Last Thursday’s (May 28, 2009, page 10) Pahrump Mirror relates a story about Dr. Ming-Wei Wu at Desert View Regional Medical Center Hospital in Pahrump. It was written by Paul Jones of the Mirror Staff.
Pahrump resident Karen Owens, age 65, noticed she was bleeding after using the bathroom. Her husband, Warner, called Desert View Hospital and was told he should bring Karen to the hospital. He did.
Warner was told by the attending physician it would be best if she stayed in the hospital overnight to be examined the next morning by a pathologist. She did.
She was awakened at 2:00 a.m. by Dr. Wu who asked if he could perform the colonoscopy to determine why she was bleeding.
Early that morning Warner got a phone call from Desert View “asking whether he had been contacted about the condition of his wife. The caller informed Warner his wife was ‘in serious condition.’”
When Warner arrived at Desert View “he was shocked when he saw Karen.”
She was swollen from the top of her ears to her shoulders and her chin and her face was swollen down to her breast.
Warner decided he needed to get her to a hospital in Las Vegas. He decided against the air-ambulance because the pressurized cabin of the helicopter might cause more damage to his severely swollen wife.
He requested the hospital staff call an ambulance.
But the response was
They said we can’t do that, we’re at the discretion of the ambulance service, we may have an automobile wreck or whatever else out here that comes first.
Waiting for the ambulance the Owens asked that Dr. Wu be contacted so they could speak with him.
Wu, by phone from Las Vegas, said while performing the colonoscopy he had run into a large mass and that she was bleeding, and that he couldn’t see through the scope anymore and had backed out.
Wu added
It’s a ninety percent chance it’s a cancer mass. There’s no problem Mr. Owens, she will be okay in a couple of days.
Two and a half hours later the ambulance came and transported Karen and another patient to Las Vegas.
In Summerlin Hospital Karen was examined by a pathologist. The pathologist “was not optimistic of her chances for survival. He did not think he could save Karen’s life.
“They raced her down the hallway and then he came back to me and said ‘Well, maybe there’s a chance.’”
Warner credits Summerlin with saving his wife’s life. He explained:
When he got in there he said that they had to take a foot of her colon out because of the report of cancer. The only thing we see, if there’s anything, is three embedded hemorrhoids and one polyp.
Then Warner learned the whole story:
They had punctured her colon and they had pumped air and feces into her pulmonary thorax area. The end result is my wife is on a colostomy bag, spent three days in a semi-coma and eight days in hospital.
The Owens filed a complaint against Doctor Wu and then testified on March 28 before the Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine, where five complaints against Dr. Wu were heard.
As a result of the hearing Dr. Wu has “accepted a letter of public reprimand for an admission of surgical error on one case at Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas” and agreed to a “skill assessment sanction by the Federation of State Medical Boards” and to take two other courses.
Wu has “agreed to pay $21,577 towards the board investigation and his own legal fees.”
Warner advises others who find themselves in the same situation
You must have the courage to go up against these people.
The ordeal encountered by Mr. and Mrs. Owens raises many questions the people of Pahrump should be asking.
Just what are the medical qualifications of Dr. Wu. Where did he get his medical training?
How well does Desert View Hospital check out the background and competency of their medical staff before permitting them hospital privileges?
How competent is this Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine board? How come Dr. Wu is licensed to practice medicine in Nevada? How competent are the people sitting on the board to do what they do? Are they all medical people or do any ordinary citizens serve on that board? See Las Vegas Review Journal; and his profile; and another profile.
Finally, how come there is no way for us ordinary people to check to see if the medical doctor we go to, or are considering becoming a patient of, is competent to treat us medically?
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Lets do a little anatomy lessen here folks!!!
1. If we found a mass in a colon during colonoscopy and is suspected to be a cancereous mass; that mass is tattooed with ink so you can find it during surgery (ALWAYS)
2. A PATHOLOGIST does not see patients, they are the ones who
examine the specimens sent to the lab!!
3. Hemorrhoids are not in your colon they are in your anus!
4. You cannot pump air into your thoracic area because your abdomen is covered in a thick layer called peritoneum, they you have a think muscle called your diaphram that helps you breath in and out to go through. The colonoscope is a flexible scope not capable of penetrating those 2 areas!!!
5. For someone to dissect part of your colon out, I would hope they ran the colon with their fingers to find a mass before taking it out!!
6. The swelling in the upper body was more likely due to edema, reaction, cellulitis or something along that line!
7. Learn about the subject you are writing about before you blast someone in your article
8.THE PERSON WHO WROTE THAT ARTICLE NEEDS TO LEARN TO USE SPELL CHECK!!!
Thanks for the comment, DF. I don’t know if I could have ever learned the detail you provided in your comment.
I have a spell checker but apparently overlooked using it.
It is really upsetting to read this article after all these years. In addition to DF’s corrections, I would like to add a few more…
1) The board didn’t just investigate this case. They went beyond and investigated a total of five cases. In my opinion, the board was responsible and went the distance to assess Dr. Wu’s competency. At the end, Dr. Wu was found “one surgical technical error” on a case he performed in 2006. Honestly, which surgeon never made one surgical technical error?
2) The skill assessment was at University of Wisconsin which found Dr. Wu a competent surgeon. Dr. Wu didn’t need any remediation courses or additional trainings.
3) The Owens and their lawyer all attended the board hearing. They never sued Dr. Wu. If Dr. Wu was so wrong, I’m sure they wouldn’t let him go so easily.
Between the board members (all are physicians), 3 INDEPENDENT expert witnesses and University of Wisconsin assessment, they concluded that Dr. Wu was indeed a competent surgeon. Yes, he made one surgical technical error, but how many lives has he saved?