Sometimes doctors make mistakes.

[Deckthewallswithpaintandplaydough]

doctors are wonderful people. They help us when we’re Ill and help us feel better. They are there 24/7/365. However, they are also human beings, and sometimes can make mistakes. So I’ll share a little story with you. When I was a little girl (11) I had a temperature and pain in my right side of my tummy. Not “enough” apparently to be appendicitis, the gp said when we went, and they gave me antibiotics. Went back in three days, more pain and again, urine infection. 2 days later went back again. Gp was concerned about retroceceal appendicitis and sent us straight to a&e. Had bloods done at a&e, no infection markers up. But as I was in so much pain, they admitted me. Next morning, ultrasound, again nothing. They decided to take my appendix out as I had all the symptoms and was in so much pain. It had burst. I was in for a week. Within 24 hours of being admitted I was in the operating room. I could have been spared a week in hospital if the gps had thought about appendicitis. I am a great supporter of the nhs, and have no doubt that they are giving us the upmost care, but remember, sometimes if you feel something is wrong, you’ve got to push to get it recognised.

Yep. I spent a looooooong time being told I definitely didn’t have an infection. The consequences have been life changing and not in a good way.

I do wish doctors would be less definite, I find them very eager to say “It’s probably nothing” or “It could be anxiety” when what they mean is “I haven’t a clue what your medical issue is.”

Some are good, some are great and some are fucking awful verging on criminally negligent. I’m not sure what your point is really. Glad you’re okay now.

Indeed they do make mistakes . A dear friend of mine was told she had renal cancer ( no symptoms , it was a scan for something else) . Kidney removed , no trace of cancer .
No apology.

My point is, that doctors are amazing, but sometimes make mistakes, so you have to stand up for yourself sometimes. :)

Back in the dark ages, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was a junior doctor, we had a much quicker and simpler method for picking up a retrocaecal inflamed appendix. We just did a PR exam, and when you gently pressed anteriorly the kid would very definitely react if it was positive!

Well I'm not even sure if that was a mistake OP, they did think about appendicitis, examined you and thought that the pain wasn't severe enough to require surgery and so they gave you antibiotics. I think they treated you completely appropriately. They reassessed later as things progressed and in the end you had surgery. Yes of course doctors make mistakes sometimes, but I'm not sure yours did.

I get your point. Sorry, when I said antibiotics, meant for a urine infection. Also, how did they know how much pain I was in?

I can see both sides here as I am not a doctor but work with a lot of them in a related role.

No doctor is infallible and patients should, absolutely, always feel able to question them but, equally, patients are not infallible either and should be aware that there is a limit to the amount of NHS resources that can be allocated to following up their hunches based on Dr Google. Much of this comes down to communication between them

"Medicine is an art, not a science"

Burst appendix happens all the time. My son was sent home from a&e and his burst. They missed it on the ultrasound apparently. The lady in the cafe on the children's ward and the lady from PALS who dealt with my complaint both said the same thing happened to their kids.

And this is one of the top hospitals in the UK apparently.

My son felt not too bad when it burst as the pressure had gone but he started looking like death so luckily I took him back in.

OP - no one is going to disagree doctors are infallible and make mistakes because of course they are and do. Yet more than 9 times out of 10 they are right because based of years of experience that came before them, protocols have been developed to make assessments. Pain is highly subjective in some cases and is assessed in various ways including numerical scores as well as physical symptoms and reaction.

It sounds like you may have PTSD.

I’m not medically trained but a lot of issues with care from doctors and other HCPS is not thinking the worst and assuming the least: when I was less than 48 hours from my due date with my first pregnancy I knew the pain I had wasn’t labour but the midwives that I phoned twice told me to take a paracetamol (I did) and have a bath. Me saying I can’t sit I’m in so much pain just led to sighs and saying okay come in but we are very busy led to my daughter dying in utero and I nearly lost my life. So, yes HCPS don’t always pay attention but I expect it’s hard to decipher sometimes.
No excuse for the cunt doctor who sexually assaulted me (years later and the subject of my legal action). Human error understandable- deliberate actions unforgivable

Interesting, I went to the doctors with tremors, almost def not Parkinson’s, referred by doctor d after hol in July, after family concern ( my family not near).
i got an urgent neurologist appointment , well a month, Parkinson’s or mimic, so at least .
Tho my mri scan, regarding my 3D vision lost? And still no clues, as optically ok, hypnotherapy won’t treat me as bi polar and Parkinson’s, so unable to drive and want to know cause, including two private opticians.

