Emory Healthcare - Atlanta, loses track of a 1st time diagnosed Cancer Patient, who dies 4 days later without even seeing an Oncologist ???

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) June 4, 2011 -- This is a MUST READ for anyone seeking treatment for Cancer at Emory..

Darla B. Schafer
Born: May 15th ,1946
Cancer Diognisis: May 6 -Died: May 9th, 2011

My wife Darla and I walked into their Emergency room on a Thursday May 5th, at 3:30PM, with what appeared to be the flu, and she was seen within 15 minutes. Three tests later, and less than 2 hours in, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, that had gone into her liver.

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Emory Healthcare - Atlanta, loses track of a 1st time diagnosed Cancer Patient, who dies 4 days later without even seeing an Oncologist ???

We were told she has had to have had this for quite some time to be so progressed, but she's been in great health except the flu this week... how could this be ? She's not a drinker or smoker, has a healthy life-style, maybe the tests were wrong ???

She was immediately admitted, and the ER Physician assured us that Emory had one of the best Oncology programs in the world. They would immediately start running tests. make sure she was comfortable, and we'd have a plan of action and information so that we could move forward and seek the best outcome. Thank God at least we're at Emory... she had wanted to stop at either of the 2 hospitals that we passed to get here, but I had made the best division on this one !

Beautiful room, great nursing staff, and they visited with us one by one, and assured us that as soon as our Oncologist arrived, they would be there to do everything that was decided to help us move forward with some answers and solution. We watched TV, ate some dinner, and waited for the Oncologist.

We were visited by the staff an OBGYN physician later that evening, who made it clear that he was not a oncologist, but would actually phone the head of Oncology and get us some answers as quickly as possible... for sure, we'd be visited an Oncologist in the morning.

May 6th Friday 9AM, The staff OBGYN stopped in to visit with us and said the Oncologist that he wanted on this case was in surgery all day, but would be in as soon as that surgery was completed. Darla and I remained in good spirits, knowing that there was a course of action, tests, and Emory experts getting involved later that day. No-one showed up, and we slept there together that night.

May 7th Saturday - 10AM, the OBGYN came to visit and briefly told us that the (apparently only one) Oncologist in the hospital had to go out of town until Sunday evening, and that he – and OBGYN was assigned to handle the treatment until the Oncologist returned. He mentioned that he "had never been the assigned physician for a cancer patient, but had been told by the Oncologist to just keep her comfortable until he could return… Darla was feeling much worse today, and was bloating in the stomach area… even the nurse told us that she could not believe nothing was being done yet, as that “pressure” needed to be drained to make her more comfortable... they were sure that would be the first thing the vacationing Oncologist would order.

May 8th Sunday - Darla was progressively getting worse, and the nurses offered Morphine which made her sick at the stomach, and from online Internet information (our only source…) we did not want conflicting drugs in her system that would interfere with all of the tests and diagnosis, so she wanted the morphine discontinued, and would simply take Advil for pain and discomfort until we saw the oncologist.

Sunday evening - Darla continued to feel worse, but we were waiting for that oncologist... even one of the nurses told me that we had a right to transfer her to another hospital, but we decided to wait until morning, and see what the oncologist had to say. We both drifted off to sleep around 11 PM...
She awoke at 2AM in excruciating pain... she couldn't swallow her advil, so the nurse crushed it into some Jello so she could get it down. .
By 3am she drifted off to sleep, and I went back to my couch and did the same…

May 9th Monday - I was unable to wake Darla at 8AM, she was having difficulty breathing, and remained asleep with eyes half open, fixed pupils and dilated. Finally at 9:30 AM, the Oncologist came to the room, walked 2 steps inside the room, glanced at Darla introduced himself to me. I extended my hand, but he did not shake with me... From 2 steps inside the door he said there was nothing that could be done. He would order Hospice care, and they would be in touch with us later that day. Then he walked out. I went to the parking area and caught up to him on the way to his car so I could at least ask some questions. He never broke stride, simply glanced as me as if I was violating his space, and told me again: “I told you Hospice will contact you later today”.

Darla never woke… she struggled on with each breath. Hospice never contacted us, and the nurses took over on their own to re-connect her to morphine. She took her last breath at 4:30 that afternoon.

Go to www.EmoryOncology.com or www.EmoryCancer.com, and help the family get the word out to save their love ones from experiencing a situation like their lives (or death...).

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