Helping others

This post repeats a lot of what I have posted on the Internet, outside of this blog. I’ve been meaning to add this here for a while. I’m not going to pretend I’m some kind of expert on any of this; it’s just based on what I have seen and experienced.



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Bellamoore on MMH - working with PS?

I believe I found out that someone working with plastic surgeon(s) had created a blog about a year ago in July, 2010 named

http://myrollindanielmdexperience.blogspot.com

i.e., extremely similar in name to this blog. This blog was posted several times on the Make Me Heal rhinoplasty board by a poster with the username Bellamoore.


If I was right, I think it is odd that Bellamoore posted for a whole year on Make Me Heal, heavily promoting Dr. Daniel in nearly every post, without mentioning her affiliation. This other blog was also posted on two doctor ratings sites that I am aware of: RateMDs.com and the doctor ratings section of Make Me Heal.


I posted on 6/17/11 about what I had found on Make Me Heal.

Update 6/27/11: The Make Me Heal poster Bellamoore's blog has been removed from Blogspot since my initial post about this topic, from what I can see. Also, some of her posts at Make Me Heal have been edited.

Update 7/14/11: provisional edit based on talks in progress; also because the other blog was taken down.

The other surgeon, consent forms, and trust

Pics:http://www.flickr.com/photos/53706952@N04/

http://s776.photobucket.com/home/m130nose


Why did things go like they did in my case with this great surgeon? I wish I knew.

-assistants and observers. The consent form I signed at Dr. Rollin Daniel’s allowed for assistants and observers. I found out the name of the other surgeon who was there several months afterwards.

The Newport Beach Surgery Center and this doctor have both assured me that he or she only observed my procedure so as to learn from a great surgeon. UC Irvine has observerships so that new doctors can learn from experienced ones. They also said something about UCI PS residents working at the NBSC. Maybe I am not understanding something, because I thought the NBSC was private.

[edited 7/26-28/10 per request. But did the presence of the other doctor affect things? Like, if they suspected I might cancel based on all my preop calls to the office, is that why the thing with Dr Topkis happened, so they wouldn't lose face? Was there a fee involved? Why did somebody say, "why is it breathing like that?" as I came around?]


- secondary nasal surgery form: the line about paying over and over again. It’s at the bottom of the form, under “third.” Dr Daniel told me before the primary that I would only pay once. So, after I had signed that form saying I was financially responsible for “any subsequent surgery,” (and was fool enough to pay another $3k) what would his financial incentive be to do a good job?


-the word “possible”. The description of my surgeries starts off, cosmetic/ functional septorhinoplasty with possible this possible that, etc. At my revision preop Dr Daniel stated directly to me that he would do a certain thing… and then it didn’t happen.

He said to my face, “as far as your turbinates, I’m going to go ahead and outfracture those”. But the form said that was possible. And it didn’t get done. I think I am up to 3 doctors now who have confirmed this.

That was supposed to be the main goal of my revision, btw, to fix my breathing. My breathing still sucks. I sit here sometimes pulling sideways on my cheek to open my breathing. This is called the “Cottle sign,” and when I said that to Dr Daniel he said, “don’t know too much.”

This is an amazingly talented, world-renowned plastic surgeon, and I truly hope that others have a better experience than I did. As I posted on MMH, he has had thousands of happy patients, and I wish I could have been one of them.

RateMDs ratings - Drs. Daniel and Topkis

http://www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/38174/Dr-Rollin-K.-Daniel-NEWPORT-BEACH-CA.html

1 3 1 1

"Dr. Daniel did my primary and revision. Another surgeon was at my revision who I never met, but UCI has a program to allow observers at NBSC. Dr Daniel didn’t talk to me after the 45-minute revision. He didn’t outfracture my turbinates like he said he would at the revision preop. I STILL have the breathing problem from the primary. And I paid another $3k! See my review for Dr Jeff Topkis. I wish I had run like 12/4 did. I am editing this as I learn more about what happened to me. I just want to know why they did what they did.
Pics: http://s776.photobucket.com/home/m130nose
Blog: http://myrollindanielexperience.blogspot.com/"


[edited after I spoke to the other doctor and UCI]


http://www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/118145/Dr-Jeff-Topkis-NEWPORT-BEACH-CA.html

