Beware of the villages hospital

[Raleighhawk]

Seven weeks ago my father went into The Villages Hospital due to dizziness and not able to keep his balance.
They did a MRI and a CT. Dr. Kenneth Henschel informed us that both came out clean. He and the hospitalist from Lakeview Internal Medicine both said they couldn't find anything wrong with him and that he needed rehab.
Before he went in he was fine, within 12 days he couldn't walk, eat on his own and was very confused.
They refused for us to send him to another hospital for a second opinion. They would only release him if we agreed to send him to rehab. We knew there was something seriously wrong with him.
So we agreed, just so we could get him out.
We flew him to Raleigh, NC for two days of "rehab" and then took him to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill, NC.
The doctors there looked at the SAME MRI that Dr. Henschel looked at and immediately realized that he had inflammation on the brain and within 24 hours diagnosed him with brain cancer. They immediately started him on chemo treatments.
He spent 12 days in The Villages Hospital with no treatments because the doctors there couldn't read a MRI.
Unfortunately, my father only has weeks maybe months to live.
Dr. Kenneth Henschel, the doctors at Lakeview Internal Medicine and The Villages Hospital are a complete disgrace and should not be allowed to practice any longer. They should all be ashamed.

[Chatbrat]

The question, who read the MRI?

A very close friend of mine had x-rays & a mri done @ Lake Medical Imaging. they said there was nothing extraordinary.

He had a follow up meeting with a neurologist # Yale New Haven-he has an unoperable growth on one of his cervical vertebrae

[Walter123]

The medical profession isn't what it used to be especially here in The Villages. It's all about money and appointments. Health care comes second. What a shame. We are treated like cattle or worse. We are made to wait 30 minutes to an hour. The staff are usually a bunch of idiots too. Trust no one and do your own research before you go see a "doctor" around here.

[2BNTV]

The OP did the right thing by getting a second opinion. Unfortunately, the resulting diagnosis was not good.

We all have the be responsible for our own health. When one gets a missed diagnosis, it is very disheartening.

My sympathy to the OP.

[fred53]

I feel for you, but rather than warning everyone because of your situation perhaps you should suggest a second opinion. If you have 1000 people with great experiences and 5 with bad ones I'd say they're doing just fine.

[nnurse]

Being a Hospice nurse, I hear these kind of stories way too often. Cancer can be very sneaky and sometimes can't be seen. I'm so sorry to hear of your father's devastating diagnosis. Enjoy everyday you have with him. This will be the hardest thing you will ever have to go through. I am recommending you put him on Hospice ...even if the drs say not too. I have hospice patients that have been on for 2 years! Supplies, meds, DME will be paid for by Medicare. They will help u and your family through this. I'm praying for strength for you. If you ever have any questions or concerns please IM me. My name is Nancy and I have very big ears!

[NotGolfer]

I'm so sorry about the diagnosis for your dad. What unimaginable diagnosis he's gotten and the journey ahead that leaves so many questions for him and his family.

That said, I have a friend who sees a physician with Lake Family Practice who had her do tests and x-rays etc for an autoimmune issue. She wanted a 2nd opinion so went to Mayo. They concurred that that doctor ordered exactly what they would have PLUS said anything they receive from Lake Imaging (for them) never needs re-doing because they're so clear. I think what the nnurse said on this thread is very wise...

[rubicon]

The short version is when my son was 11 we noticed his face began to swell. The doctor said it was NOT a serious issue and prescribed low dose of penicillin sent us home but 2 hours later he seemed worse. I called the doc for an ENT referral. The ENT could not see us until 4:00PM as he was in surgery. At 4:00PM the ENT examined my son and in an instant said take him across the street to the hospital now.

They admitted my son and immediately sent up an IV that floated my son in mega doses of anti biotics. He had an infection located around what the ENT specialist called the dangerous triangle (nose/eyes) and the infection was spreading to the brain. the doctor believed said id the infection had reached my son's brain he would have been a vegetable or dead.

too many of us are too trusting, too timid, etc when it comes to doctor but for our sake and theirs it is good to keep them honest

[manaboutown]

I am relieved to hear the OP got his father a diagnosis. Hopefully his father will receive state of the art treatment from highly skilled and experienced physicians and staff.

