Surgeon asked me to use my SV during surgery.

[dllfo]

I don't get involved with surgery very often. Recently I was unfortunate enough to rupture the tendon on my right bicep. They were supposed to suture the muscle back to the bone about 7 hours ago. Operative term being "supposed to".

Instead of doing my surgery with a Respiratory Therapist available, someone decided my SV, with oxygen, would do fine. I was uncomfortable with it and told them so. The man with the most liability (Anesthesiologist) stopped the surgery. With my extensive medical problems, he would not, under any circumstances sedate me without full Respiratory back up systems and qualified personnel available. Well, DUH!!!! I thanked him and came home.

I will be rescheduled with the proper personnel there and I won't have to take my SV unit with me. This is a very modern hospital, but somehow I was shuffled off to a surgery center "on campus".

Anyone else asked to bring their machine in with them??? I don't remember being asked to do that before. Don't let them bully you into an unsafe situation. My Anesthesiologist sat down with me and started asking serious questions. After hearing how I sometimes stop breathing and won't start breathing on my own, he called it off. He also told me to be sure and type up my medical background for the next surgery in the main hospital.

Make them listen to you.

[ChelseaChestnut]

I recently had surgery and was told to bring my machine with me. I did, but since I am a newbie and had only used it for a short time, they decided not to use it on me.

[Scoutt]

I've been told to bring it with me for afterward, but never for the surgery.

[chunkyfrog]

IN SURGERY? Yikes!

[GTOJim]

My wife had a knee replacement, seems the hospital rules had changed, using your own CPAP is strictly forbidden. The hospital will supply a CPAP
if it is necessary.

So they the did, provided my wife with a non working CPAP, RT apologized stating it was the only one available. My wife had the non functioning hospital
provided CPAP in her room for her 4 day hospital stay. She has severe sleep apnea, her sleep study determined her AHI was in the 90's

I've asked more than one doc who I can contact regarding fighting this policy, every doc has responded by stating it's hospital policy, she can not use her own CPAP
in the hospital.

We live in a large city, it is a modern hospital. Prior to her next knee replacement I'm going to do my best to fight this policy.

[Julie]

DLLFO - The type of surgery you described may have been scheduled so that you get a certain type of short-acting anesthetic, milder and less sedating than 'general' as we think of it. Not that you wouldn't be knocked out, but not in the same way as you would for abdominal surgery, and it wouldn't take you as long to wake up afterward. In a case such as that (and there are many of them) they may feel that your back-up machine is more than adequate. I would talk to them about it before deciding someone's 'wrong'.

[Breathe Jimbo]

Good anesthesiologist!

[chunkyfrog]

To GTOjim: my husband would have smuggled my machine into the hospital and I would have used it WITHOUT permission, showing my initial sleep study to anyone who had a problem with it. Nurses usually have more sense than administrators/doctors.

[GTOJim]

To GTOjim: my husband would have smuggled my machine into the hospital and I would have used it WITHOUT permission, showing my initial sleep study to anyone who had a problem with it. Nurses usually have more sense than administrators/doctors.

In hindsight I should have done that. Unfortunately I am the type that normally follows the rules.

[dllfo]

Sutter Roseville Hospital told me I could not plug my wife's Respironics BiPAP Auto into their electrical system until an engineer approved it. Like you, I waited until about 8pm, no one showed, so I plugged it in and she used it that night. No one ever said a word about it.

But it is certainly better to be safe than sorry when it comes to hospital electrical grids. Up to a point. My wife has now lost over 70 pounds (2+ years doing it) and she does not need it all the time, or so she says.

[Janknitz]

So they the did, provided my wife with a non working CPAP, RT apologized stating it was the only one available. My wife had the non functioning hospital
provided CPAP in her room for her 4 day hospital stay.

What I'm dying to know is how much they BILLED her for the 4 days of nonfunctioning CPAP use???