Dr. Peter K Dempsey is a neurosurgeon at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, MA. I was a victim of medical malpractice at the hands of this doctor in 1995. This is the first time I've been able to write about what happened. I sued this doctor and learned that trials are not about justice, but who has the better attorney. In other words, it's all about attorney performance.
Dr. Dempsey was supposed to do a nerve and muscle biopsy, as ordered by a neurologist named Dr. Palmer. The procedure involves cutting a piece of the sural nerve and some muscle. the sural nerve is not a critical nerve. Even some general surgeons have done it. Dr. Dempsey didn't know how to find this nerve. He was not able to find it in medical school. So he cut a different nerve, the superficial peroneal, which is the main sensory nerve to the foot. He did NOT obtain informed consent from me to change nerves. It was not on the consent form. He manipulated me into thinking he was going ahead as planned.
Neither Dr. Palmer or Dr. Peter K Dempsey informed me that doing a nerve biopsy can cause permanent nerve pain. Again, this was NOT on the consent form. Had I known that this procedure could cause permanent nerve pain, I NEVER would have agreed to it. It turned out that 50 tests on the nerve and muscle tissue at The Mayo Clinic were negative. The test turned up nothing. They had been fishing for an explanation for symptoms that didn't exist. It turned out that Dr. Palmer had even written in his medical notes that he didn't think I had the condition they thought I might have.
As a result of the procedure, I developed a syndrome called RSD (known in Europe as CRPS). I have had severe continuous nerve pain since that day. He changed my life forever. Complex nerve pain is not like muscle or tendon pain. It does not respond to normal pain killers. You get shooting stinging pain, tingling, coldness, spasms, throbbing pain and more. In my case, I never again could take a brisk walk. What happens is that your sympathetic nerve is overfiring, and your brain is sending and receiving incorrect messages. So if I stand in place for more than a few minutes, my brain sends and receives a message that I've been standing for a very long time, and sends pain. The same thing happens with walking and bending. I'm not in a wheelchair, thank goodness. There are patients with RSD who can't even get out of bed.
Very few doctors have ever heard of this condition because it's not taught in medical school in the US. It's one of 2000 conditions classified as rare disorders, or orphan diseases. There are a lot of people who have it, but never get diagnosed with it. There's no single test for it. You just have to know the symptoms, which most people don't. The Harvard Hospitals in Boston mistreated me for 5 years, making the condition much worse. By the time I found an RSD specialist, the best he could do was to stabilize me. I was thankful for that. It's critical to have the proper treatment within 6 months before it's imprinted in the brain.
The problem is that the chemicals or neurotransmitters in your spinal column and brain are changed, and modern medicine can't restore the normal balance. During the years I saw the RSD specialist, I met patients from all over the US and outside the US. I met patients who, taken in sum, had been treated at the top 20 hospitals in the US. All the patients had the same exact incorrect treatments that made them worse. Mainstream medicine can't treat this illness.
Dr Peter K Demsey and Dr. Palmer changed and ruined my life forever.
I had a trial in 1997. I was up against AIG. Remember AIG, the financial institution that was too big to fail? AIG had unlimited resources to buy the very best attorney and import a neurosurgeon who would commit perjury for the right price. I had limited resources. Only 5% of medical malpractice plaintiffs who go court win in MA. Most attorneys won't take your case unless you're in a wheel chair or dead.
Dr. Dempsey and the nurses all changed their story from their depositions. All three said that their memory had improved as the reason. Anyone knows that your memory for events gets worse as time goes on. It was obvious that the nurses had been threatened with losing their jobs. Even the bailiff told my attorney that it was an obvious conspiracy.
Dr. Dempsey was asked by my attorney if he "thought about the consequences of a surgical procedure on the patient". Amazingly, his answer was NO. His job was to do the operation. He didn't care about the effects on the patient. The jury heard him say that. His callousness was so obvious. Jurors are reluctant to convict doctors because they don't want to believe that horrible things could happen to them. And again, the outcome of a trial is so dependent on your attorney's performance and the witnesses you can afford. It's all about money.
The smooth attorney for Dr. Dempsey gave a summation on the level of Barry Scheck. He could have had them believing anything he said. So I lost, and Dr. Peter K Dempsey got off totally free. He never had a pier review at the Lahey Clinic. Since then I know of at least one medical malpractice case that he settled in 2007 for an above average amount. It is a matter of record on a doctor review website. He is a patient's worst nightmare. He's everything you don't want in a doctor.
- ForTheRecord