Brain tumor diagnosis can be hit or miss because brain tumors are relatively rare. My migraine prone 42 year old daughter was getting more headaches than usual and getting cranky. One morning she passed out while getting her dog water. This occurred during the holidays and her primary care physician was not in so a PA ordered blood tests which revealed nothing. A week later she had a seizure in the shower. This time her primary care physician was able to see her. Having recently diagnosed another patient with a brain tumor she sent my daughter for an MRI STAT. Life changed for all of us that day. The diagnosis was GBM. After surgical removal of all the tumor that could be safely taken out, radiation and chemo followed. After awhile another tumor was found in a follow up MRI. A gamma knife procedure and more chemo ensued. At present, she is tumor free. Mean life expectancy for GBM is about 15 months. My daughter is still alive after 40 months. I attribute it to the high quality medical care she has received and continues to obtain as well as lots of prayers from many caring people..

Her initial MRI showed the tumor which was hard to miss, about the size of a 60 watt incandescent light bulb. Her bimonthly followup MRIs are done on very high resolution (expensive) equipment. We participate in a brain tumor support group and have discovered that some patients have had very small tumors, even clusters of them. Such tumors may be hard to pick up using a typical MRI device. When her second tumor was discovered her world class neurosurgeon did not see it until after a second MRI showed it. He went back and found a hardly noticeable pinhead sized image in the prior MRI. Few regional hospitals are equipped or staffed to deal with brain tumors. I am happy to hear the OP got his father to a medical facility equipped to diagnose and treat his father's tumor.

[jnieman]

Always get a copy of your own test results. Don't rely on the doctor to notify you if "something is wrong". Recently I had a mass removed on my ovary. It showed on the MRI but the radiologist didn't notify my doctor of the suspicious result, so my doctor didn't call me. I just happen to go pick up a copy of my test results on my own and discovered it. I just had surgery to remove it and it was quite a large mass. Luckily benign. You just can't count on the doctors to follow-up or notify you of anything. You have to follow-up yourself. Bad things can happen. I'm just curious, did you get a copy of the MRI and did they find it on that or the Cat scan or did those tests not show it?

[goodtimesintv]

Seven weeks ago my father went into The Villages Hospital due to dizziness and not able to keep his balance.
They did a MRI and a CT. Dr. Kenneth Henschel informed us that both came out clean. He and the hospitalist from Lakeview Internal Medicine both said they couldn't find anything wrong with him and that he needed rehab.
Before he went in he was fine, within 12 days he couldn't walk, eat on his own and was very confused.
They refused for us to send him to another hospital for a second opinion. They would only release him if we agreed to send him to rehab. We knew there was something seriously wrong with him.
So we agreed, just so we could get him out.
We flew him to Raleigh, NC for two days of "rehab" and then took him to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill, NC.
The doctors there looked at the SAME MRI that Dr. Henschel looked at and immediately realized that he had inflammation on the brain and within 24 hours diagnosed him with brain cancer. They immediately started him on chemo treatments.
He spent 12 days in The Villages Hospital with no treatments because the doctors there couldn't read a MRI.
Unfortunately, my father only has weeks maybe months to live.
Dr. Kenneth Henschel, the doctors at Lakeview Internal Medicine and The Villages Hospital are a complete disgrace and should not be allowed to practice any longer. They should all be ashamed.

I sympathize with you, but from experience I would caution about saying the doctors at UNC Chapel Hill made their diagnosis solely on the MRI done in TV several weeks before getting there. My experience is that the teaching-research hospital probably did its own MRI at that point, and used the prior one from TV as a comparison. Many people don't realize that some forms of common cancers are far more aggressive in growing and spreading than others. Likewise, many people don't realize that not all types of growths are consistently visible in all the given imaging.

It could be that what did not show on the MRI here grew unusually fast in those couple of weeks. If that was the case, condemning the neurologist and entire hospital here would be reckless and destructive overall.

[CritterLover]

I sympathize with you, but from experience I would caution about saying the doctors at UNC Chapel Hill made their diagnosis solely on the MRI done in TV several weeks before getting there. My experience is that the teaching-research hospital probably did its own MRI at that point, and used the prior one from TV as a comparison. Many people don't realize that some forms of common cancers are far more aggressive in growing and spreading than others. Likewise, many people don't realize that not all types of growths are consistently visible in all the given imaging.

