Bad experiences with medical professionals

[john]

On 2/2/2022 at 11:44 AM, Spockydog said:

When I was in hospital, recovering from heart surgery, my penis was nearly pulled off when the catheter somehow got stuck in the nurses clothing as she walked away from the bed.

 

I had a somewhat similar experience during a venesection procedure (draining a pint of blood into a bag). A nurse jerked the tube out my arm, spraying blood up the wall and into my face. A little clumsy but I wouldn’t complain since he was rushing to help with a guy in the next bed having some kind of terrifying fit.

49 minutes ago, A wilding said:

Not going to criticise the NHS because some relatively minor first and second hand bad experiences with them were clearly down to them being overstretched and under resourced.

Yes, I have had some bad experiences under NHS care but almost all of them happened despite the medics doing the best they could in the circumstances.

I was once on a ward with an old man, I was in my early 20s, he was in his early 80s. It was a six man ward but only the two of us were there. We had a great time together, watching tv, doing crosswords, ordering bacon rolls for our breakfast (a great hospital hack that all long term patients will know, just put a line through the list of generic muesli and toast options and write ‘roll and bacon’ instead, or if you’re really feeling lucky, ‘roll and sausage.’ A friendly canteen staffer will give you one around 40-50 percent of the time).

During the night there were only two nurses on station, which was understaffed for what usually needed to be done. This old guy was bed bound and rang several times for a nurse to bring him a bedpan. They were too busy and didn’t answer the bell straight away. He finally tried to walk to the toilet by himself, fell over and broke his leg. All I knew about it was suddenly a lot of noise, the light going on and the old man being wheeled into another room. Anyway, he died a couple of days later, a broken leg not being something easy to deal with in his condition.

[Madame deVenoge]

13 hours ago, mcbigski said:

I haven't had entirely awful experiences with medical people.  Probably because I'm tall and white and somewhat but not entirely handsome.  

If we're talking my worst medical thing ever, colonoscopy wasn't as bad as wisdom teeth out. 

As to the first paragraph, it’s also because you are male. For some reason, some medical professionals seem to feel like they can judge womens’ bodies quite easily (as in my examples at the start of this thread).

Glad you brought that up that second paragraph because I’m going to get one of those this year. 

[Spockydog]

I enjoyed my colonoscopy so much I got a boner. 

 

[Mlle. Zabzie]

Shattered my kneecap while I was in law school.  Student health did the xray and correctly diagnosed that my patella was fractured.  I was sent home with extra strength motrin and a leg brace.  What should have happened was an immediate transfer to the Hospital for Special Surgery and major painkillers.  I ended up in an ambulance headed to St. Vincent's that morning at 3 AM (I was on a gurney in the ER next to ODB who was having heart issues!), whereupon I was given perkaset (sp?), which made me horribly, horribly ill (to the point where I had to stay longer while they figured out that I should NOT EVER be be given perkaset and another pain killer should be found - turns out student health WASN'T wrong about that, sort of, but not because they actually were competent), a full leg cast and a referral to HSS....  20 years later my knee is still a bit wonky. 

Actually opioids and I do not agree AT ALL.  I had an emergency C with our twins (the kind when they are starting to put you under as they are sprinting down the hall to the operating theater) and I was hooked up to something after that made me tend to stop breathing and be very very sick.  That also didn't last long (and I blessedly don't remember much of it at all - info really from my husband).  

[Larry of the Lawn]

13 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Shattered my kneecap while I was in law school.  Student health did the xray and correctly diagnosed that my patella was fractured.  I was sent home with extra strength motrin and a leg brace.  What should have happened was an immediate transfer to the Hospital for Special Surgery and major painkillers.  I ended up in an ambulance headed to St. Vincent's that morning at 3 AM (I was on a gurney in the ER next to ODB who was having heart issues!), whereupon I was given perkaset (sp?), which made me horribly, horribly ill (to the point where I had to stay longer while they figured out that I should NOT EVER be be given perkaset and another pain killer should be found - turns out student health WASN'T wrong about that, sort of, but not because they actually were competent), a full leg cast and a referral to HSS....  20 years later my knee is still a bit wonky. 

Actually opioids and I do not agree AT ALL.  I had an emergency C with our twins (the kind when they are starting to put you under as they are sprinting down the hall to the operating theater) and I was hooked up to something after that made me tend to stop breathing and be very very sick.  That also didn't last long (and I blessedly don't remember much of it at all - info really from my husband).  

Ol' Dirty Bastard?  That's wild!

