I wasnt sure to even be asking this but it is driving me crazy. As you all know my mom had passed away before Christmas, She had been done with treatment since last April. She did not die from the cancer, but from effects of treatment. I have been working on her cancer insurance policy and they needed me to get some of her medical records from her 3 previous hospital stays. Me and my dad both wanted to get them because we thought we might get some answers to why this had happened. Back in August she was hospitalized with very low sodium, they got that straightened out and ran numerous tests. and sent her home, all over a 2 week stay. My qustion is this. I was looking over her test results and they had done a respiratory culture that had not come back until the day after she was dicharged. It came back with a heavy pseaudamonis auergosa(not sure on spelling)infection. Why were we not notified of that? I know i am not a doctor but from looking that up online, it couldve caused alot of her problems. If a test comes back after you are discharged whos responsibility would it be to look at her chart? I'm not sure why i want to know this now, I guess I am looking for some peace. I do blame alot of her doctors. And no she was not at a major cancer center. Looking back now i wish we wouldve researched more befor treatment so i wouldve found you all befor. Any insight to this would be greatly appeciated. Thank you in advance.

Karen,

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacteria that causes infection in wounds and is referred to as a "hospital aquired infection" or nosocomial infection, much like the antibiotic resistant staphylococcus aureus that we hear about. All this really means is that it is possible or even highly likely that she picked up this infection while in the hospital. It may have just been contracted from wounds she experienced from the treatment. Should they have contacted your family as soon as they got the results of the culture? I would think so, especially given the communicable nature of the infection. Hospitals have a contagious disease monitoring group that should have or may have done something to ensure containment. It is even a possiblity that the bacterial infection could not have been eliminated even with treatment. I would contact the patient advocacy officer or such of the hospital and ask these questions.

I am sorry you have these unanswered questions and I hope the hospital takes the time to address your concerns and provide explanations that satisfy you and your father.

Ed