It could be that what did not show on the MRI here grew unusually fast in those couple of weeks. If that was the case, condemning the neurologist and entire hospital here would be reckless and destructive overall.

Very well said. I do sympathize with the OP, but aggressive cancers are just that..they aren't there, then they are. 7 weeks is a VERY long time for certain cancers. I don't think it's at all proper to vilify everyone previously involved.

[Polar Bear]

...They refused for us to send him to another hospital for a second opinion. They would only release him if we agreed to send him to rehab...

There is something seriously wrong here.

[graciegirl]

I am relieved to hear the OP got his father a diagnosis. Hopefully his father will receive state of the art treatment from highly skilled and experienced physicians and staff.

Brain tumor diagnosis can be hit or miss because brain tumors are relatively rare. My migraine prone 42 year old daughter was getting more headaches than usual and getting cranky. One morning she passed out while getting her dog water. This occurred during the holidays and her primary care physician was not in so a PA ordered blood tests which revealed nothing. A week later she had a seizure in the shower. This time her primary care physician was able to see her. Having recently diagnosed another patient with a brain tumor she sent my daughter for an MRI STAT. Life changed for all of us that day. The diagnosis was GBM. After surgical removal of all the tumor that could be safely taken out, radiation and chemo followed. After awhile another tumor was found in a follow up MRI. A gamma knife procedure and more chemo ensued. At present, she is tumor free. Mean life expectancy for GBM is about 15 months. My daughter is still alive after 40 months. I attribute it to the high quality medical care she has received and continues to obtain as well as lots of prayers from many caring people..

Her initial MRI showed the tumor which was hard to miss, about the size of a 60 watt incandescent light bulb. Her bimonthly followup MRIs are done on very high resolution (expensive) equipment. We participate in a brain tumor support group and have discovered that some patients have had very small tumors, even clusters of them. Such tumors may be hard to pick up using a typical MRI device. When her second tumor was discovered her world class neurosurgeon did not see it until after a second MRI showed it. He went back and found a hardly noticeable pinhead sized image in the prior MRI. Few regional hospitals are equipped or staffed to deal with brain tumors. I am happy to hear the OP got his father to a medical facility equipped to diagnose and treat his father's tumor.

Your daughter is in our prayers as are you. Sometimes we forget the stress and challenges others around us face.

[manaboutown]

Your daughter is in our prayers as are you. Sometimes we forget the stress and challenges others around us face.

Thank you Gracie.

[John_W]

I played 18 holes of golf two weeks ago Wednesday and Thursday the next day I went to the gym like normal but I started to get a sore throat. The next day after that was Friday, two weeks ago today I felt even worse so I stayed home from the gym. Since I had an already scheduled appt with my VA doctor on Monday I figured I would just wait until then get get medical advice.

On Monday when I saw my doctor I explained I felt very bad and was coughing so much, the nurse went and got me a mask. He listed to my chest and said, you have some bronchitis and here's a prescription for a 5 day Z-pak, it will knock it out of you by Friday.

On Friday I could barely get out of bed and I had taken all the pills. I called my Medicare doctor at Pinellas and they said come in today, which I did. They sent me for a chest x-ray, which indicated I had pneumonia, for which I had just gotten a vaccine last summer.

Anyway, they gave me an anti-biotic injection right then and some strong anti-biotic pills for 10 days. Today one week later seeing my Medicare doctor I am about 90% improved, just some shortness of breath. The first week when I was just on the Z-pak I couldn't eat or sleep, dropped about 10 pounds, which I don't have to spare. A second opinion saved me a lot of suffering.

[CritterLover]

Exactly, John W. We have to be our own advocate when it comes to our health. You can believe that if it doesn't sit right/sound right/feel right, I'm going to speak up. I'll end up being one of "those" old ladies, but I can live with that!

[NYGUY]

It is always true that you have to be your own medical advocate and research and question everything you are told. That is especially true when you live in a rural area such as ours that does not attract the best and the brightest.

[Madelaine Amee]

I sympathize with you, but from experience I would caution about saying the doctors at UNC Chapel Hill made their diagnosis solely on the MRI done in TV several weeks before getting there. My experience is that the teaching-research hospital probably did its own MRI at that point, and used the prior one from TV as a comparison. Many people don't realize that some forms of common cancers are far more aggressive in growing and spreading than others. Likewise, many people don't realize that not all types of growths are consistently visible in all the given imaging.

