This is a short telling of the current situation that I have been having to deal with. The story will start first when I had injured the very tip of my middle finger on my left hand, (small sliver that would not heal or get better). I attended my GP at the time and my most recent medical history was brought up (occlusion in right femoral). My GP started to send me for a series of tests and consultations with many doctors and specialists. On Dec 8 2006, I attended SMH for what I was told was going to be only an echocardiogram. During the echocardiogram it was decided by someone (technician maybe?) to suggest I receive a BUBBLE STUDY at the same time. This first test was done by Dr Cheung who admits to being the doctor on call that day at the hospital. When he finished the test he expressed to me that there was a defect in my heart and he referred to it has a 'hole in my heart wall'. With this information I left the hospital, in a state of concern and questions. The very next day I went to my GP's office (Dr. Malcolm Rondeau) to discuss the results as I was worried about being very ill. (Side note I had already expressed to Dr. Rondeau that I was involved in a Law suit with Pfizer regarding Celebrex, and he had said a strange comment regarding it being exciting to be involved with that) It was noted to me that the test results were not forwarded in the report, only results of the echo part were sent. When I explained to Dr. Rondeau this other test was done he didn't seem too concerned about the missing results and said he would 'LOOK INTO IT'. Due to my worry and my personality, this response did not satisfy me, so I went home and established contact with Dr. Cheung myself. One of the very first things that heavily concerned me was that Dr. Cheung denied completely that he performed the test on me (this being just 1 day after receiving the test) After continuous phone calls to the administration of the hospital, (because I knew I had the test done and exactly what the Dr. had said to me) it was finally admitted that the test was done but the images were apparently not stored in the computer. With a bubble test they have to inject you with a specific saline solution, and only after my perseverance did they find my name on a saline draw list on the day of my performed test. The next thing I did was call the maker of the echo machine (General Electric), they expressed to me the extreme unlikelihood of this scenario. Everyone involved started to close their doors on me. Going so far as dropping me as a patient. May I remind you that I was still very sick. I then attended to Dr. French, who eventually ended up after much pain and waiting, having to amputate the tip of my middle finger, with the consideration that I may lose the entire thing. This is what caused me to file my small claims suit. I had seen it as my only way to maybe force them to answer some of my frustrating questions that were being avoided by the involved doctors. Of course only more questions were raised when you actually look at the individual replies that were filed. After appearing in the SURREY LEADER they were more or less forcing me to have another test. This itself was anxiety ridden because they choose SMH for the facility to redo the procedure. You can see my apprehension I'm sure. In early May (sorry the exact date will be on the test report) I, along with a friend of mine, attended the hospital to have the test done. My friend came equipped with a video camera and this was known and explained to everyone in attendance. There were many official people there at the hospital, such as top admin people from FHA. So needless to say this (the second test) was done with my friend recording it in plain view. At one point my friend was right over the shoulder of the tech's (Dave) shoulder to get a good shot of the test screen. To my knowledge the echo part went accordingly and then came time for Dr. Pearce to come in and do the bubble study part of the test. One thing about this, is that they had 2 bottles of saline ready, this was not the case in either the first test nor at the last test in Washington. When the first saline bottle was administered for some reason they blacked out the video screen so that we couldn't get a picture on our recording device (clearly visible on my video) then the Dr. set up to do the test again, however, he doesn't seem to agitate the saline solution as well as he did in the first test. The second vial of saline was injected and images flashed across the screen then he adamantly said that there was no sign of ANY PFO there. You can imagine that this set me off in a bad way and a lot of loud speaking took place between me and Dr. Pearce. I told him I knew he was lying and that this wasn't the end. It was also known that I had brought with me a brand new pack of the same discs the hospital uses to store information, and they were to provide me with a copy of the continuous stream test that they had recorded on their equipment. Then the officials literally escorted me out of the hospital. However, again the disc they gave me, was blank. Bringing this up to recent; on Sept 30/08 I went to a hospital in Washington and had the echo and bubble study test done again. This hospital was unaware of any of my medical history or issues. It was noticed almost immediately that I had a PFO. I will forward the test report which has been sent to my current GP. Actually, because of the severity of my PFO, the doctor in the states felt it necessary to personally call my current GP the next day and express his concern for the safety of myself because the hole is actually one of the larger and more profound ones he has ever seen. I've known for a long time that things just weren't right, I just didn't really think it was this WRONG.

Timothy Moorley
timmoorley@hotmail.com
604-715-0904