told that Dave had bit the tube in half;  I had 

a hard time believing this since no alarms on the machines had gone off.

     After Dave died I found out there was tears on his chest & abdomen. The 

next day I saw his doctor and he said Dave was doing very good and in a 

couple of days would have the breathing tube removed. Later I asked Dave's 

nurse if he could be set up a little more. She said they would be rolling him 

on his side. When he was rolled  on his side I saw that there was feces on 

the sheet. The nurse continued to push the pillow under him. I said aren't you 

going to clean my husband up. The response was they would do it later. I

said don't you know this causes infection and that I would take care of Dave. 

She then decided she had better do it. 

     Late afternoon Dave had to go to the basement for an x-ray. I asked if I 

could go with him and they said yes. I waited out in the hall while his nurse 

got him ready. After 5 minutes I called only to be told that he had already 

been taken to the basement. I knew where he was at so I went down 

there and waited for him to come out. When Dave came out he was wide 

awake. I held his hand going to the elevator and then his nurse said there 

wasn't enough room for me in the elevator. I told her I was going up in the 

same elevator as my husband. This was the same nurse who did not want to

clean Dave up. 

     On Dec. 7th when I saw Dave he was pushing his legs more than before 

so I checked under his sheet, and there was dried feces on his legs. I told his 

male nurse that he needed to be cleaned up again and another nurse said 

that Dave's bottom looked pretty red, I assumed from being dirty, and needed

some lotion on it. My only thought was, and this is supposed to be "world 

class care"?

     Dave's two doctors both came into Dave's cubicle. I was asked to

step outside the curtains. I heard them saying to each other that it looked

like Dave had a surface infection on his chest. The curtain was opened a

little and I could see his doctor pushing on Dave's chest. I hoped and prayed

they were wrong. Dave was put on the antibiotic vancomycin. The next day

an x-ray machine was brought in. I left and when I returned I noticed there

was a small amount of blood in the urine bag. I told the nurse. She said it

was from trauma when the techs did the x-ray. The next day Dave was put

on dialysis. His creatinine level wasn't was what it should be. The next day 

the dialysis tube had to be moved because of clots. Dave was also put on

heparin. On the 9th a wound vac was put on Dave's chest. A couple of days

later when I went into Dave's cubicle I saw there was a black liquid

coming out of Dave's mouth. My thought was why doesn't anybody notice

this. I told his nurse and she didn't seem too concerned. No explanation was

given about why this was happening. 

     After 4 days of being on the wound vac I was told the infection

was in Dave's chest and that he would have to go back to OR for a

debridment. I was also told that a tracheotomy would be done as he had

been on the breathing tube too long. After Dave left for the OR I was asked to

go the nurse's office. They asked if I had a daughter named Nikki. I said yes, 

and I was told she had sent an e-mail to Cleveland clinic. I asked to see the 

e-mail and they refused.

     Then I was told that the nurse who had taken Dave to the basement for

an x-ray, said that I had walked into the x-ray room. I told them it was not

true. I believe this nurse was trying to cover up the fact that she did not want 

to clean up Dave. Went back to the waiting room. Four hours later a nurse 

came in said Dave's doctor was out in the hallway. When I walked out there 

the doctor started screaming and yelling at me about e-mail, of which I knew 

nothing about that he said he got from my daughter. I asked to see the e-mail

and was refused. I waited for him to calm down and asked how my husband 

was doing. He said they cleaned out the infection but decided not to do the 

tracheotomy because the debridment was so long. I did not see this doctor 

after that. My daughter said later she did not send an e-mail to the doctor 

but to Cleveland clinic telling them they needed to take better care of their 

patients. 
   
     On the 14th of Dec, another doctor carne into Dave's cubicle and said that

Dave had blood on his lung and that he had soft tissue damage in his chest,

which he said was caused by Dave being on prednisone. I said that was

not possible because it had over 3 years ago that he took it and it was only 

for a short time. When I was leaving Dave's cubicle I saw the nursing

supervisor and asked if Dave had mrsa. She said no but it was a cousin, or

something. I didn't catch the last part of it. I also noticed that in the ICU unit 

next to Dave's, all the patients had been removed and it was being cleaned.

When I went back to see Dave, I was met by a sight I not expected or been

forewarned about. Dave's chest was open and covered with clear film. They  

said he would be sewn up the next day. That evening got a call saying Dave 

was on almost total life support. I just could not understand how he had come

to be in this bad condition.

     On the morning of the 15th,  I called the clinic to see how Dave was

doing, which is something I did every day that Dave was there, before I 

went up to see him. On the way up to Dave's floor I was in the elevator with a

nurse that Dave had during his first time there. She told me she had heard 

that Dave had coded at 3 am. I asked why I wasn't called. She didn't know.

When I got to Dave's cubicle I asked why I wasn't called. No one knew