HR Pulse - Spring 2008 - (Page 24) A Mission Born from Near-Tragedy Medically Induced Trauma Support Services By Anne Coulter would not have survived. But her family was traumatized; for weeks her husband cried every time he looked at her, and her children (ages 13, 12, and three at the time) all had different reactions. The idea that she nearly died was something Kenney could not confront on an emotional level at the time. Instead, she focused on her physical recovery and her family’s well-being. A Wall of Silence Over the course of her stay in the hospital, not one staff member referred to the traumatic incident that nearly took her life. She describes it as being “like the giant elephant in the room, lurking in the corner with no one daring to mention it.” She remembers thinking to herself, “Well, if no one is talking about it, maybe it isn’t such a big deal.” Kenney says her reaction is common. “We all deal with trauma differently. Most people shut down at first; the intense feelings tend to emerge later,” she explains. Little did Kenney know that Dr. Rick van Pelt, the anesthesiologist for her surgery, wanted to communicate with her and her family and take responsibility for what had happened, but hospital administrators and physician colleagues discouraged him from doing so out of fear of a lawsuit. He found himself isolated, unable to discuss the event even with his peers while everyone acted as if nothing unusual had occurred. The unspoken message was, “bad things happen in medicine; move on,” according to van Pelt. When she was discharged, Kenney was given instructions on how to care for her chest, but no one prepared her for the emotional impact an event like this would have on her or her family. van Pelt says he was “devastated” at the lost opportunity to talk with Kenney in person about what had happened. He was not willing to give up, however, on communicating with her on an emotional level. Soon after arriving home, she received a letter from van Pelt acknowledging the impact the trauma must have had on Kenney and her family and letting her know that the event had also affected him. He wrote that he was sorry for what had happened and promised to make himself 24 HR Pulse Spring 2008 W hen she was headed for the operating room that November day in 1999 for a total ankle replacement, Linda Kenney thought it would be just “another surgery.” Born with bilateral club feet, the 37-year-old mother of three had already endured 19 operations in her lifetime. But this one turned out to be anything but routine. Within minutes after receiving nerve block, Kenney had a grand mal seizure, followed by full cardiac arrest. When the medical team was unable to restart her heart, they cracked open her chest and hooked her up to a cardio pulmonary bypass machine. Fortunately, she responded well to the bypass and was eventually taken to the cardiac intensive care unit to recover. When she realized what had happened, Kenney was grateful to be alive and felt extremely fortunate because she knew that most people
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