UOAA Discussion Board

In relation to the Docs who understand Kock Pouch? and KP and BCIR surgeons threads in this section, it's sad to note that one of the two U.S. hospitals that performed the BCIR version of the Kock pouch is no longer doing BCIRs. It seems there was a scandal this past May in which Dr. Ernest Rehnke, the surgeon who did the BCIRs at Palms of Pasadena in St Petersburg FL, was reported for malpractice after one of his patients died. See news reports about this incident at https://www.abcactionnews.com/palms-of- ... n-jeopardy and https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/loca ... g-patients

Dr. Rehnke did other kinds of surgery besides BCIR, including bariatric (weight-loss) surgeries. The surgery resulting in the patient death this past May was a bariatric surgery. And it turns out that, since 2000, Dr. Rehnke's insurance paid out 16 malpractice claims, including 6 cases involving patient deaths. See a news report on one of those earlier cases at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/despite-mu ... racticing/ (that was a surgery for appendicitis). I don't know whether any of the 6 deaths occurred in BCIR surgeries.

At this point, it seems that Dr. Rehnke is no longer practicing and Palms of Pasadena is no longer in the BCIR business. Their former website at www.bcir.com displays text "This Website Is No Longer Active" and provides only some contact info for patients to obtain information. This leaves only one U.S. hospital, Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles, that still does the BCIR. See their website at www.bcirla.com

It's interesting to note that Palms of Pasadena was, in a sense, the hospital where the BCIR originated, as it's where the late Dr. William Barnett did most of his work in developing his modified version of the Kock pouch, and it was the first hospital with a surgical center ("continent ostomy center") devoted to the BCIR procedure. At the peak of BCIR popularity, there were 5 hospitals in the U.S. with continent ostomy centers. Now, there's only one – in Los Angeles.

There is more to the story of what happened at Palms of Pasadena Hospital last May that closed down one of only two hospitals in the USA where the BCIR surgery is performed. What really inflamed the matter was the news report of journalist Adam Walser that vilified Dr. Rehnke at the urging of the husband of the deceased bariatric patient. Unfortunately, Mr. Walser’s article failed to mention anything about Dr. Rehnke’s performance of the BCIR procedure and the widely acclaimed 18 bed BCIR unit at Palms of Pasadena Hospital that had been in operation for 31 years and provided thousands of people with a quality of life that they would never have had. As a result of the action at Palms, the health and happiness of hundreds of people had been put at risk and prevented some of them from receiving the medical care they so desperately need. In a subsequent article, Adam Walser disclosed that Palms of Pasadena Hospital had failed since 2015 to perform the biannual review of members of its medical staff as required by Florida regulations.

Over the following five months, a number of closed-door hearings and meetings were held at the hospital. Many of us in the BCIR Community wrote letters and sent emails in support of Dr. Rehnke and the BCIR Program at Palms that so significantly improved the quality of our lives. Although a number of us wanted to express ourselves in person at the hospital committee meeting, it was decided to prepare a composite video presentation of our testimonies. Unfortunately, our extensive stake in these proceedings was never allowed to be heard. Although the family of the deceased woman suffered a great loss, hundreds of others have become victims of this matter through no fault of their own. In shuttering the BCIR Program, Palms of Pasadena Hospital and its parent company, Hospital Corporation of America have failed through lack of transparency the communities they serve.

On a more positive note, Dr. Rehnke intends to approach other hospitals to become the new home of the BCIR program. He has the full support of the BCIR Community in his efforts. It should be noted that none of the actions against him involved the death of a BCIR patient.

There is an updated list of surgeons who do the BCIR and K pouch procedures that can be found at the Quality Life Association’s web site (www.qla-ostomy.org). This website also has a significant amount of information about these procedures.

I am truly sorry that there are patients needing BCIRs who are angry by reporting of Dr Ernest Rehnke's malptractice and many victims leading to the hospital closure of Palms at Pasadena for many other problems uncovered by reporting. My mother was operated on by Dr Rehnke in 2008, where she required 2 more emergency surgeries to repair the damage he did to her intestines and stomach. During her time in the hospital her kidneys shut down after a nurse made a mistake with giving her a dye without water, her lung collapsed and the other was half fluid filled, she got MRSA and VRE (which is even more resistant than MRSA) and until I demanded they call in someone about the infections, they were going to just let her die, saying they didn't know what else to do and would no let me take her to another hospital.

