Quote:
Originally Posted by Dubious
While I feel sad that all of this has led to such an awful outcome, one should not throw the baby out with the bath water!
In over 20 years of clinical practice, I oversaw and sent out numerous patients when indicated for various types of spinal ESI's. They were always done by very reputable PM docs in the area. There were and are a few unscrupulous ones who most referers were aware of, so we just stayed away from them.
In my experience, those whom I sent to one of the "good guys," at best were helped tremendously and at at worst, had no relief. A couple here and there (rare) had temporary complications of an "epidural headache" but they were carefully followed up and resolved within a week or two. On the other hand, the "bad boys" were known for various serious failures and complications. One of the worst ones was a patient who had too many discograms, one of which was septic and because it was work comp, went undiagnosed for 6 months. Not pretty.
So I guess my thought is that one should exhaust all conservative efforts to address their spinal pain issues before progressing to ESI or surgery with the understanding that if you go the latter two routes, you have made a thoughtful and educated decision so that if something goes wrong, while that would not be okay, at least you weighed the risks! ESI's DO help an awful lot of people....unfortunately some will get hurt in the process!
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I truly do understand they have their place in medical treatment. Where I am now it is all the rage, and all they are looking to do and acting like it is a cure all. Then when you do subside and have them done and they DON'T work for you all the sudden you're the bad guy! The last clinic I was "supposed" to get an injection from told me they didn't have an issue with the batch they were using. 3 people have died this week from that clinic that I decided against the shot(s)