I cannot stand for an length of time or carry groceries. I can no longer participate in sexual relations or wear jeans. My abdomen is distorted with my intestines pushing forward on my left side and my quarter-sized belly button off to the right. After I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was encouraged by the leader of a local breast cancer support group to go to Moffitt.

At Moffitt, Dr. Cox pressured me during a 2 hr. session to agree to see a plastic surgeon. Dr. Cox ignored my objections and made an appointment with Dr. Kearney at Moffitt. Dr. Kearney pinched my nipple, photographed my breasts, and told me no details of reconstruction. Dr. Kearney scheduled me for surgery without my knowledge or consent.

I went back to Moffitt for a second opinion from Dr. Wells. She said she had no photos of a completed Tram Flap. Dr. Wells neglected to inquire about my chronic bowel and back problems, which should have disqualified me from the Tram. Dr. Wells neglected to enlighten me about complications such as hernias. Dr. Wells only gave me the name of a satisfied patient whose medical condition was different from mine. Dr. Wells did not give me a consent form until minutes before the operation. That generic form listed none of the complications specific to the Tram.

Dr. Wells severed the wrong muscle, taking it from the same side as the reconstructed breast, rather than the opposite side. When I woke from surgery, I felt as if I had been hit by a! truck and shot in the gut with a shotgun. Dr. Wells prescribed a narcotic for the pain (keeping me in a euphoria for months). The narcotic caused constipation, but Dr. Wells

neglected to prescribe a laxative (later causing me to herniate). Three months later, I had a bulging in my abdomen, but Dr. Wells refused to tell me it was a hernia. I had a nervous breakdown and had to take medication and go to a psychotherapist.

Another doctor told me I had a hernia, and I returned to Dr. Wells who cut me open again and inserted mesh in my abdomen. The repair operation caused nerve damage in my pelvic and I had to go for nerve blocks. When I complained to doctors in my Humana HMO group, they maintained a "Good Old Boy" attitude and treated me as if I was imagining the problems. I had 2 years. of continuous bleeding from the uterus, but no Florida doctor would help me.

My only child moved away to live with relatives. I totalled my car in an accident. I was ! dismissed from my teaching job in Hillsborough Co. My husband told me to leave the house. I returned to my hometown in Ohio to live in a homeless shelter until I could receive disability. My credit was damaged and had to have someone sign for me to get a place to live. The only doctor with an objective viewpoint who would help me was a doctor of Natural Medicine. Lawyers say I cannot file a Malpractice suit after a year or two and that suing Moffitt is like suing God.

I wish I would have never had reconstructive surgery. The Tram is reported to have originated in Nazi Germany for the construction of the abdomen. In a book, The Nazi Doctors, the author describes a surgery at Auschwitz which also horizontally severs the abdomen: "This was the operation performed by Dering, and the method often used--a horizontal incision above the pubic area...." I didn't even receive the rights, listed in the Nuremberg Code o! f 1947, of free choice without deceit, duress, and knowledge to make an enlightened decision. I urge women to write law-makers and demand strict legal guidelines for the Women's Health & Cancer Rights Act of 1998.

Thank you, Pam (USA).