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[hanshi]

Hi, it seems that there is a new marketing offensive in this forum for one of the worst LL doctors out there.
Therefore I would like to publish here the last emails from MasterHY which he sent me shortly before he vanished. He stopped answering me in May 2015, shortly after he had his 4th surgery, which was performed in the US.  His diary can be found in the archived old forum. His femur surgery with Betz was in September 2013. In the beginning he was very fond of Dr. Betz and wrote about how nice and caring he was. However all this changed when he found out that his legs didn't heal and Dr. Betz simply left him in the lurch.
I assume he died and therefore I would like to publish his last emails here as a warning for future LL patients. In total there are 4 emails. I will post the first one in the next post.

[hanshi]

First email. Sent on April 14th 2015

Hi xxx

Thanks for the email and contacting me.  I am doing alright I guess, considering being disabled right now.  I am still trying to heal on my left leg, which if you have read my diary, you might know I have a second procedure that I will go through soon.  The bone graft will happen next week.  The first step was to get the infection under control and wipe it out.  It is a 2 step process I am going through.  Things have been slow.  Even my right leg has taken so long to recover because the nails that Betz uses did not allow my bones to heal.  Once I developed problems, he was always too busy.

I like the idea of taking him to court and suing him.  I believe this should not happen to anyone anymore, it is really awful, and completely irresponsible of Betz.  I also think a class action lawsuit that includes several people will be taken much more serious by the German courts.  As individuals I don't we will have a chance. 

I know at the time I was there, there was a patient at Orscholz who had a severe problem I think with compartment syndrome.  I do believe that Betz neglects his patients until it is too late, and even then he never admitted what he did is wrong.  I guess he doesn't want to admit so that he doesn't get sued. 

Anyhow I am curious as to what happened to you?  Maybe you can write something brief about your situation, so that I can understand a little better.  I don't know the German justice/court system that well, so I suppose someone like yourself might coordinate things?  Anyhow count me in. 

Looking forward to hearing from you and I hope your recovery is going better than mine.

best
Xxx

[hanshi]

The diary of MasterHY can be found under:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160602023851/http://www.make metaller.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=d9bae3e7228518060809e8e4b65f19fc&action=printpage;topic=6322.0

I had to put a blank between make and metaller because this forum automatically blocks the URL of the old forum. The mods should change this since the old forum is offline and therefore no longer a rival to this forum.

[hanshi]

Second email sent on April 20th 2015:

"Hi xxx

I hope all is good with you , and thanks for sharing your story.  I'm so sorry to hear about your experience and what Betz did!  Also I am very sorry about not replying to you sooner, I am still dealing with the emotional roller coaster of this experience.  I will be honest, sometimes I get super depressed and just really isolate myself.  It has been very difficult dealing with this situation, that I never thought would happen.  That is why I have not responded sooner.  Sorry.

I am very shocked about your story, but I am not surprised about Betz' behavior.  I am very sorry that you are going through this difficult experience, and my thoughts and prayers are for you to recover soon.  I also do remember you from the forum now that you mention your user name.  I was trying not to give you a hard time, but I guess I wanted to believe that perhaps Betz was not such a bad guy, and at that time, my experience with him had been ok.  Only when I developed the complication is when he really turned on me.  I think with a bone graft you will heal soon!  So stay positive bro. 

Also to answer your question about the infection, it was very strange, because I guess it is a routine procedure to check for why a non union occurs and in most cases, doctors suspect that an infection can be present when there is a non union.  During the time when he was exchanging the original lengthening nails for titaniums in July of 2014, he actually told me some weird story about how a nurse tapped the nail on the table, and some fluid came out of it, and then they tested the fluid that came from the nail and found out there is a bacteria present.  This is a strange way to find out about whether someone has an infection or not.  Most orthopedic surgeons will 100% test by taking tissue sample to see if there is an infection when there is a non union, it is standard procedure.  However he made it sound like it was a coincidence that some nurse accidentally discovered some fluid in the nail and then they tested it.   This is so odd.  Then again I don't trust anything he says anymore.  He is a liar when he knows he has screwed up!

I want to take the case to court, and we should really plan for a class action lawsuit.  Do you know anyone else that is willing to join?  It will be effective if we can get a group of like 4-5 people, then we can really get into the details of what he has done and his lies.  Please let me know what you think? 

I apologize again for the late reply.  Tomorrow I will be having another operation, my 4th major surgery in 1.5 years.  It's been very depressing dealing with the pain on a daily basis.  Pain has a very bad effect on people in the long term.  There has not been 1 single day, that I did not have any pain.  Anyways, please let me know what you think and also how we can plan this lawsuit against him.

