Pages

Monday, October 24, 2005

Doctors: Just What Did Their Transcripts Read?

I've always wondered when I get a new doctor: Did he or she get a 'C' in med school in my area of need, or did they ace that particular subject?

For instance, I have a close family member that has had prostate cancer twice. After his first bout, he watched his blood levels carefully, and charted them. When he saw an increasing rise in his results, he flagged the doctor. However, the doctor told him not to worry about it. When my relative insisted on being further tested, the doctor sighed and told him that he would humor him, but there was no evidence that the cancer had returned. The test results came back and guess what? It had returned. If he had been left to the tender care of the doctor, my relative would be pushing up daisies by now. And this is a doctor that is respected in our large metropolitan area.

Then, of course, you've heard of all the mistaken surgeries, haven't you? You haven't? Well, in the early 90s, the doctors at a hospital within 2 miles of the University of Florida kept messing up. One person went in needing a leg removed, but got the other one removed instead. Two for the price of one, you might say. The same thing happened with a woman who was in to have one breast removed, but the other one was taken instead. Still another one involved someone having a hand removed, and yup...you guessed it... two for the price of one. These SNAFUs were reported regularly in the newspaper until someone finally got motivated to do something about it and the hospital began to crack down on their staff. How would you have liked to have been one of the last ones, because no one was motivated enough to do anything about it until after your turn had come?

I used to tell my husband that if I were bleeding to death in front of his very eyes, he was to take me to the other hospital which was much further away. I figured I'd stand a better chance.

I've had increasing neck pain for over 6 years. The first doctor I went to (my GP) told me I was too much of a type 'A' and should relax a little. He prescribed mild sedatives.

When the pain got bad enough, I went to a chiropractor. When he did an x-ray as a precursor to treatment, he came in white-faced and told me to get dressed. He said he refused to do any treatment on me until I had had an MRI and referred me back to my original doctor.

When I got to my original doctor, he sneered a bit. Chiropractors, you know... the closest thing to modern witchdoctors. That is, until he popped the X-ray up on the lightscreen and stopped talking. That's when I got sent for my MRI.

After that, I got a rash of treatments: cortisone injections in my neck, stronger muscle relaxants, physical therapy, referral to an osteopathic surgeon. This all took place over a number of years, because no one really took my pain seriously. I guess I'm a little too understated for my own good. Grabbing the doctor by the throat and screaming in agony probably would've worked.

The osteopath ordered more tests, and I got all sorts of MRIs, catscans, and whatnot. But whenever I went back and complained of the pain, he ordered me for more useless physical therapy.

I finally called my new GP and asked for a referral to someone who was reputed to be excellent. I showed up in his offices only to be referred for a discogram (which I've discussed earlier in my blog). Up until then, no one had bothered to tell me about this little test, which shows exactly what is wrong with the disks in the neck.

6 years later, and we now know the source of the pain: I have three cracked disks that require surgery. Wouldn't it have been nice to have discovered this years ago, before my quality of life had been severely impacted?

Thank you for listening. This is the end of my tirade.

15 comments:

Fred said...

How about the truly evil dermatologist that was cutting moles off, then telling the patient it was cancerous, when there really wasn't any cancer? Then, the doctor got to cut more, and make more money.

Or, the dermatologist that insists a pimple-like mark wasn’t anything to worry about. Then, the patient went to another dermatologist and had them take it off. It was skin cancer.

The second example happened to me.

Jessica said...

Ouch. The horrible irony in all of this is that the whole ordeal probably aggravated your neck pain. Hope you're on the road to recovery, Saur!

michelle said...

What kind of surgeon do you need?

Lila said...

Medical care is definitely hit or miss. I feel like they rarely take my complaints seriously. It's frustrating.

Dave said...

Saur,

Please remember that Doctors are people too.

There are probably not many Doctors who can claim to have won a literacy award like you that’s for sure.

I remember my Chiropractor use to schedule me as the last patient in the day because I have an extremely loud scream, bad for his business I guess, but the nurse was so impressed that I got a first date.

I like your daughter’s Halloween costume. Did she get it from TC?

Humor: I accidentally posted this on the education blog for a couple minutes.

Jamie Dawn said...

I'm right with you on this!
I've had my share of doctor errror, and it does really cost a person. Sorry for you, sorry for me.
Hang in there. I hope you get this pain taken care of soon. I'm sure it negatively impacts your entire life.

michelle said...

Dang I missed it Mr. Gator. I like to read the posts on the wrong blog. If reader catch it they start getting off subject quickly and it is quit funny.

Three Score and Ten or more said...

I'm not savvy enough to leave a post on the wrong blogg, but I can relate to doctor problems. Recently some hospitals have gone to extremes to avoid "wrong place" surgeries. My wife has had several joint replacements, and now, each time, before anasthesia she has had to use a sharpie, make an X, then initial the correct limb.
If you really want to be terrified (when you think about it) go into an examining room in a teaching hospital and have the doctors eyes light up as she runs into the hall and says "Come in here everybody, I have something really interesting for you to look at.

Dan said...

ah, not something that I want to read before I head into a doctor's office where he will stick sharp pointy things into my ear...

Saur♥Kraut said...

Dan, ;o) Yeah, I would guess not. Sorry about that...

3Score, oh yeah, I know what you mean. I had a dr. (the first osteopath, may he rot in a very hot place) that brought in a med student and referred to me like I was a limp piece of meat. I hate being a case study.

Michelle, Yeah, Mr. G is entertaining. I sent you an email about the doctors.

Jamie Dawn, you have definately not had an easy time of it, I know from reading your blog.

Mr. Gator, :P You are impossible. Get your blog up and going! I want to read more than sports scores! C'mon!!!

AP3, oh yeah. It's amazing how unimportant we are unless we don't pay the bill.

Jessica, actually, I think you're right. I was discussing this with the Other Half yesterday. He thinks we should sue the first osteopath.

Fred, funny you should mention the doctor who kept miscoding people. I have close friends who sell health insurance and they're pointing to that example in all their seminars as the reason for medicare reform (which is happening next month).

Storm, I prefer Nurse Practioners to doctors any day. If I can request one, that's what I do.

OldHorsetailSnake said...

And people wonder why "good" doctors get sued....

Saur♥Kraut said...

Old Hoss, AMEN!

Whistle Britches said...

Thanks for sharing that. Living with pain and keeping your head up(no pun intended) and marching on no matter what comes your way can be very inspirational to those around you.

Eddo said...

Ouch! It seems that now days you don't get what you pay for...

I hope this surgery takes the pain away completely, there is nothing worse than a nagging pain.

Linda Jones Malonson said...

Damn, going to the doctor is scary! I am glad you sent me this link ... because as bad as I am having it, it seem others had it worst. Thank you.