It could be that what did not show on the MRI here grew unusually fast in those couple of weeks. If that was the case, condemning the neurologist and entire hospital here would be reckless and destructive overall.

Unfortunately, I have had recent confirmation of how true this one sentence is. My brother was diagnosed approximately a year ago with a very slow growing brain tumor, 11 months after the first diagnosis and during a routine MRI, he was told that his tumor was now classified as a glioblastoma which is deadly and was rapidly taking over the brain. He was immediately placed under hospice care and did not last a month. His wife is having a very difficult time dealing with these two different diagnosis along with the loss of her beloved husband. She also was told that brain tumors can and do change overnight.

[Erika]

I played 18 holes of golf two weeks ago Wednesday and Thursday the next day I went to the gym like normal but I started to get a sore throat. The next day after that was Friday, two weeks ago today I felt even worse so I stayed home from the gym. Since I had an already scheduled appt with my VA doctor on Monday I figured I would just wait until then get get medical advice.

On Monday when I saw my doctor I explained I felt very bad and was coughing so much, the nurse went and got me a mask. He listed to my chest and said, you have some bronchitis and here's a prescription for a 5 day Z-pak, it will knock it out of you by Friday.

On Friday I could barely get out of bed and I had taken all the pills. I called my Medicare doctor at Pinellas and they said come in today, which I did. They sent me for a chest x-ray, which indicated I had pneumonia, for which I had just gotten a vaccine last summer.

Anyway, they gave me an anti-biotic injection right then and some strong anti-biotic pills for 10 days. Today one week later seeing my Medicare doctor I am about 90% improved, just some shortness of breath. The first week when I was just on the Z-pak I couldn't eat or sleep, dropped about 10 pounds, which I don't have to spare. A second opinion saved me a lot of suffering.

I always enjoy reading your very helpful tips and suggestions. I hope you experience a full recovery soon and that you enjoy working on putting back the lost pounds.

[dewilson58]

Health is a Blessing.

[Raleighhawk]

I sympathize with you, but from experience I would caution about saying the doctors at UNC Chapel Hill made their diagnosis solely on the MRI done in TV several weeks before getting there. My experience is that the teaching-research hospital probably did its own MRI at that point, and used the prior one from TV as a comparison. Many people don't realize that some forms of common cancers are far more aggressive in growing and spreading than others. Likewise, many people don't realize that not all types of growths are consistently visible in all the given imaging.

It could be that what did not show on the MRI here grew unusually fast in those couple of weeks. If that was the case, condemning the neurologist and entire hospital here would be reckless and destructive overall.
I can assure you, that the UNC Hospital did not do another MRI and soley used the one provided by The Villages Hospital. That is the most frustrating thing about this entire episode.

[jflynn1]

That is a joke right. 1000 right 5 wrong is acceptable. ??????? Not in medicine

[Chatbrat]

Just like a pilot who lands 99% of the time

[OCsun]

I can assure you, that the UNC Hospital did not do another MRI and soley used the one provided by The Villages Hospital. That is the most frustrating thing about this entire episode.

I just want you to know that I believe you. I sincerely hope you and your family can focus on your family needs at this time.

Too much stress will take its toll on you and the entire family. Give yourself time to grieve then revisit your concerns at a later time. The facts will still be there. God Bless!

[outlaw]

When you lose your health, everything else really comes into perspective. At our ages, if you have your health, you are blessed.

[BobnBev]

Contact a good medical malpractice attorney, as well as the state medical review board. Hit them/him where it hurts.

[RickeyD]

Contact a good medical malpractice attorney, as well as the state medical review board. Hit them/him where it hurts.



I can't help but think. If it were an 8 year old child with the same symptoms, would the initial outcome and treatment be the same. Or, would they be more conscientious with the diagnosis.

[ConnieNonnie]

Please take advice from nnurse. My mom has been a Hospice Patient for 15 months.
I don't know what I would of done without them. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

[Cathy H]

when I was referred to Moffit in Tampa I wanted to have an initial MRI done at Lake Imaging at the Villages hospital campus but the Moffit docs would not accept an image from them, so I had it made at Moffit.

[goodtimesintv]

It seems like the radiologist who read the MRI and wrote the report here would be the one in question.