Thanks very much!  I hope to read your reply soon.

Xxx "

[nomad13]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience and this other guy you talk about, it seems few are running medical tourism just for the sake of money with LL patients, it's ok if you want to make money but least be a bit considerate to provide good service and have some decent knowledge and experience with procedure and not just shove them in the hole, anyhow how are you now, did you recover?

[hanshi]

Hi nomad, thank you for your concern. I don't want to write details about me here at the moment. Suffice to say I'm still alive and able to walk. However, once you get serious complications a 100% recovery is impossible.

[hanshi]

Here is the third email sent on May 3rd 2015:

"Hi XXX,

I am recovering from the surgery, it was pretty intense, I had a lot of pain and my leg seemed to be reacting a bit strange to the bone graft.  I also have a lot of discomfort in the hip area where the bone graft was done, and I think it will be awhile before get somewhere with all of this.  For now I am not supposed to do any weight bearing for at least 6 weeks so I am only using one leg to get around. 

The good news is that I think the infection has cleared out, but I will know for sure next week.  The current doctor I have seems to have made some good decisions to get me back towards healing. 

Thanks for writing and checking.  How are things with you?  I noticed last time you said you had a bone graft also back in xxx?  How is that coming along and also did you get the bone from the Iliac like me?  where did the graft come from?  Are you seeing any improvement?

With regards to my first time dealing with my hip wound, yes Betz did do a blood test, I didn't see the results, but he said it was negative.  However with infections , you have to follow up with several blood tests because these organisms have incubation periods.  He never followed up, nor told me to do follow up blood tests.  It was 11 months later, when the leg didn't heal and I went back to Germany that another blood test was done, and it was discovered that I had an infection.  By that time it was too late. 

I am all for suing Betz, and I am not sure why the German courts do not recognize a class action lawsuits?  There must be some mechanism in Germany that allows a group to sue, if harm has been done to many people.  Unfortunately I am not German and really don't know much about the legal system.  I am glad at least that those have received harm, are willing to testify against Betz.  Count me in for sure.  If you can find more people, that would be absolutely awesome.

Thanks for the prayer and blessings, I wish you the same, and I hope to hear from you.  Please Take care my friend.

Xxx"

[hanshi]

Here is the 4th email also sent on May 3rd 2015:

"Hi xxx,

Thanks for the reply.  I am in the field of business, I operate several businesses but at the moment I cannot get to all my work either.  I work primarily in the field of healthcare and real estate.  I hope your bone graft will go well, since you don't have huge gap like mine, I think you have a better chance of healing. 
Betz never showed me any results for my first blood test, but the infection I have cannot be detected via a blood test.  Only actual tissue sample shows the infection.  I agree that during the second surgery is when he should have taken precaution for the infection.  My second surgery wasted so much time, because it didn't do anything for my left leg.  My left leg remained disabled. From the second surgery I wasted nearly 10 more months.  After the second surgery was finished, Betz came to me about 5 or 6 days later and told me that a nurse had "tapped" the nail that was removed from my leg on to the operating table and some fluid came out of the nail.  They then decided to test this fluid.  Once they tested this fluid, they found bacteria that was present. That is how he told me I had an infection.  He then gave me an oral prescription for antibiotics and all through this time made it seem like it would be no big deal and the infection would clear out.  Such an amateur move, and I cannot believe he calls himself an orthopedic doctor.  He is a reverse orthopedic doctor, he takes healthy people and cripples them.  Betz kept telling me to wait, and wait, while all the doctors in the US were telling me that the left leg would not heal.  In January of 2015 I decided I would no longer listen to Betz and went on my own.  In hindsight there were so many mistakes. I cannot believe he is even a doctor (I even told him that) and my reason to see this lawsuit go through is that I don't anyone else to ever experience what I have gone through. 

Please let me know about your inquires with an attorney and what they might say.  I still think that if it is enough people that can point the finger at Betz, they will take some action.  Anyhow I am very interested in pursuing this and I will wait to hear from you.

Thanks and best regards,
Xxx

This was his last email. He never replied to me again. I am certain he died shortly afterwards. I would guess maybe due to thrombosis or something similar.

[cena]

Hi hanshi,

thanks for posting thes information but perhaps you could remove some personal details of this guy especially if you haven't taken his prior permission to paste the emails.

[TallerVL]

Hi Hanshi,

what happened to both of u were awful! Thank you for telling the truth and warning us! I can't believe Betz was so irresponsible, because I was told he is one of the best. I guess he's just good at marketing.

[inchesmatter]

You’re certain he died? That’s rich.

