‘And now I’m stuck with a chronic illness for the rest of my life’: Patient regrets getting surgery she ‘didn’t need’ after doctor talked her into it
Medical malpractice is all too common, with tens of thousands of Americans getting unnecessary surgeries every year. While 20,000 Americans file medical malpractice lawsuits every year, justice can be difficult to achieve. Only half of medical malpractice suits filed go to trial, and less than 5% of them end with a verdict. Perhaps that is why TikTok has become a forum for people affected by medical malpractice. In a viral video, TikToker Mags (@maggiethemags) alleged she was left with a chronic illness after a doctor gave her an unnecessary surgery.
"I'm gonna tell you the story of how a doctor lied to me and convinced me to get a surgery that I didn't need, and now I'm stuck with a chronic illness for the rest of my life," she said. Mags then went on to say she's had "chronic acid reflux" since she was a baby, and it got "severely worse" to the point where prescription medication wasn't enough to stop it. This, she said, led to her being referred to a specialist who was "super nice" at first and informed her that her throat had a 100% chance of becoming precancerous unless she had the surgery.
Red flags, she continued, started to emerge on the day of the surgery, with the doctor arriving two hours late while she was left waiting on an IV. "And then, after my surgery, he refused to come and speak to me or my mother," she said. "We only got to speak to a nurse, so I actually never saw him again after my consultation. … He refuses to see me, so that should be telling in itself."
Mags said after the surgery, which was done to tighten her esophagus, she was meant to be on a liquid diet for two weeks before she was able to start introducing soft foods to her diet. "I ended up having to be on a liquid diet for six months," she said. "I lost 40 pounds. I was already underweight, so that was really bad. I looked decrepit; I looked disgusting. I was so insecure, and I was in hell because I couldn't eat, so [I was] starving all the time."
"He ended up making the hole too small," she added. "So I just could not swallow absolutely anything." Mags said it was only when she "dry heaved enough to the point that [she] ripped [her] stitches open and so then [she] could swallow food again" that things started to improve.
"Before this surgery, my only stomach issue I ever had was acid reflux," she said. "But after the surgery, I have had, like, chronic insufferable stomach issues ever since [like] diarrhea, nausea. Every time I eat, I get cold sweats and almost pass out. Sometimes, I do pass out after I eat even something really small."
@maggiethemags Just needed to rant about this to someome because i feel bad complaining to my gamily and friends so much lol
♬ original sound - mags :)
Mags said the worst part was when, upon seeing another specialist, she was told that she was never precancerous and never needed the surgery in the first place.
"He just wanted to make money," she concluded. "Undoing the surgery wouldn't help me, and I just kind of had to live with the symptoms now."
According to other viewers, complications from this kind of surgery are more widespread than you think. "Every person I’ve met who’s had this surgery has had issues after," one commenter said.
"My GI doc wants me to get this surgery and 'Ive only heard bad things about," another echoed.
While a third remarked: "I was told I needed this surgery. After doing a lot of research I decided not to do it."
Mags didn't immediately respond to the Daily Dot's request for comment via Instagram direct message.
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