Misdiagnosis
maidinscotland
Posts: 5,648 Forum Member
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2589954/Mother-cancer-fulfils-dying-wish-marry-childhood-sweetheart-passes-away-just-hours-later.html
The above is just one example of many recent examples of misdiagnosis by GP's. I read about a young girl dying of cervical cancer the other day which doctors didn't investigate due to her young age and various other stories of incompetence by gp's. My own husband has been taking 151 tablets a week for the past two years because his gp said he had M.E and it was only 3 weeks ago that he was diagnosed with heart failure after being rushed into hospital, the past two years have seen him taking medication that was doing him no good whatsoever AND he had to deal with cynics re his illness. So what the hell is going on nowadays? Do gp's need retraining? This scenario is sadly happening all too often!
The above is just one example of many recent examples of misdiagnosis by GP's. I read about a young girl dying of cervical cancer the other day which doctors didn't investigate due to her young age and various other stories of incompetence by gp's. My own husband has been taking 151 tablets a week for the past two years because his gp said he had M.E and it was only 3 weeks ago that he was diagnosed with heart failure after being rushed into hospital, the past two years have seen him taking medication that was doing him no good whatsoever AND he had to deal with cynics re his illness. So what the hell is going on nowadays? Do gp's need retraining? This scenario is sadly happening all too often!
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Competent and average.
The only difference is that the stakes are so much higher when you're unlucky enough to be under one of the shit ones.
Eventually, after 3 weeks they went for a second opinion, turns out she had been decapitated 3 weeks earlier, and was in fact dead.....who knew?!!!
I have no doubt it is because of my husband's situation that I am noticing this more and more but it doesn't take away from the fact it is happening more often, I think some sort of retraining programme is needed. Going back to 1991 my mum complained of bloody stools and stomach pains, it took docs 2 years to finally get around to investigating this and it turns out that her bowel cancer which is highly curable if found early had spread into her liver which rendered her disease terminal. It's shocking that these typical symptoms were not given priority by the medical profession because they were classic symptoms of bowel cancer, I am all too aware of this now but wasn't at the time, medical 'professional' however, should have been.
Sorry to hear about your husband I hope he is going to be okay.
ME is a notoriously hard condition to diagnose and treat, so perhaps less surprising to get that wrong than some other conditions. I appreciate that isn't a lot of comfort to you at this point though.
I think the point made by someone else is right. There is a wide spectrum of capabilities within GPs. I would quite like to see a system of re licensing them on a 5 year or so basis to ensure those at the bottom of the range either improve or are stopped from practising.
Brilliant!
But back on topic , I mentioned in another thread: GPs are frontline. A lot of illnesses just get prescribed antibiotics, and serious ones get referred to hospitals. Some GPs are experienced and know lots of illnesses, but dont forget, they are GENERAL practitioners. This means they are not experts and may not recognise the signs of every disease, especially rare ones. Most will deal with coughs and colds and flu, with occasional other diseases, and very rarely cancers etc. couple this with the fact that most illnesses share symptoms, and a culture of self diagnosis through the internet, it can occasionally lead to an illness being misdiagnosed however this is still rare.
TLDR - doctors do a fantastic job but sometimes mistakes happen.
Thanks very much for your good wishes. BIB, I think that is an EXCELLENT idea! It would certainly keep them on their toes and separate the wheat from the chaff
Aren't you reassured by the current revalidation system?
a doctor NOT doing that almost cost one of my granddaughter`s her life.
http://www.nhsemployers.org/PlanningYourWorkforce/MedicalWorkforce/MedicalRevalidation/Pages/FAQs%20Revalidation.aspx
However, I do find it difficult to understand how your husband's GP missed heart failure as the symptoms are quite obvious.
Indeed. Patients and newspapers must accept this and stop feeling entitled to levels of service that are way beyond what the NHS can sustain. If you're not happy with a diagnosis see another GP at your surgery.
I lost my best friend of 25 years to undiagnosed heart disease, and he had been treated for renal problems and ME. Alarmingly, when I was chatting to one of the nurses at my GP practice, I mentioned that we'd all assumed that the oedema in his legs was because of renal problems, but with hindsight it could have been his heart. She then asked me if he was asthmatic, because that was common in asthmatics when their lung function was so impaired their hearts were having to work extra hard. She did the surgery's asthma clinic and routinely checked for oedema in asthmatics for that very reason.
My friend had been asthmatic all his life and had been treated for that by his GP as well. I was shocked that his doctor had never connected the 2 and considered a heart problem a possibility and checked for it.
If only I'd had that conversation a couple of years earlier, he might still be with us today.
I've also heard of 2 other cases where people being treated for ME have died of heart disease. I think doctors would be well advised to check for heart problems and rule them out before deciding someone has ME.
Anyway eventually he sends me to a specialist and after he examined me he said that he was concerned about the amount of muscle wastage; as it makes mending a snapped tendon so much harder to repair.
I'm not sure why my Dr didn't think that muscle wastage was of concern , after months of examining me.
Anecdotes and newspaper scare stories aren't hard evidence. What's "too often" and why?
Really sorry to hear about your mum.
I think things were particularly bad in the 90s when GP's were fundholders and had to keep an eye on their budgets. They seemed especially reluctant to refer on to consultants.
For about 5 or 6 years, I was begging my GP to refer me to an ENT consultant for really painful sinus problems. Eventually he did, and 2 years later the surgeon removed "a huge, slimey, infected polyp" from one of the sinuses and told me it was one of the worst cases he'd ever seen.
I bet it wouldn't have been one of the worst if I hadn't had to wait years for something to be done about it!
I know that's minor and not remotely life threatening, and they have to prioritise more serious conditions, but it was still a bit crap, frankly.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. It helps to be firm and clear, but British people see this as being impolite or disrespectful. You probably came across as not needing priority attention due to good manners that aren't appropriate in this context.
I'm not sure about that. If he can see an underlying problem and one that will not get better by pumping someone with steroids, surely it's his job to point it out. I didn't know that my shoulder blade looked like that until I used the mirror. And even after all that he asked me if I wanted another injection.
Absolutely. As a patient it is absolutely your fundamental right to get a 2nd/3rd/4th opinion.
Is it though? Or is it typical Daily Mail scaremongering? Young women are notoriously difficult to diagnose with cervical cancer because of the sheer number of changes that their cells go through - it can often cause unecessary testing. Doesn't make this poor girl's death any less tragic, of course. Sorry to hear about your husband.
I've only just been referred to a specialist with diegestive after almost a decade of symptoms, whereas I know if I'd been a decade or two older I'd have been referred within a couple of appointments. I've actually had one turn around and tell me that tests 'always' come back normal in my age group so there was no point. When I did get to the specialist he was shocked they'd failed to carry out basic rule things out type tests, and that no one had even considered food intolerance's etc.... I also know a couple of people who've been left with life altering conditions because a doctor refused to acknowledge a routine illness due to age.
That said, some are really good, it's just finding one that's difficult. It's always worth trying to see someone different and then pushing for a referral if you feel you need one. GP's don't know everything, and even if does turn out to be nothing, imo only a specialist can give you a definitive answer. Unless its something routine, a GP can only really guess.
Thanks docs.