Besides the effects on Linda’s liver, the Bactrim drug, which she took for three days before noticing the rash which signaled the allergic reaction, caused transient damage to her heart muscle tissue and cardiac function. An outpatient test in January 6, 2000, showed her left ventricular ejection fraction reduced, from 0.55 when she was hospitalized with breast cancer, down to 0.37. Her liver function also continued to decline, resulting in hospitalization at Loyola under the care of Dr. David VanThiel, on February 8, 2000. A Dobutamine Stress Echocardiogram during this hospitalization, on February 14, 2000, showed there was tissue death within Linda’s heart muscle. Linda remained hospitalized at Loyola, under the care of David VanThiel, through February 25, 2000.
After Linda was discharged by Dr. VanThiel, Loyola sent her a patient questionnaire to fill out concerning her stay. Rather than paraphrase Linda’s experience during this hospital stay, I’m going to quote directly from her response to the Loyola questionnaire:
PATIENT SURVEY ATTACHMENTS
EMERGENCY ROOM
The doctors, residents, students, nurses and others who took care of me in the emergency room were all very thoughtful, caring and helpful. The attending ER doctor kept me advised of test results, as well as her telephone conversations with Dr. Ellen Gaynor, my oncologist who sent me to the emergency room for a dramatically worsening skin rash on my abdomen and legs, which we thought may be a reaction to the dye from a CT scan done two days before my admission.
INPATIENT
The speed of the admission process was hampered by the absence of a central database of all insurance information, which could be accessed by every billing computer terminal in the hospital. Every time I was moved to another area, including tests after I was admitted, I had to give my insurance information all over again. Not only did each new computer terminal I encountered have the wrong insurance information, even after I was admitted, but the different terminals had different wrong information about my insurance in many instances.
ROOM
I was in two different rooms. Both were clean and well maintained, but temperature control was difficult. Both rooms were on the sixth floor of McGaw Hospital, one in the oncology unit and one in the gastroenterology unit.
MEALS
The meals were consistently interesting and delicious.
NURSES
The nurses on the oncology unit were uniformly courteous, caring and kind. It seems this unit attracts the most experienced and professional nurses.
The nurses on the gastroenterology unit were less attentive, and seemed less interested in patient comfort, and keeping patients informed. There was a stark contrast in the level of caring, although the two units are literally only a few steps apart.
TESTS AND TREATMENTS
Most of the tests I was given were administered promptly, and by caring and thoughtful technicians. My husband was permitted to be with me during all the tests, though this became an issue with Dr. David VanThiel.
I began preparation for a colonoscopy by having only a liquid dinner, then drank the gallon of GOLIGHTLY, and nothing by mouth after midnight. I waited all through the next day, with no information and no response to questions when I would be taken down for the colonoscopy. When lunch time came and went with no response, my husband asked the nurses to page the doctor to find out if I would get the test at all that day, or whether I could have something to eat. No doctor responded to the first page. The second page, half an hour later, at about 2:30 in the afternoon, brought a response from Dr. Kennedy, the gastroenterology fellow who actually performed the colonoscopy. He promised I would get the test that day, but I was not taken down until 4:30 in the afternoon. I don’t understand why I had to wait nearly 24 hours after my last meal to have this test.
In the colonoscopy lab, my husband had to make repeated requests of multiple doctors before he was permitted to be in the room with me. The next morning, when Dr. David VanThiel came in at 6:30 a.m. on rounds with his fellow, Dr. Kennedy, and some residents and students, he did not provide any introductions or information about the results of the tests from the day before. The first words he spoke, in a loud voice, to my husband, were: “I understand you were in the room for your wife’s colonoscopy yesterday. As long as she is my patient, you will never do that again!” My husband protested that the hospital lets medical students and residents watch the tests, so why couldn’t he. Dr. VanThiel then began shouting at us that he did not have to be our doctor, and that he would not permit my husband to stay with me during any more tests. Dr. VanThiel was standing at the foot of my bed, gripping the hand holds so hard his knuckles were white. He continued to shout at us that he didn't have to be our doctor if we wouldn’t follow his rules. I could see that the fellow and residents were embarrassed for him.
My husband pointed out calmly to Dr. VanThiel that Loyola’s own ongoing study of emergency room situations, published in the Chicago Sun Times earlier that week, suggested that having family members with the patient was better for both patients and doctors. Dr. VanThiel’s sarcastic response was: “So, you get your medical information from the popular press, do you?” At this point he left the room, saying I should never drink alcohol again, and that I probably had primary biliary cirrhosis. He did not stay to answer any questions about my condition, or his abrupt diagnosis, or what treatment he would prescribe. I was very upset by this outburst.
