How horrible some docs can be...

Hi Sarrah,

Wow! I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. I absolutely love riding (grew up with my neighbor's horses, my dream is to eventually have horses of my own), but at the same time I'm constantly aware of how powerful horses truly are. Having been thrown many times myself and working in the veterinary profession, where our equine patients are often hurt and scared, making them potentially dangerous, it's easy to see how such a horrific injury could happen in just a split second.

That being said, I am absolutely appalled that the ER doc did not send your friend home on any pain medication. There is no logic behind that. Did your friend have anyone with her at the hospital to advocate for her? I can understand how she might not have been able to convey her needs at the time, but still, you shouldn't need to ask for pain meds after BREAKING your back in THREE places! Eeh-gads. I can't believe that the didn't hospitalize her either. You'd think that she'd need to severely restrict her movement while she heals. I hope that your friend doesn't wait until her follow-up appointment if she is in extreme pain. If she doesn't want to call the doctor that saw her in the hospital, she should at least speak to her PCP. Maybe he will do the sensible thing and prescribe your friend the meds she need.

hugs,
Skeye

Sometimes I wonder if it's a money thing, but this is horrible. Sounds a lot like some of the doctors i knew and some of my dad's doctors.

This doesnt surprise me at all...Does the Motrin even help her? Sometimes I find Motrin to be the best pain medication in the world, but it should probably be mixed with something stronger for atleast a little while... I've heard many stories about doctors refusing pain medications when they should of been used, I had a friend who fell off the balcony 2 floors down to cement floor and almost died, and the fact that she was already taking pain medications before for other unrelated issues, they decided to try and detox her, she got paralized from the waist down, but she also suffered many other broken bones and had her head cracked open and some doctor decided it was a great time to pull away all medications. It wasnt til she almost died again that they decided to give her some Methadone for the pain, and this was in the ICU at one of the best hosptials around here where I live. This whole thing scared me, I just hope that if I get severely hurt, that this same thing doesnt happen to me. But then again, beleive it or not, the US is nowhere near the top for the best medical care in the world, I think we're like number 44 or something like that.

I just hope that if your friend is not getting help from the motrin that she doesnt sit around and think that she has to suffer, she has all right to find someone who will give her better treatment. I know some people just go to one doctor and don't get second opinions when the first doctor was a jerk, they think that's the standard care and they have no other choices.

-kitty