I had a heavy fall after my dog shot off whilst I was putting her lead on. I dislocated my finger and hurt my back and knew I had done something really bad.
Got to the hospital and a medical student asked me if my finger always looked like that ie. At a 90 degree angle across my palm..I said no.
I told him I had hurt my back and he asked me what I thought I had done...as I was walking albeit in pain I said maybe badly bruised it..he agreed. No x Ray on my back just my hand. I was discharged and told to keep moving so my back wouldn't seize up.
I went home took some pain killers, took dog out for a walk then did what I could manage. 30 hours later couldn't move without screaming, could hardly breathe without screaming...ambulance called...12 hours in A and E dosed up with pain killers and morphine..still screaming at any movement...eventually scans revealed my back was broken. I wasn't allowed to moved for 3 days..
Thankfully it wasn't worse than it was..I could have ended up paralysed.

My go made a grave error in judging me as a panicky mother once . 4 times I asked for a home visit to see my son but because I was 21 I think he judged me .

Turned out my son had bacterial meningitis. 8 weeks in hospital and 2 years recovery after that .

I made an appointment when I got out of hospital just to face him .

He said sorry . I never pursued it further.

Long story short....3 year old very unwell with chicken pox. Saw 2 out of hours doctors, visited a&e and a GP all within 3 days. GP was going to send him home "to do a fart" to get rid of his bloated tummy. Luckily I said no and insisted he needed seeing as within a few hours he was being rushed by ambulance with sepsis and extreme dehydration! So glad I listened to my mummy instinct and he is a happy 7 year old now x

OP, you are right but you are being far too nice.

When you go back again and again to your GP in pain for 5 months, he tells you you're imagining it, to 'drink water', when he refuses an ultra-sound repeatedly despite (as I later found) having an ultrasound unit in the next room of his surgery.

When you've crawled into A&E at 3 in the morning after months of pain, passed out, been admitted, woken up 7 hours later in general surgical after a major op to deal with a mass that could have been spotted from space, followed by a week in hospital and six weeks off work, and then discover that your arrogant prat of a GP had written 'time waster' in your medical records.

When the surgeon is so fed up with having to deal with this GPs incompetence that she shared details with me, I suspect, in the hope that I would make a formal complaint and get the idiot GP barred. That she'd insisted he come to the hospital and apologise to me.

Then you realise that some GPs are so arrogant, so incompetent, so full of inflated big-doctor male ego, that they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the general public. I will defend the NHS with my dying breath but we need to say it how it is. When something is wrong, it needs to be called out and dealt with.

And breathe...😂

YANBU of course they make mistakes, they’re human.
When they do make errors they can be huge, but they are protected by eachother.

I went to my GP with serious pain on my right hand side and she said it was ovarian cysts probably that all
women have. I went back a week later and was now in serious serious pain it was dire and she told me that it was probably the cyst but not to worry as it was referred. I went home and two hours later was in such a state a relative phoned the GP and she came out in the afternoon and gave me an injection of morphine and I was told I clearly had a low threshold for pain in other words a bit of a whimp.

She left and the relative put me in the car I was now moaning and vomiting and drove me to hospital. I don’t remember much else I was in so much pain I wasn’t screaming I just wanted to die. I remember that. I remember vaguely having blood taken - later I was told it was a friend that took the blood but I couldn’t speak by then and she was shocked as she said I was grey and I could raise my head off the pillow.

Long story short - it was a burst gangrenous appendix weeks and weeks in hospital and ICU after.

when I got home the GP visited and did apologise but looking back - how could she not have done an exam or even thought appendix ??? It was 30 years ago I was lucky to be taken to hospital. I was lucky from there it was pretty much an immediate operation. The surgeon said the operation for appendix was the longest he had done due to the condition and told my family I was very lucky

I agree. I don't know what the answer is. I've been dismissed twice. 2 of my closest friends their parents died, in unnecessary pain - worse than it needed to be. You hear lots of stories of various degrees of negligence I am thus aware.

At least, in the UK, they is a basic standard in their education. I am working overseas at the moment and had anaphylaxis. As I was being discharged I asked the Dr about my still swollen face and what to do next. He shrugged and said 'bad allergy, maybe something you smell or eat' and left the room.

I found a Canadian allergist a few days later, who was awesome, helped identify the trigger and also gave me the rather crucial epipen.