[Raja]

On 2/3/2022 at 12:27 PM, A wilding said:

Not going to criticise the NHS

Just wanted to say that the NHS is certainly not above criticism, we do some things right, but there are so many places we can improve in when it comes to patient care & outcomes.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

51 minutes ago, Larry of the Lake said:

Ol' Dirty Bastard?  That's wild!

It was totally wild.  This was spring of 2000.  He was clearly in there for overuse of a recreational substance and having chest pains.  Very sad, ultimately, obviously. 

[Jaxom 1974]

On 2/2/2022 at 12:18 PM, DireWolfSpirit said:

My opinion,

you go to the doctor to get sick. Wanna stay healthy avoid them like the plague.

The same is true for your car and the dealership.

I've always referred to Dentists as the auto mechanics of the medical world.  You go in for one simple job, but before you know it, they want to do three more, very expensive, procedures.  I loathe Dentists.  And that's with one of my oldest friends in the world being one, and knowing a couple I've seen over the years aren't actually bad people.  Just dentists.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

While I have very little to add on negative Medical Professional experience (I just don't get sick, I still have my tonsils and my appendix, go figure), other then the famous dentist words: hum, that really shouldn't hurt. (she missed one root canal, and yes it did hurt).

 

I am not sure, whether to salute or question Zabz life choices leading from lying in hospital next to ODB, who was suffering from a substance induced heart ache, to causing heart ache to drugged up Yale boys in job interviews.

 

Ah stop, there was one very negative experience, which I prefered to repress.

When my mother died in hospital a couple of years ago, ER Doctor said something along the lines, she would've probably died anyway.

On a factual level, that was probably true (she got in with a sepsis which turned rather bad, rather quick). But it did really rub me the wrong way and it took me a bit of self-restraint to not give into my anger in that moment and to not to tell him in no uncertain terms that his social skills are lacking. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by A Horse Named Stranger

[Impmk2]

I've been pretty lucky with medical care so far. I always remember the time a GP tried to kill my father though.

We'd just been in transit for 24hrs+ flying from Australia to the UK. My dad developed a pretty intense pain in his calf which got worse in the 12hrs after arriving. We took him to a (believe it was my grandfather's) GP. He told him it was likely a bit of muscle pain after sitting for so long on the plane and should go home and walk it off.

The next morning pain was still getting worse. Managed to get in to see another (more competent) doctor who was like holy shit this is classic DVT, going for a walk with a clot in your leg was about the the worst thing you could do (clot could break up and cause a stroke / pulmonary embolism), we need to get you in to hospital. He spent most of the next week there, and spent the next few months on a variety of blood thinners with bruises all over him.

[Prince of the North]

@Impmk2, I've experienced something similar.  So glad to hear things turned out alright in your case.  A pulmonary embolism misdiagnosed as pneumonia resulted in the death of one of the best people I've ever known or ever will know. 

[litechick]

It is strangely comforting to know that medical mishaps are universal and not personal.

In one encounter, I participated in a program which provided low income women with mammograms and pap smears.  It was the first time I had received sexual health screening in 20 years.  I asked a personal health question.  The technician gave a little laugh, 'we don't care about that.'  Boom.  Oh, I get it--I don't matter at all.  You are not here for me.  You have a grant to collect data points and I am a data point, that is all you care about.

Do not underestimate mediocrity.  Health professionals are no different than any other group of people.

[MeanMrMustard]

You must be your own advocate. It's impossible to overstate that. And I do have personal and professional experience with this.

 

People want to believe there's a system with experts and it's their role to be passive patients. That is *possible* and it *can* work for you. But you need to be prepared for the possibility it doesn't.

[Elder Sister]

On 2/19/2022 at 5:54 AM, MeanMrMustard said:

You must be your own advocate. It's impossible to overstate that. And I do have personal and professional experience with this.

 

People want to believe there's a system with experts and it's their role to be passive patients. That is *possible* and it *can* work for you. But you need to be prepared for the possibility it doesn't.

I cannot agree with this hard enough to suit me.  It's so true.  

I got diagnosed with breast cancer in Jan. 2010.  Prior to that, I had gone for my annual mammogram in Oct. 2009 and there was a spot on the scan, and I mentioned to the radiologist that it 'burned' there almost like a bee sting.  He seemed incredibly dismissive, but maybe that's just hindsight.  Basically said it was too much coffee, hormones, etc.  He scheduled me for another mammogram the following year.  I went home and continued to have symptoms in that breast to the point that 3 months later, I finally called my regular OBGYN and talked to her.  She got me in the next day with a different radiologist.  When she saw the spot, she went ahead and biopsied it, and it was malignant.  She gave me her personal cell number in case I had questions - I wound up having to get a double mastectomy due to what they found in the left breast as well.  We caught the cancer early stage, thank goodness.

