QuestionAbout 6 months ago my wife broke her knee. She was admitted to the hospital and needed to wait a week for the swelling to go down around her knee before surgery. The operation was a success and she is much better now. However, 3 days into her hospital stay she started to hallucinate and experienced vertigo. We thought this was very odd but the doctors didn't really know what was causing it. These symptoms went away a few days later just before surgery but this has troubled my wife and I a great deal in retrospect.
The other day she received an itemized bill from the hospital.
According to the billing dates, on her third day in the hospital they started her on Haloperidol, 5 mgs. I've done some research on this drug and from what I understand it's given to mental patients not people suffering from severe pain! Of course she was hallucinating and experiencing vertigo on a horrible drug like that. Can you tell me why they would prescribe Haloperidol instead of Percocet or Morphine? For three days I didn't recognize my wife's behavior and was worried something really was wrong with her! Now I know it was because of the drugs they had her taking! What's worse is everybody just thought she was nuts. They brought in specialists and performed expensive tests. They had to have known it was the Haldol. I'm furious at the medical staff for doing that to her. Is this how doctors treat people in pain? Give them antipsychotic drugs? What can I do? This has to be wrong.
Thank you for your time.
AnswerQuite often the combination of pain and strong narcotics given for the pain can cause people to hallucinate or have unusual behavior. Antipsychotics like Haldol are used to help control hallucinations and make patients suffering from these types of symptoms more comfortable. I doubt the Haldol was prescribed for pain, but rather in reaction to your wife's unusual behavior.
The 'expensive' tests were likely done to see if there were any other causes for your wife's hallucinations. For instance, if she fell and broke her knee, but also injured her head and the doctors didn't realize this initially, they might order a CT scan of the head when she began acting strangly. They probably also did a fair amount of blood tests to look for other more subtle abnormalities in her chemistry. I imagine the specialist may have been either an internal medicine physician, neurologist, or psychiatrist, depending on the size of your hospital. From what you've told me, I would worry if they DIDN'T order tests and call in the specialist. In fact, using the Haldol to help control and make your wife more comfortable may have actually averted further injury. For instance, it's not uncommon for patients that are confused to try and get out of bed and walk. In your wife's state, she likely would have injured herself again, or more severely.
I am not necessarily defending the hospital or doctors, since I don't have all the information. Similarly, you may not have all the information, either. Communication between patient, family, and physician is critical, and it sounds as if communication with you during your wife's care was lacking. This is an issue, and I can sympathize with you (my wife was also hospitalized for a serious, life threatening surgery some years ago). When one's loved one is injured and ill, it is often difficult to come up with the right questions, we are too often worried about our loved ones.
Here is my suggestion:
Contact the complaint department of the hospital or the chief of staff of the hospital and lodge a complaint. In all hospitals there is a formal system for review and evaluation of all medical complaints. At the very least, further communication with the physician who cared for your wife may help clarify what was done. Obviously, the best time to question is at the time of treatment, however, you had more on your mind at that point. Now that the dust has settled, its worth your review.
My $0.02
