Ohio

Blanche Harmon

Blanche went to Mt Carmel Hospital for a hysterectomy. She had an IV in her hand when she came out of the surgery. Blanche complained of pain in her hand and noted that her fingertips were blue. The doctor ordered the IV be moved to her other hand. Blanche still had pain in the original hand. Although she was on pain medication due to the surgery and she still had "break through pain". Blanche complained all afternoon yet the nurses failed to investigate. Finally after new nurses began their shift at 6:00 pm, one of them checked her hand and couldn't feel a pulse. Blanche had suffered from a major blood clot in her upper arm which restricted blood flow to her entire arm. They had to wait a few days to see how far up her arm would die. Then they performed surgery to amputate her arm at the Elbow.

August 2004