The phlebotomists on the oncology unit were most thoughtful in drawing blood only from those veins which I pointed out to them, from my experience, were the best choices.
The phlebotomists on the gastroenterology unit wanted to take the blood from whatever veins they thought would be easiest for them, despite my explanation of my experience as a patient who has had blood drawn hundreds of times over the years as a cancer survivor. They would not listen, and as a result often had to stick me multiple times, and very painfully.
SPECIAL SERVICES
Most of the people who have cared for me over the years at Loyola have been very thoughtful, caring and kind. Their wonderful care should not be diminished by the comments which follow.
My experience in respiratory therapy during this hospitalization was abysmal. I had to repeat the bicycle part of the pulmonary function test twice, and neither time did the equipment operate properly. I still have to reschedule this test in order to get a useful result.
VISITORS AND FAMILY
Except for Dr. David VanThiel, and the other examples mentioned above, all of the volunteers, technicians, nurses, medical students, residents, fellows and physicians involved in my care and treatment, including Dr. Ellen Gaynor, Dr. Kennedy, Dr. David Eliers, Dr. Keith McLean, and all their colleagues, were wonderful. It seems a shame the hospitalization was marred by the few examples I have discussed in these comments.
Dr. David VanThiel’s treatment of me and my husband was reprehensible, and as a result we are switching to Dr. Hamdani. Even when a doctor has a disagreement with a patient or family member, he or she should treat the patient and family with kindness and respect, rather than anger and contempt.
PHYSICIAN
Dr. Ellen Gaynor, Dr. Keith McLean, Dr. David Eilers, Dr. Kennedy, the gastroenterology fellow, and all of the emergency room people involved in my care were wonderful to me. They answered our questions thoughtfully, and were always willing to tell us when they did not know the answers.
Out treatment by Dr. David VanThiel was at the opposite extreme. He was angry, rude and abrupt. He would not share information, or his thinking, and treated us as though we were ignorant, and with utter contempt. He was completely unprofessional, as described in more detail above.
DISCHARGE
Once it was decided I could go home, at about 5:00 p.m., I was kept waiting for a final visit with Dr. David VanThiel, who was in his clinic that evening. I waited until 8:30 p.m., when one of the other doctors on the liver team telephoned Dr. VanThiel at the clinic. I was then discharged without Dr. VanThiel ever coming over to see me, or to tell me anything about what follow up was needed for the chronic liver condition he provisionally diagnosed.
PERSONAL ISSUES
Everyone I had any contact with was most concerned about my emotional and spiritual needs, and privacy concerns, except Dr. David VanThiel, as described above.
Dr. David VanThiel’s conduct in shouting at me and my husband in a semi-private room, so loudly that I am certain his voice carried all the way down the hall to the nursing station, displays no concern whatsoever for patient privacy.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF THE HOSPITAL
Overall, my husband and I find your hospital to be a top notch medical facility, with wonderful staff at all levels. However, our recent experience there was severely marred by our contacts with Dr. David VanThiel, who was entirely unprofessional in his conduct toward us.
Despite the mistakes and mistreatment by Loyola and Dr. VanThiel, Linda’s professional career continued to thrive in 2000. The Oak Lawn Center achieved a trip award for gross revenue of $103,825.05 in the month of May, 2000. On June 16, 2000, Linda received the stated monthly gross revenue in a fax from one of her bosses proclaiming “CONGRATULATIONS ON A SUPER MONTH.” The Oak Lawn Center achieved another trip award for gross revenue exceeding $100,000 in a single month for June, 2000. Linda received a fax from the owners on July 11, 2000, stating: “OAK LAWN DOES IT AGAIN!!!! WOW! FANTASTIC! STUPENDOUS! GIVE IT UP FOR THE TEAM AT OAK LAWN! IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED, THE TEAM AT OAK LAWN HIT ANOTHER 100K PLUS MONTH. THE MAGIC IS BREWING FOR THIS TEAM. LOTS OF HARD WORK, LOTS OF TEAM WORK AND LOTS OF LOVE FOR THE STUDENTS HAVE REALLY PAID OFF. YOU’RE SUPER AND TOPS! CONGRATULATIONS TO THE OAK LAWN TEAM!”
The Oak Lawn Center achieved annual gross revenue for calendar year 2000 of $773,599.60, and annual net operating income for calendar year 2000 of $109,785.97. The Oak Lawn Center was recognized in 2000 as the number 3 Sylvan Learning Center in the entire world for tuition finance results, and as among the worldwide Sylvan Learning Center top 100 centers. Linda’s gross earnings as Director of the Oak Lawn Center for calendar year 2000 were $73,657.97.
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