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| - Pleasant Dr. Clark (pediatric surgeon) sent our 11 yr old here for physical therapy to attempt recovery from an elbow fracture surgery with a poor outcome. Our child's physical therapist couldn't have been kinder, but I felt like she was working in the dark, because there appeared to be a lack of communication between the surgeon & physical therapist. Frustratingly, our child was shuffled between physician assistants, surgery with Dr. Clark, months of physical therapy & a consultation with specialist Dr. Gaston. Despite all this, our child now types primarily with his pinky on his right hand, because his elbow doesn't turn properly. He can't put his palm down. (Imagine you have a permanent handshake-like elbow angle.) This impacts activities like playing basketball or how one would get change from a cashier's hand. OrthoCarolina recommended additional surgery, but by going to top medical schools, we learned OrthoCarolina failed to take an xray which reveals a serious post-surgical complication (synostosis--bone in wrong spot) & that more surgery would be risky. Sometimes it seems best to accept a poor surgical outcome. ------- If your family has problems #1) consider calling a NC teaching hospital for a "specialist." (In-state, UNC was quite helpful. Out-of-state, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia agreeably did their consultation via telephone.) " #2) Consider private physical therapists (Standouts are St. George Physical Therapy & Matthews Physical Therapy) #3) Medical record errors occur, so purchase & read all records ASAP. When you get copies of x-rays, make sure views are individually listed on the disc. If you went to an urgent care facility 1st, you may need to get records there also. #4) Don't delay if you suspect problems. If needed, Facebook's ProPublica Patient Safety Group has members who offer advice & a "SurgeonScorecard" form for reporting errors. Novant Matthew's Medical Library helps with research. Good luck & let's post our experiences, helping others!
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