I'm not saying the first guy was bad at his job, or that he did anything wrong, but I am reiterating what MeanMM said - it's my body.  If something isn't right, I need to push to get answers, and the care I need and deserve.  I did so much research on my own during my surgery and treatment.  I wound up with lymphedema in my right arm and side.  And it's mainly up to me to treat it, although I do go to PT at times when it gets troublesome.

 

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by Elder Sister

[Madame deVenoge]

My “advocate for yo’self” story is pretty lite.

But after my hysterectomy, I was walking through Montréal in October in sleeveless silk shirts where all the Canadians were wearing their Canada Goose jackets. Clearly, hot flashes, 

Also, I was as dry as a desert. Ahem. 

So, I Talked To My Doctor. 

And after the 0.05 patch didn’t work as well as what I remembered life was, the 0.75 patch is AMAZING. 

I asked for the 0.75 patch after having had two UTIs within 2 months. 

The 0.75 patch has worked super well. Ahem.

Edited February 22, 2022 by Chataya de Fleury

[mcbigski]

On 2/19/2022 at 6:54 AM, MeanMrMustard said:

You must be your own advocate. It's impossible to overstate that. And I do have personal and professional experience with this.

 

People want to believe there's a system with experts and it's their role to be passive patients. That is *possible* and it *can* work for you. But you need to be prepared for the possibility it doesn't.

Old cynical me agrees entirely.  Ideally we'd live in a system where the doctors get, and know they get, slightly overpaid, and realize it, and they'd be happy to always work in the best interest of the patient therefore.  But they're also human, and that's not our system.  They seem to largely be captive to the consolidated hospital systems in their regional area.

[A True Kaniggit]

Not so much a bad experience, but I once worked for a doctor who had a fairly amusing impression of me. 
 

“ Good morning Doctor ‘X’, patient ‘Z’ is currently at the front desk. They called yesterday asking for a medication refill. I told you, and you told me you would take care of it. So I told them they could pick up the refill today. But you didn’t put in the prescription. So now they’re yelling at me at the front desk. Can you order the prescription right now so they can go and get it sir?”

 

(This happened repeatedly)

Which led to me making my impression of him doing his impression of me. 

[A wilding]

5 hours ago, mcbigski said:

Old cynical me agrees entirely.  Ideally we'd live in a system where the doctors get, and know they get, slightly overpaid, and realize it, and they'd be happy to always work in the best interest of the patient therefore.  But they're also human, and that's not our system.  They seem to largely be captive to the consolidated hospital systems in their regional area.

To be fair the socialised (if now underfunded) NHS has a similar problem. If you have a significant medical issue it is best to have a partner, relative or friend keeping you company who can act as your advocate as necessary. The usual problem is something slipping between the cracks because of lack of resourcing, though specialisation leading to conditions being treated rather than the whole patient can sometimes also be a factor.

[Raja]

Fairly tragic & big case going on in the US regarding a medication error

Quote

Vaught is on trial for the death of Charlene Murphey, a 75-year-old Vanderbilt patient who died on Dec. 27, 2017, after she was prescribed a sedative, Versed, but was inadvertently injected with a powerful paralyzer, vecuronium. Vaught does not deny she accidentally confused the drugs but has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Her trial — a rare example of a health care professional facing prison for a medical error — has been closely watched by nurses across the U.S., who worry it could set a precedent for future prosecutions.

In the wake of Murphey's death, Vanderbilt took several actions that resulted in the medication error not being disclosed to the government or the public, according to county, state and federal records related to the death. Vanderbilt did not report the error to state or federal regulators as required by law, a federal investigation report states. The hospital told the local medical examiner's office that Murphey died of "natural" causes, with no mention of vecuronium, according to Murphey's death certificate and Davidson County's chief medical examiner, Dr. Feng Li.

 

Vanderbilt also fired Vaught and negotiated an out-of-court settlement with Murphey's family that bars them from publicly discussing the death.

 

[Gusguson]

That's a normal experience to be honest, during your lifetime you will probably meet them at least once. You just have to find a good dentist and stick to him, that's what people usually do all the time, in order to avoid going to doctors which you never visited before and don't know how good they are. I have had a tooth pain in the past, and I couldn't get an appointment in time, so I read the article what I could do to get rid of the pain, and it helped actually until I went to the dentist.

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by Gusguson