By VICTOR E. SASSON
It was a big promise: If I checked in at the medical center in Hackensack, a world class team of doctors and surgeons would determine whether it was safe enough to open my heart and replace both of my infected and damaged valves.
My son brought me to the hospital a couple days before my birthday on November 4. but I didn't leave until many days later.
l was confined to the same stretcher, and doctors and nurses would stop by and say a few words.
Time passed, time stretched on and I am not sure which one of the surgeons took me aside said he had decided any surgery at this time was too risky.
Now, I was back on the stretcher, and doctors stooped by less frequently.
Yes, I felt seduced and abandoned.
One of my valves had been replaced at Englewood Hospital in 2011.
I was discharged on Nov. 15.