[nomad13]

Inchesmatter is kinda right, it's bit stretch to assume he is dead, i hardly think CLL is fatal, unless you are with some real butcher with absolute no clue of medical science, Dr. Betz might be bit bad in his practices but I don't think to the levels that his patients are died

[hanshi]

Inchesmatter is kinda right, it's bit stretch to assume he is dead, i hardly think CLL is fatal, unless you are with some real butcher with absolute no clue of medical science, Dr. Betz might be bit bad in his practices but I don't think to the levels that his patients are died

You should read more carefully before making such a comment. He died in the US after a follow-up surgery.

[Montreal172]

what proof do you have ?

[nomad13]

You should read more carefully before making such a comment. He died in the US after a follow-up surgery.

I am sorry but i only commented that because the way you described it

This was his last email. He never replied to me again. I am certain he died shortly afterwards. I would guess maybe due to thrombosis or something similar.

which sounds it's your guess now this time you sound as if it's given truth, this is bit confusing now, but anyway i don't take away that you had some bad experience from Dr. Betz and you were brave to navigate it off

[hanshi]

Since the old forum is gone and most people probably don't bother using the link I wrote above I have decided to post some highlights from MasterHY' diary here. This should also help clarify most of the questions people have here since many of you are new to LL and don't know about the dramas which happened a few years ago. Here's his post from March 9 2015, after not having posted on the forum for exactly 1year and 1 day:

"Hey guys I'm back.  I decided its about time to give an update.  This is going to be too long to write in one reply, and I simply don't have so much spare time these days.

Let me just first off start by saying that what I write here is my opinion, and in no way reflects the experience of others.  Please keep that in mind when making judgements about doctors and this process.  Each experience in LL is unique and I can only share mine through my own experience.

I'll start of by saying that I have not recovered.  My own understanding of why I have not recovered has to do with the nails that were used, along with an infection that I got when my hip wound opened up just weeks after the surgery on my left leg.  I can sit here and bash Doctor Betz, but I won't do that.  I will however just document my own experience about how my case was handled and people can decide for themselves what is best or good information for them.

I am in the process of a two stage surgery with an Orthopedic surgeon from the US.  The total extra this has cost me is as follows:

July 2014 - flew to Germany in what was terrible condition, exchanged both nails for titaniums.  Stayed total of 3 weeks, total Cost including lodging, PT, and surgery was 45K.  Prior to that, I was paying nearly 3k per month with a specialist in LL who had helped AndrewShizzles.  The sessions did me no good, because overall the bone was not healing.  So in addition to the 45K , I had paid almost 12K just in maintenance costs as I like to think of it.  Total Cost 12K + 45K = 57K.

By December of 2014, it was clear that my left leg would not heal, and my right just started healing only after the nail exchange.  I then asked professor Betz to help me, and he advised I should wait longer.  Most surprising was that his attitude towards me had changed.  All along he was blaming me for the situation, and later he started to give very vague answers, and even told he doesn't have time to sit and answer my emails.  I was asking specific questions and he was giving me short general answers.  This was the most shocking aspect , to have your own doctor blame you for something clearly not in your control and to tell you "I don't know why this happened."  I was like, wtf?  How can a surgeon not know these things?  I will explain more later.   

By this time I was out of my mind, because I had no solutions and only guess work to go with.  I decided that I would not wait longer and immediately contacted several LL doctors here in the US to see what my options are.  Lo and behold, to my surprise, most doctors were quoting me 150K for a 2 stage procedure.  Again I will get into all of that later, but for now I'll just tell that, my new cost will be approximately 150K.

So here is a summary people:  1.  Paid nearly 80-90K for original surgery and costs
                                             2.  Paid 57K for PT and nail replacement due to Betz recommendation in July of 2014 when bones were not healing.
                                             3.  Paying nearly 150K for correcting what I am left with now, which is a bone deformity.

Grand total:   287K USD   

If you guys think that this will not happen to you, I suggest you guys think long and hard.  I am not a naysayer, but this experience was something I did not even fathom.  I paid for the best doctor thinking I will have the most professional and best team as this is not something to take lightly, and it failed.  Will I heal?  I am optimist and I will get through this, but I just want others to know, that there is nothing compared to having your health.  Sometimes be careful what you wish for.

I will fill on all the gaps in the days ahead.  Take care ya'll. "

[BoneStretching]

If this man was in the hands of USA doctors, he is alive and well.

[hanshi]

Is Betz a liar? This question is easy to answer:

It is a fact, that MasterHY got a bone infection from Dr. Betz. But what did Betz write to Kilokahn in July 2015?

"Complications are seldom and we never had a big complication like infection or loss or malfunction of a limb etc."
http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=2405.msg37801#msg37801

There can be no doubt here about the intent to deceive potential patients on this forum.