Description of Incident (Download in Word Format here: Narrative of Medical Incident – Intro )
Date of Incident: November 29, 2014
Location: Beaverton Medical Office
Description: In the morning of November 29, 2014, I woke up feeling not well and went to the Urgent Care Clinic at the Beaverton Medical Office. I was tended to by the staff and a Doctor in the clinic. The staff took my vital signs, etc. before the Doctor came in. After listening to my symptoms, the Doctor sent me to have a chest x-ray and an EKG in the Beaverton Medical Office, which, according to him, did not indicate a heart problem. However, the Doctor asked that I go to the Emergency Room so that he could, “sleep better that night.”
I was then told to wait for an ambulance as I could not, per protocol, transport myself or be transported to the ER by the family member that had brought me to the Urgent Care Clinic at the Beaverton Medical Office. The EMTs brought the gurney into the Clinic, secured me, and then transported me to the back of the ambulance.
Once I was inside the ambulance, the EMT riding in the back with me asked if I wanted her to insert the IV. I told her that I did not feel it was necessary and would wait until arrival at the ER. She then went on to ask if I wanted an IV in my chest for them to administer the nitro. I again declined and she seemed a bit preoccupied, and told me that it was impossible to administer nitro once all of the blood was rushed to my chest. I thanked her and told her again that I did not feel it was necessary and would wait until arrival at the ER to see if they deemed it necessary, as this was something new to me.
She then asked me if they had told me about the afib, or irregular heartbeat, that they had observed in me. I said that they had not said anything about this to me. At this point, I was beginning to wonder just what was going on. Next, she asked if I was still on two medications that I had never heard of. I told her no and that I thought she was working off of incorrect information. She then told me that my prior refusals for the IV and nitro made sense in light of this.
The EMTs then delivered me to the ER at the Kaiser Westside Hospital, where I was subjected to a blood test, another EKG, and then told that I heartburn, given a gastro-intestinal cocktail and a prescription for Prilosec, and released, and told to come back for a Stress Test, which I did. I have yet to receive the results of this test from my doctor, though the staff who administered it seemed to have no concerns for my health.