Personal Stories:
As a member of VPP you have an opportunity to tell your own personal story of what happened to you and why you are involved in Voices for Patient Protection. You can submit your story as an email or word document attachment to contact@voicesforpatientprotection.com.

Personal Story #2 submitted on 2/11/2008
Phil Hunt, Long Valley, NJ: Phil Hunt had a motorcycle accident in August of 1995. His wife, Julie, was in the ER with him as they assessed his broken ribs, legs, toes, wrist and fracture of the C4 vertebrae. Julie was told he would need several surgeries and some rods, but in a year he would be almost as good as new. He could move his toes and had full sensation in his lower body but complained of extreme pain in his lower back. When the nurse questioned the resident in charge, she was told it was just his wallet in his back pocket. The next day, the neurologist came into Phil's room. He discovered that they had missed about 6 inches of his spine in the X-rays from the night before. He instructed them to get a complete spinal study before he would touch Phil.
Later that morning, a nurse and 2 X-ray techs came into his room to perform a routine chest X-ray. They lifted Phil, rather than log-rolling him, to put the film under his back and damaged his spinal cord at the T12-L1 level. The muscles holding the spinal cord in place had been torn in the accident but since they missed the X-ray and did not call in the neurologist that evening, no one knew. So even though he hit a car head-on, made it from the side of the road into a helicopter, and through the ER all evening with no spinal cord injury, the next day he was rendered paraplegic. A horrible situation was made even worse when the hospital closed ranks after the incident. ALL personnel were instructed not to speak to Julie or to answer her questions. Phil was on a respirator for about 3 weeks so the very people who were entrusted with keeping him alive suddenly became "the enemy".
Phil will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He has severe pain daily in one hip due in part to bones that were not reset properly and he has no bowel, bladder, or sexual function.
Their medical malpractice case was settled on the eve of trial after 6 years.

Personal Story #1 submitted on 2/1/2008
Thomas E. Ricker, Hampton, NJ: I retired from Merck and Co. Inc. in April of 2001 at the age of 56 and was looking forward to a healthy and enjoyable retirement. I began working part time as a sous chef at a local fine dining establishment and also working part time at a local private golf club. In August of 2002 I went to the emergency room of the Hunterdon Medical Center where I was treated by physicians supplied by the Pegasus Emergency Group, P.A. I was diagnosed with pneumonia and discharged with an antibiotic and instructions to seek a follow up appointment with my primary care physician. Two (2) days later, I called my primary care physician, who was not available, and left a message that I had been treated in the emergency room at Hunterdon Medical Center for pneumonia and was given an antibiotic. I did not receive a return phone call and was not seen by my PCP. Approximately three (3) days after the emergency room visit, blood cultures that had been drawn in the emergency room came back positive for streptococcus viridans, a bacteria known to cause bacterial endocarditis. The blood culture results were not conveyed to me or my primary care physician. Approximately seven (7) weeks later, I was seen by my primary care physician because I was complaining of malaise and had a low grade fever. At that point, the prior blood culture results were discovered and I was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis and immediately admitted to Hunterdon Medical Center for treatment with IV antibiotics. After five (5) days of antibiotic therapy, I suffered a right, fronto-parietal cerebral hemorrhage. Despite extensive physical therapy, I was left with residual left lower extremity weakness (spastic hemiparesis) and gait abnormality requiring use of a cane and leg brace. I have suffered several seizures following the stroke, and must be maintained on seizure medication. My case settled on the third day of jury selection, January 23, 2006.

The primary reason for filing my lawsuit was because the distribution of test results to appropriate Doctors and patient failed and the communication between the contracted company handling the emergency room and the Hunterdon Medical center broke down. Since no one from the hospital ever explained to me what had happened, I wanted to bring these failures to light so that other patients might not fall into the same situation I did. In other words fix the system, it was not working.

When Voices for Patient Protection was first being formed in 2003 to lobby against putting a cap on medical malpractice lawsuits of $250,000 for non-economic damages I got involved. Victims needed a voice to protect their rights when a medical error occurs and I wanted to speak up since I was retired and "economic damages such as loss of income didn't apply." I didn't want any legislator telling a victim what they were worth regarding non-economic damages. As a result of this involvement I was appointed to the Governor's Medical Care Availability Task Force, elected Vice -Chair, and made a number of suggestions to address the problems in our health care system.

Please join VPP and have a voice in protecting the rights of current and future patients.