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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To complain about GP?

34 replies

Hinchunup · 20/08/2019 21:50

My son has been ro GP on three occasions with testicle pain. Std checks, urine samples followed by 2 courses of antibiotics despite no infection found. This went on for 3 months. Referred for scan with no abnormalities found. This weekend he had pain and vomiting and went a and e as I had no faith in GP. He had emergency surgery and had his testicle removed on Friday. We're horrified at misdiagnosis and want to complain but have been with go for many years . Does anyone have advice?

OP posts:
ShrinkWrap · 21/08/2019 07:45

Also OP I assume son already counselled about freezing a sperm sample just in case

dollydaydream114 · 21/08/2019 08:15

Sorry to hear about your son. If it’s any consolation, my brother lost a testicle to the same condition and he’s now got six kids. He has a synthetic ball on one side and it’s affected his life in absolutely no way whatsoever.

However, I agree with PPs that there is little to be gained from complaining about your GP. Diagnosis isn’t as black and white as you think it is. Scans can be inconclusive. Symptoms can be atypical. I had a horrible and common condition go undiagnosed for years, in similar circumstances.

I know what has happened is horrible and traumatic, but that doesn’t mean it’s anyone’s fault. Not everything is.

I’ve also just seen that your son isn’t a child as I first assumed, but a grown man of 21. So any complaint needs to be led by him, not you.

PawPawNoodle · 21/08/2019 08:26

@Hinchunup "I believe that had we knowledge of the condition he would have sought help as soon as the pain started. He had felt the pain in the days prior to the acute onset and took pain relief as he didn't believe gp could help. Had we known what may have been happening we would've sought help earlier with the possibility of a better outcome."

How is this in any way your GPs fault? Your son didn't go to the GP (or indeed any medical practitioner by the sounds of it) when his symptoms worsened, was the GP supposed to be a clairvoyant that can sense his pain without seeing him and tell you a new theory plucked out of thin air?

I am sorry that this has happened to your son and that you are both angry that he has sadly lost a small part of him, however this is not down to the negligence of your doctor.

Hinchunup · 21/08/2019 08:31

Again, thanks for the good advice and comments, I will ask re protocol. The complaint will come from my son ultimately and we will request notes etc. Urologist advised that prosthetics can be troublesome re becoming displaced and can increase risk of infection so he's not really thinking of that at the moment.

OP posts:
LambBeefandHedgehog · 21/08/2019 08:40

My DH had testicular cancer recently. He doesn’t have a prosthesis as he didn’t want something that was essentially a foreign object inside him unnecessarily. You can’t tell, trust me!

Torsion can twist and untwist as a pp said. Your first step would be to talk to the practice manager.

MidniteScribbler · 21/08/2019 10:26

He had felt the pain in the days prior to the acute onset and took pain relief as he didn't believe gp could help. Had we known what may have been happening we would've sought help earlier with the possibility of a better outcome.

How is any of that the GPs fault?

Fretfulparent · 21/08/2019 10:47

I am a HCP
What would have helped here is the GP reassuring him that nothing worrying had shown up and that the GP expected things to settle BUT then describing unusual or unexpected " red flag" symptoms that the patient should be aware of and act on urgently.

Safety netting

HopelessLayout · 21/08/2019 11:15

If you want to know if you have a legal case, you need an expert to say precisely what steps should have been taken and in what order.

You can often find this information on GP notebook (search for acute scrotal pain) but I ran out of free pages before I could find anything on this particular topic.

Holidaysmoliday · 21/08/2019 11:49

Sorry OP but essentially he’s had a good outcome although you may not see it that way right now

Left untreated a torsion can kill- the testicle becomes starved of a blood supply and oxygen and dies/tots which can cause septicaemia and death.

So the fact the NHS promptly and safely operated has saved his life.

His presentation right up until the severe pain episode was atypical. Managing as possible infection (including screening for STD) and organising an ultrasound and then when all that was clear and pain still present, doing a urology referral was very good management by the GP.

Intermittent torsion is rare.
I suspect your son was told at least once by his GP that if the pain worsened significantly he should seek sos help- which he did.

Your son can discuss events with his GP but all a complaint will do is cause immense anxiety in the GP, take up time responding and involving the defence union which could be better used seeing patients.

All GPs reflect on practice all the time and when the letter from the hospital is received detailing the outcome of surgery, they will discuss and look at the case to see if any lessons could be learned

Believe me the vast majority of GPs hate feeling they didnt do all they could and are hugely bothered and distressed if they feel they fell short.

But in all honestly your son appears to have had thorough prompt and appropriate care and the outcome is that he is alive and well.

Sometimes people get ill and with the best will in the world it can’t be prevented.

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