This has been an absolutely crazy past few days I don't even know where to begin. Early last week my ear was kind of sore so I thought nothing of it, well on Thursday night the barely noticeable soreness turned into lot's of pain, so I went to my ear doctor before the weekend. Turns out I had a basic middle ear infection, nothing out of the ordinary. What was causing the pain was not the ear infection itself but fluid discharge in my ear that was pushing up against the ear drum. So my doctor drained all of the discharge with this suction thing and I felt GREAT as if there was nothing wrong at all, he gave me some anti-biotic ear drops to clear up the infection and I went home happy.

 

Much later at around 4AM in the middle of the night I was having horrible pain again and I could not hear out of my right ear AT ALL, so obviously the fluid discharge came back during the night and blocked up my ear. We waited until around 7:30am and called the answering service at my ear doctors office since it was the weekend, my mom explained the situation to them and they said it's no problem at all and we should just go to the emergency room and they will page the doctor on-call from their office to come meet us there once we're checked in and everything.

 

So we go to the emergency room and get right in because surprisingly we were the ONLY ones there. We get checked in and all that which took about 10 minutes then we went to a room where eventually a doctor came in. We explained the situation to him, we explained how we called our practice and they said that they will page the ear specialist on-call from their office to come over and drain the fluid out. The ER doctor took a look in my ear and goes "you don't have any fluid at all" so I am obviously baffled because that is obviously what blocked my ear up during the night, for god sakes I was able able to hear swishing inside of my ear from the fluid build up!

 

He tells me I have just a common OUTER ear infection and told me they don't give ear drops for middle ear infections, which is most definitely wrong because my ear doctor said I have a middle ear infection and specifically gave me the anti-biotic ear drops for it. He then takes another look and goes "well, I do see a LITTLE bit of fluid build up but it's really close to the ear drum" and he went on to say that I probably need a wick put in (a wick is a little foam tube with a hole in it that creates a clear path through all the fluid).

 

I then asked for the hospital to please call Dr. Namewithheld my ear specialist who was on-call from my practice to come over, like the answering service told us to do. The ER doctor tells me there is no need for him to come over and that there is nothing that he can do for me that I can't already do and he said it in this really nasty a**hole-ish voice talking down to me, WTF??? By this time it's quite apparent that this ER doctor has "god syndrome" and thinks that just because he is a doctor he is automatically right and there is NOTHING on the face of the earth that he can't do which another doctor - a specialist - can.

 

My mom again explained that our ear doctors office specifically told us to have the hospital page them so Dr. Namewithheld can come right over.... the ER doctor is practically YELLING and I am not exaggerating, he's actually YELLING at my mom "MAAM I ALREADY EXPLAINED THERE IS NOTHING HE CAN DO, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?" and my mom and I are just sitting there in complete shock, we didn't expect to come to a hospital in excruciating pain and be yelled at like this, so we're about ready to just get up and leave when he says "wait a second, i'll just call him right now and you'll see there is nothing he can do!"

 

So he goes out into the hallway and calls this doctor, the door is open about 4 or 5 inches so we're able to hear what he is saying. He says "Hi this is Dr. ____ from the ER at ____ hospital, we have someone here who says he's from your office, blah blah blah, well anyways they keep asking for you to come here but I have explained to them numerous times that there is nothing you can do. I have already looked in his ear and he has BARELY any fluid at all, i'm just going to put a wick in and you don't have to come down here." and that was it.

 

The jackass ER doctor comes back into the room and says "I just got off the phone with him and he agreed that there is no need for him to come here and he said there's nothing he can do that I already can't do" :plain. This is the part I really regret, so this jackass says he's going to put a wick in my ear and i'll be on my way. So he goes and gets a wick, comes back into the room and puts it in. It was very uncomfortable and caused my pain to just get exponentially much much worse, but he insisted it was "for my own good" and prescribed me some pain medication. This was Saturday morning so I had to just survive until Monday when I was able to go to my ear doctor. The whole weekend I was in horrible horrible just absolutely brutal pain, it was so bad I couldn't even chew any food harder than a piece of bread, I couldn't even open my jaw all the way, I couldn't turn my head more than a few inches in either direction, etc. because the pain from my ear was radiating throughout my whole head, face, and a neck. It was AWFUL and I wasn't able to sleep at all. I basically sat with a clock next to me the whole weekend just counting down the seconds until it was Monday and I could go see my doctor who I know would get me straightened up.

