Where do I start? My thyroidectomy with Dr Horowitz where he was too arrogant to get the CAT scan…read moreI requested to see how invasive my thyroid extended under my sternum? The surgery, during which, he did not have the forethought (given he was not prepared for the extent the thyroid mass went behind the sternum-after all, he had'nt done his due diligence to do the CAT scan...)to have a thoracic surgeon on-call for the potential that a sternotomy (surgical procedure to cut open the chest and break through the sternum) might be necessary. So hours into my 2 hour surgery, Dr.. Horowitz realized he was in over his head. Luckily (not so much for me!) there was an inexperienced thoracic surgeon who he was relieved happened to be at St Peters and 'took over' the surgery. Dr Horowitz washed his hands of the surgical procedure at that point, and the inexperienced surgeon took over. When I continued to have issues swallowing after the surgery and FINALLY got the CAT scan I asked for, there was a "mass" behind my sternum that no-one could assure me was residual thyroid tissue. So I had to under-go ANOTHER surgery to remove the mass to determine what it was. Not only was it thyroid tissue, but it still had the cauterization the thoracic surgeon made when he realized he didn't have the experience to do a full sternotomy to get it out. Only no-one told me that, so I had to have another surgery. This surgery resulted in a blood clot to the major vein in my left arm (brachiocephalic) and in my left jugular vein, both of which have been completely obstructed and will always remain so. So for months on blood thinners, I worried that my blood clots would travel and kill me. And now, several years later, my left arm has had to establish collateral blood flow, but remains 2 inches bigger than right (fun to find clothes!). Not to mention the headaches every day. Yet I never sued, because I work in healthcare, and I understand people make mistakes.
So years later, I took my daughter to see another physician in this group (after all, TWO couldn't be so incompetent...) and Dr. Kaplan performed surgery on my daughter's sinuses. The result of that surgery? A nose bleed that they were not able to resolve, resulted in massive blood loss, and having to have a procedure where they deliberately had to put blood clots in her system (and hope they went to the artery that the doctor went too close to! to stop the bleeding). So, I sat in the bathroom in the hospital, on my knees begging God for her life....either from bleeding to death or from stroke or heart attach because the clots would go to the wrong area.
I recall the bleeding being so bad at the follow up emergency surgical appointment we had to make, that Dr Kaplan came in with his starched/ironed white coat and had Laura put her head back (I said she can't breathe from the blood going down her throat that way, but he insisted) and how she coughed as the blood poured down her throat, and how the room and his nice white coat was covered in blood before the end of the visit.
Now he wants to sue my daughter for the $500 follow up visit for fixing the mess HE made? I am speechless. No, I take that back. I am only JUST beginning to speak...
