Dr. Carl O Bruning, MD: RUINED MY LIFE!
At age 48 I was diagnosed with with Prostate Cancer. My PCP told me that because of the of the High Gleason rating that I needed to have “Radical Prostactomy Surgery” or I would most likely die before I reach the age of 50.
I was referred to Dr. Carl Bruning because he was a young and upcoming Urologist that was removing the prostate and saving the nerves so a person could still get an erection and have an active set life after surgery.
Dr. Bruning said that I should be back to work in about 6 weeks.
The surgery was scheduled and Dr. Bruning did the surgery to remove my prostate. When I woke up in the recovery room I had severe pain in the right side of my groin area. After the recovery process I was moved to a hospital room and a short time later I had a post-op visit by Dr. Bruning. He said the surgery went well that the cancer was confined within the prostate and there were no signs that the cancer spread any further. I told him I had severe pain in my right groin. He said he would prescribed some pain medication and that the pain would subside as my body healed.
Six weeks later I had my final office visit with Dr. Bruning. I could hardly walk and still had severe pain in my right groin. When I saw Dr. Bruning he asked “whats wrong with you?”. I explained that I was still in severe pain. It felt like someone kicked me in the testicles and I lost my breath, as soon as I caught my breath they kicked me again, again and so on….
I asked what could be done to relieve the pain. He seemed puzzled and told me he could only think of one other patient he had that had a issue similar to what I was experiencing and that patient never had a follow up visit with him, so he had no advise to give me. He looked at me and his exact words were “My job is done, you are cancer free”.
Since then, I have consulted with Cleveland Clinic, countless other Urologists, Pain Clinics, Nerve Specialists, nerve blocks and even had Accupuncture where they put needles in my testicle and groin and sent electrical shock wave through them. No, Doctor or Urologist would say anything bad about another Urologist.
Almost 4 years later, I found Oncologist that ordered a Full Body Scan with Contrast. The results came back that everything was normal EXCEPT for the 14 bilateral clips in the groin area. I asked the Oncologist what that meant? He said that Dr. Bruning used Surgical Staples inside me and that most likely one or more of them were stapled to a nerve. The question I never got answered is: Why would Dr. Bruning use Staples inside me and used Desolving Stiches on the outside of me?
I asked the Oncologist if he could remove the Staples and was told that they are too buried in scar tissue and they would be impossible to find.
In the 19 years since my surgery by Dr. Carl Burning, I have been pooked and prooded. I’ve been on pain medication that works for a while and then it had to be increased or moved to a higher type of drug. I have been on 600 mg. of Morphine per day for over 10 years…. The next step was to have a Morphine Pump implanted in me.
Then came the Government Crack-Down on Opoids. The maximum Morphine that can now be prescribed dropped from 600 mg per day to 90 mg per day, so over the passed 3 years I have been slowly decreased from 600 mg per day to 90 mg per day.
Now here I am, 19 years later and still in severe pain. Yes, I did have a few decent years of being mostly pain free. But, all the side effects from the Morphine (drowsiness, stomach pain and cramps, dry mouth (lost all my teeth), headache, nervousness, mood changes, difficulty/pain when urinating, constipation and depression) have all lead to taking other medications to counteract the side effects of the Morphine.
All of this makes me wish I had never met Doctor Carl Burning.
I would not have another surgery done by him even if he was the last doctor on earth……

Submitted Oct. 2, 2021