3 3 1 1

"Watch him carefully. I saw Dr. Topkis fuss with my IV pole, running a syringe barrel along the palm of his left hand (back of his hand to the nurses, palm towards me) with the tip of his middle finger on the pole and inject something in the side of my tube. It could have been Versed. This was BEFORE I could talk to Dr Rollin Daniel, and I was thinking of cancelling. I saw Topkis look around, and when the nurse Denise returned he snapped at her to ask if she’d run the antibiotics when a bubble of air went into me. I saw him take the syringe off which probably caused the bubble, then he put it back on. I wish I could have cancelled and left, but I wasn’t aware enough. I don’t know if Daniel told him to do this. I had wanted Dr Soni again, but Amy at Dr Daniel’s office discouraged me from requesting her. Lesson learned: don’t leave anything major to discuss on surgery day. Also don’t let T pull the gown off one arm before starting the IV unless you are an exhibitionist- m130"

Two tiers and red flags

Pics: http://s776.photobucket.com/home/m130nose



It SEEMS to me that Dr Rollin Daniel has two tiers of service: some people get his A game, which can be the best there is, and other people don’t. Guess which category I was in. So here are what I THINK are red flags I had with him:

- him or his staff being rude. You’ll notice his happy patients are, for the most part, perplexed when they hear about him being mean. Some of his happy patients call him “direct.” “Your nose would work in Oklahoma!” “You have to live with it!” “How tall are you?” (asked several times, I believe to shut me up) “Are you sure you have the same parents?” (said about my sister). Judy holding the check up to my face and saying, “is this good?” It’s probably better to sass back at him rather than taking it like I did.

- his office staff asking me, “have any children?" "are you working, [name]?" at the revision preop, right at the end. As I found out later, this is a good gauge for someone’s value in a lawsuit, because the first question attorneys ask is, “what are your economic damages?” MAJOR, major red flag.

-him deliberately taking a smiling photo of me. This was after I figured out the “goal” problem, so I don’t know if they were trying to get “proof” I wasn’t upset. To get the smile, Dr Daniel was super nice to me for the first time at that visit, and made a funny comment about camera technology since his regular camera was broken.

- not taking pictures of the side where he was going to do work.

- office staff distracting me with conversation as I tried to read and sign the forms (I’ll talk about this more when I talk about his consent forms).

- him (I believe; he denied it) getting my “goal” wrong, but there’s no way to figure this out until the 1-year appointment when he asks point blank, “do you think you look better? Do you think [your goal was reached]?” The best thing to do would be to ask what he has down as your goal ASAP, because that is what he will start each postop visit with. “Oh, you look [like you reached your goal].” His office girls ask you this when you first call, but they don’t use the word “goal.” I believe they wrote down something that I never said, and misinterpreted what I DID say, which screwed everything up.

I believe they got my “goal” wrong which really led to all of this, because if I had had that goal it would have been weird and “borderline” as he said. He said my defect was small compared to my concern, and that I was borderline, and showed me a little chart he drew. He showed it to my sister at the next pre-op appointment as well.

-him calling me “borderline”. As I found out later, this is a MEGA bad term in medicine. It basically means NUTS. At the time, I thought it just meant I was OK looking enough, and a nose job wouldn’t do too much. I seriously shake my head at how ignorant and trusting I was. Why would he accept a patient who truly was borderline?

-being asked to draw my own picture. I’m not actually sure if there is a correlation here. But HE should draw your picture. He’s the pro, not you.

- he seemed very reluctant to fix the problems from the primary. At my one year appointment, he had those blue hair clips on me for photos when I piped up about my breathing problem from the primary. He took a look inside my nose and said, “I really wish I hadn’t looked in there.” This should have been a big clue to me that he was not happy about going in there again.

-he asked me for another large fee for the revision. He told me before the primary that I would only pay once. He also asked if I had insurance. I paid an extra $3k because I thought it would make him finally be “nice” to me and do a good job. Geez, how stupid was I.

Actually, this all is like a public service to HIM, so he only works on patients he likes. I know he turns people away, so this could be a self-screening thing for other “borderline” patients.

As I posted on MMH, I went to him because I wanted a good result. I never thought I'd be in this situation, because I know how great he was. It is not a fun place to be. :-(

Why?

Let me first say that before I figured out what happened at my revision, I felt Dr. Rollin Daniel was a great surgeon. I still think he is great for some people. I'm just not one of them.

This is more of a placeholder than anything else. I did not have a good experience or outcome. If I ever post photos, they will be at http://s776.photobucket.com/home/m130nose

My username on Make Me Heal was m130, if you want to look for my posts. There was a glitch where I couldn't log in and thought I had been banned. It looks like I changed my username to ml30 (with an L).

Coincidentally, Dr. Daniel started advertising on MMH at the same time (late June, 2010), when to my knowledge he had never advertised anywhere before in his long career.

I also posted on Miss J's forum, and on RateMDs with the same username; mostly comments to Dr. Daniel's ratings.

The situation is unfortunate. I would much rather have gone on with my life in peace.