Relleta's Complaint Letter to St. Luke's

Hello again!

Below is my friend's story. It's actually the letter of complaint she submitted to St. Luke's after the incident.

Kristina T. Subido protransph@yahoo.com

LETTER OF COMPLAINT TO ST. LUKE'S
SENT BY JOSEFINA DELA CRUZ RELLETA

Good day.

I would like to bring to your attention my complaint regarding the medication and diagnosis that was given to me by doctor Raymond Vincent Jurilla.

I went to his clinic to complain about my ear, which seemed to be clogged. I also gave him a brief history of what happened. I told him, almost 2 weeks before I came to see him, I was traveling uphill on a zigzag road and I felt so dizzy that time. I also felt sensation of some pressure in my ears, somewhat same as descending and ascending in an airplane. I never experienced being that dizzy before. Thinking that something maybe wrong with my cochlea, because I could not keep my balance, I decided to see an ear specialist last October 2. Doctor Jurilla was the ear specialist on duty that day. He requested that I should go for 3 tests: pure Tone Audiometry, Speech Audiometry (Oct 5)and VNG (Oct 8). I had all those tests there at St. Luke’s.

I went for my Audiometric Examination, the result of the examination was Mild Sensorineural hearing Loss; while the conclusion for my VNG was suggestive of positional vertigo.

On Ocotber 11, Dr Jurilla said, I have Meniere's Disease and Positional Vertigo, and prescribed the following: LASIX, duxaril and vit b-12. I took all the above that same day; but I took Lasix around early evening, since i wanted to sleep early that night. He said I should take it at bedtime. That’s all he said. After 2 hours of taking Lazix, I felt some dizziness and discomfort. I went to the bathroom to urinate and pass stool, but immediately after going to toilet , I felt so weak, I was sweating cold, and my world seemed to turn around, my body was cold, I was fainting. My son carried me, as I could not walk anymore. He made me sit down to relax, but I knew something really bad was happening to me after taking Lazix. My son took my BP and found that it had tremendously gone down to 70 and I had a hard time breathing. After 2 hours, I had another attack. This made me decide go to a hospital.

At the emergency room, the attendant and nurse took my ECG..there was T-wave, she said. I had Urinalisys, random blood sugar test, CBC tests. I requested to be allowed home the following day so I can better rest in my house.

After 4 days, I went to see an Internist doctor, who requested that I should see another Ear doctor and a Cardiospecialist on that same day and I did. This time, the Ear specialist was able to give a better diagnosis of my problem. She did endoscopy on my nose, looked at my ears, throat and found the reason. It was my sinus being clogged which affected my ears and was triggered when I was going uphill that time. AS SIMPLE AS THAT! And not Meniere's disease, as Dr Jurilla was saying. She prescribed medication and I am thankful that my ears feel better, though my body still has to recover.

Dr Jurilla, did not even ask me about my Blood Pressure, neither took time to get my BP before prescribing Lasix. I found out later that this will cause BP to fall. My normal BP is 100/70.

When I took Lazix, I had hypotension, and my sugar went to 165, I had hyperglycemia, and had difficulty of breathing. In other words, my condition worsened.

I have no intention to file case against the doctor. I just want to bring this to your attention and properly address the issue and concern.

People in the medical profession should try to be more dedicated in treating their patients. They are dealing with lives and not commodities. I hope we can do away with too much commercialism and politics in this field, rather more dedication and sincerity to serve.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Josefina dela Cruz Relleta