 

Monday finally came and we called first thing in the morning to get me an appointment, they were booked but my mom pleaded with them to fit me in and thankfully they did. I went to my appointment and my doctor pulls out the wick that the moron ER doctor put in and I instantly felt such great relief. My doctor then takes a look in my ear and he says that my entire ear has very bad BRUISES and is very bloody... when I saw him just a few days earlier on Friday all I had was the infection and some fluid that had to be drained, but now i've got very bad bruising all over my ear canal and blood was dripping out of my ear, what caused it was the MORON ER doctor. The wick he put in was far too large for any ear and as a result it caused terrible bruising. I wish I could go back to the ER right now and show the doctor my ear and scream in his f***ing face "THIS IS WHY YOU GET THE DAMN SPECIALIST TO COME".

 

God I am so angry right now I can't even put it into words. I have OPEN WOUNDS and BRUISING inside of my ear from that god damn massive wick that the INCOMPETANT ER doctor put in. My ear doctor said a wick this large should never go in someones ear. My ear doctor basically cleaned up the wounds and bruises inside of my ear, drained the discharge, and put a new wick in that was probably 10 times smaller than the one the idiot ER doctor put in and i'm going back this Wednesday to get re-checked just so make sure everything is okay. He explained that my ear will probably bleed and it did, my ear is all bloody, there is blood on my ear lobe and everywhere, all because of that incompetant piece of sh*t at the ER. I have an audiogram hearing test scheduled 2 weeks from today and hopefully I pray to god I don't have any permanent hearing damage or loss.

 

The worst part about this is that it will most likely delay me from becoming a United States Marine and I won't be able to ship to Parris Island in August for boot camp. My doctor also told me that I can't run, I can't lift weights, I basically can't do any physical activities until my ear is fully healed because if I get the "blood pumping" during a workout it will cause my ear to have significant bleeding. I am so angry. When I got home my dad wanted to know what happened and my mom and I gave him the whole story, he was just as angry as I was and he called up the hospital and filed a formal complaint to make sure what this ER doctor did to me is on his record and he also called his attorney.

 

I don't know what's going to happen now, I don't know what more to say or do, i'm just absolutely irate beyond any and all comprehension.

Wow, I feel for you man.

 

I'm glad your parents are looking into legal action, that definitely needs to be done in my opinion from what I'm reading.

Yeah, it sucks, but don't bother with the leagal action. Unless you go deaf, you'll just sink a ton of money into legal expenses.

 

Besides, if you knew that you didn't need the thing in your ear, you shouldn't have let him put it in.

 

I had a med-mal situation with a doctor who actually severed my spinal accessory nerve during a routine lymph node biopsy and the jury sided with the doctor, and this is with me retaining the best personal injury lawyer in Palm Beach, and having the ONLY pediatric neurological specialist in the South Eastern United States as an expert witness saying the doctor who performed surgery was directly responsible for the damage.

 

So, basicly, you should be thankful that you don't have any permanent damage and just leave it at that.

Maybe those guns of yours will come in handy after all...

 

:mischief2 :mischief2 :mischief2

Bummer. I'd probably be pissed as well, but like TSwift said legal action will probably be a waste of time in the long run unless you do in fact go deaf in the one ear.

Damn. I've been to the ER a few times and have had some bad experiences with ego-maniacal doctors but nothing like this.

 

That sucks.

Man, this is f***ing brutal. I was just watching a re-run of Chappelle Show and I started laughing and all of a sudden I felt blood running out of my earn.

 

ugh

I feel for you brother, Ive had a middle ear infection before and its not pretty.

Hope it heals quickly, sometimes Ill get minor symptoms back if I get any kind of throat infection, but a few drops and it goes away. Good Luck! :thumbup

2 things.

 

 

1. I hope you feel better because it sounds really painful.

 

2. I was under the impression that you had already served in the armed forces. With that said, good luck in the Corps. It will change your life (for the better).

Omg! That's awful.I'm sorry you had to have a jackass for a doctor.He needs to go.

Hope your ear gets better soon.Gosh. :confused

Wow, man. I'm really sorry to hear that. That's absolutely horrible.

Hope you feel better soon. :confused

That really sucks. I had an ear infection 2 years ago, I know the pain, arguably the worst pain in the world to some doctors. Hope something doo come from the legal actions your taking

wow, feel better acord

Thanks everyone. I'd say the pain is about 85% gone now, but I still can't hear out of my left ear, my ear doctor said there is still a lot of swelling though and it will probably be 2 weeks by the time it goes down and I have my full hearing back.

I wish I could go back to the ER right now and show the doctor my ear and scream in his f***ing face "THIS IS WHY YOU GET THE DAMN SPECIALIST TO COME".

 

You wish? Why are you wishing just go back and let him know he was wrong, you'd be doing good just to let him know that he was wrong(and an a**hole) and hopefully so he learns from it(doubt it)... but really the main reason is just so you can feel a little better.