I am a normal person, not a lawyer, but my mom is all I have and she was being disregarded by everyone, especially Dr Rehnke. Mom has been in pain for 15 years because of the damage, 3 other surgeons (including one at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville) would not consider "fixing another surgeon's mistake". So we moved to Europe last year and 2 months ago a surgeon in a public hospital scheduled her, worked on her in surgery for 5 hours, and now mom is finally pain free after 15 years (!) thanks to the excellent health care here. And the bill was 250 euros... aout $270. Until the US "fixes" the licensing and insurance issues, others will die or live in pain if doctors like Rehnke are seen as "too valuable" because of one thing they do, sacrificng the lives, health and happiness of other patients. I am glad that awful hospital was closed. Please use your energy to ensure other surgeons take up the BCIR instead of "blaming" a reporter who certainly saved lives by only telling the truth, instead of putting the blame where it belongs, on the malpractice of Dr. Ernest Rehnke.

Thank you ABC Action News, CBS, and others who followed up on the reporting. There are many more of us out here who could not find a malpractice attorney to take our case due to the exhorbitant costs of using an expert in court which required a retainer of $100,000 thanks to political changes made in the law to punish attorneys. It punishes victims instead. Yes, there was definitely more to the story and there still is. Fortunately there will be no more victims of Rehnke.

I’m sorry to hear about your mom, but happy to hear her health was finally restored. I, too, received a BCIR from Dr. Rehnke (2013). He shouldn’t have accepted me bc I have Crohn’s, but they did bc I was in remission @ that time & I believe money was their motivation. I noticed while there, I was the only patient undergoing a new procedure while everyone else was there due to complications. 3 diff times, they thought I had Sepsis. They never gave me any imaging post op. 3 months after my surgery I was rushed to my local hospital w 3 abscess & a fistula. That’s when I 1st discovered that none of the local C-R surgeons in my part of FL are family w BCIRS or K-Pouches. I wasn’t traveling 3 hours back to him-EVER! When I discovered he lost his license due to wrongful death/medmal cases & the whole Unit & the hospital was closing I wasn’t surprised. His patients were told he retired, but I did some digging. I got thrown out of the Facebook group when I tried to do the honest & right thing by notifying the other patients about him. Do you know that some of them still swore by him? That he was kind to them, worked w them financially & saved their lives (in their opinions). They got indignant w me & as stated, the moderator removed me from the Group. Yeah, bc & that time they were trying to make it look like he retired. I wasn’t a legal asst for 20 years for naught. Additionally, he never had an apprentice or trained anyone else on how to care for, repair or create a BCIR so he left 100s of patients w/o any continuance of care many of who lived all over the US. He only cared about himself & money. I’ll never forget going to his office in person the evening bf my admission. Everything else was done via fax. I realized he mainly ran a bariatric surgery mill & my mom, aunt & I became extremely nervous, but I was headstrong not to spend the rest of my life w an ileostomy bag, especially @ such a young age. I completely agree with & understand you. Once again, I’m sorry to hear you had to go all the way to Europe for your mom’s care, but happy to hear that you were able to get it for her. Luckily, I had a fistula one other time that required major surgery & weeks of TPN. It was nowhere near my pouch & thank God it’s be running fine for the 10 1/2 years I’ve had it. I get it scoped every 3 years. My C-R surgeon that had done my J-Pouch is family w K-Pouches (just doesn’t create them) so he does the scopings & he operated on my fistulas too. You were right about other doctors not liking to fix other surgeons work. I was lucky by being his patient first & I explained to him when I found a way of not having to live w a bag, I jumped at it. I don’t fly. If I did, I would’ve gone to Mt Siani or Columbia Presbyterian in NY. There are 3 excellent BCIR surgeons there now. Good luck & Good Health

Gary, I am glad to learn that you were able to have a resolution to your medical problems and I hope that your pouch continues to give you a good quality of life for many years to come.

I read your post and feel compelled to respond and set the record straight. You were removed from the Facebook group for making an abusive and threatening post directed at me. What allegedly led you to make this post was your discovery that I had prepared a comprehensive written proposal to assist Dr. Rehnke in establishing a new continent ostomy center in the Tampa Bay area. Following your removal from the FB group, I sent you the following private message:

“While I agree with you wholeheartedly about freedom of speech, that right does not extend to making slanderous personal comments beyond the view of the two individuals involved. In being accepted to the private Facebook group involved, you agreed to abide by the group’s rules which are designed provide a safe and acceptable forum for members to converse about matters for which the group was established. Making slanderous statements and airing of personal grievances is strictly forbidden.”

I am well-informed about this subject matter and am an active participant in the continent ostomy community. While I take issue with some of the comments and assertions in the above post, I will refrain from responding to them.