The Surgery Was A Success But The Patient Died...

I consider myself a pretty good business woman. My background is corporate America and I was really good at it so I figure I'll be pretty competent at building an acupuncture practice, so I had to laugh at myself when I saw a new patient this past Monday night.

That evening I saw one of my first new assigned female patients. A very pretty 54 year old woman with beautiful blue eyes and a very quiet demeanor. She had only one previous acupuncture treatment and really did not know to much about the whole thing.

Her chief compliant that evening was foot pain or otherwise known as Plantar Fasciitis which is a condition which causes constant and annoying pain while walking.

My supervisor who is this (as my friend describes him) high functioning austic type of guy, sits and speaks with her and then lets her know that the treatment can be very successful, but it can be a little painful.

Obviously he did not read that she was a bit timid and would go along with anything. I unfortunately missed the cues and figured this out later during the next couple of days.....

What he didn't tell her is that the needles were to go into the feet about 2 inches;

Yup DEEP needling of the bottom of feet. OUCH right?

We of course asked her if she wanted to try this treatment, as my supervisor explained to her it would be "a little" painful but very effective;

Hello Holly Wake-Up, since when is putting needles in the BOTTOM of the foot, just a little painful?

Like what in the hell was I thinking anyway.

How funny.

This is a woman that has had only one previous acupuncture treatment and she is very soft spoken, and on heavy anti depressants as well...She would must likely go along with anything.

So we did the deep needling and I think it hurt her more when the needles were coming out as opposed to when they were being put in. Imagine this, six long needles stuck in the softest part of the bottom of your foot.

Once we got the needles out of her, she sat up, she looked quite disheveled, but she appeared okay. I asked her to stand up and see if the pain had diminished to any degree....

With a wispy voice she said " yes, I think so"....

Okay, I'm thinking how really good I am at this, and that I had a new patient for life.

I told her we would see her next week, and that I would be in touch via e-mail to help her with her food choices....never thinking that she did not appreciate my accomplishments of ridding her feet of pain.

Soa couple of days later, I said to myself that I should check to make sure that she rescheduled with me again before I make up her menu...

Guess what I found?

She did not make another appointment.

The surgery was a success but the patient had died...

Lesson learned!