Should I complain about this doctor?

[fluffydressinggown]

To preface, I have named changed and I don't want compensation or anything just to make the doctor aware of how she made me feel.

I cut myself (self harm) yesterday afternoon, it was a longish and deep cut so I went to A&E.

After a 3 hour wait I saw the doctor. She stitched my leg with 10 normal stitches (the amount is relevant), I expressed concern that as the wound was gaping quite a bit it might not close very well. I also did not feel that she had given me adequate local anaesthetic because I could feel the needle going in as she did the stitches and it was pretty painful. At this point she said "well you shouldn't have self harmed then." She also asked me my job. I am a teacher and in response to this she said "it is just playing with children and not very stressful."

I had to dress the wound myself, she did not wash her hands at all throughout the procedure and she seemed to really struggle with actually doing them and they looked really loose and the wound was left gaping inbetween the stitches.

Got up this morning and 7 of the stitches had opened up and come out and the wound was gaping. Rang A&E and they said to come back. Seen again by a different doctor who referred me to plastics straight away. 10 internal stitches and 20 normal stitches later my leg is properly closed up, I had to have the wound re-opened and the edges cut open again so they could close properly and it took about 2 hours for them to sew me up.

My husband is fuming that the first doctor did such a shoddy job and she said what she said to me. The doctor I saw today also suggested I complain.

Part of me thinks that I should just get over it and because it was self harm I kind of deserve everything I get. The other part of me is frustrated that she did such a poor job of managing the wound and I had to go back again today and spend another 5 hours at hospital being treated.

AIBU to complain or just being fussy?

Thank you for your kind replies. I have support for my mental health problems and I saw the crisis team yesterday.

I feel inconsolable, just so sad on a fundamental level and sometimes I just don't want to feel any more. I mean the self harm hurts, I felt physically sick cutting myself yesterday because of the pain but I just put up with it to cut in the way I feel I deserve. Sorry that sounds sick.

I looked at the bay today and there was all of this medical stuff strewn around and I just thought of quite how much money I have cost the NHS over the years and felt so sad.

If it was my Mum or friend I would be very angry but I suppose I feel that they wouldn't be so stupid to do this to themselves.

I will add the nurse referred me to the crisis team and the nurses I saw yesterday and today and the medical staff I saw today were really very very kind and professional and did a brilliant job and sorting my wound out. I thanked them profusely :)

Why - I am also fat and I am very aware of my professional responsibilities and of safe guarding procedures in terms of the children I teach.

Please complain, the cost to the NHS and all the rest of it is not something to be worrying about right now. I'm glad you've been to the crisis team, I hope they are helping you

Complain- YANBU - I have seen a lot of people with self harm wounds, some are self harmers who admit it, like you, and want help, other we think have self harmed, but they deny everything, but all deserve the same consideration, skill and care as anyone else who has an injury. The 1st Dr was completly unproffessional and incompetant at her job, and should be hauled over the coals for her lack of patient care and empathy

cost is a stick of the ignorant to beat those who deserve and need help.

Please try not to feel like this (easier said than done I know!) - self harm is a symptom of illness, you do not do it on purpose. You may deliberately hurt yourself but there is something much deeper that makes you do it, something that needs a lot of work to stop.

You don't just decide "oh I know, I'll cut myself" and anyone who thinks that is an imbecile.

Presumably why if we removed all teachers who ever do or suffer anything that may negatively impact on their own health and any who have ever been depressed, stressed or found certain events hard presumably we would be left with the kind of moronic dullards with minimal empathy or insight who might make comments as crass as yours.

Of course you should complain, the care was awful of you and the wound and don't you dare prioritise the wound! You are much more. Did she think she could get away with poor care because she sensed you wouldn't complain? Either that or she is useless either way not someone I want caring for people in vulnerable states.

It's not stupid. You're not stupid.

Don't give up on yourself. You can get well again.

yanbu.

you have MH problem, it does not mean you deserve soddy treatment. I hope you can get your MH problem under control.

"The doctor I saw today also suggested I complain."
That's a bit of a clue there OP. The first doctor was bang out of order. She's either incompetent (unable to close a wound) or unprofessional (allows her feelings towards a patient to dictate how well she does her job). Either way, she needs training to bring her skills up to scratch, and the other doctor knows it. It must be pretty horrible to work with crap colleagues and not be able to do anything about it, because the patients don't complain.

I can appreciate that you will find it difficult to do, and it seems to me this is related to why you self-harm in some way - feeling you are not worthy of adequate medical treatment. You are.

If you find it difficult to complain on your own behalf, consider who else she might treat so badly, and do it for them - but please, do it. No-one should be treated so shoddily.

Yanbu at all.

Why, that is spectacularly unhelpful.

So she either

A) can't stitch a signficant wound and does know (or won't) refer such a wound to someone who can stitch it appropriately - complaint justified, as obviously she needs training and/or limits on her practice.

B) She had her big judgy pants on and purposely did a bad job stitching you because she thought you deserved it for self harming - complaint definitely justified, I hardly think any medical professional would think some tough love (or blantant scathing comments) will snap someone out of a mental disorder, more likely to send them over the edge into serious harm.

A doctor in her hospital told you to complain, whichever way you look at this she did the wrong thing and unless steps are taken to find out why, it will happen again to someone else.

Chances are it won't be a complicated input from you (unless you sue, which is separate issue altogether), it will be filling out a form, agreeing to your notes being reviewed and possibly a follow up meeting with someone else in the hospital.

You should complain.

Please complain.
Oh, and if the other doctor suggested you complain, then please do so. This is not normal for Doctors, it means that the doctor concerned has previous and collegues are sick of it.

op you need to complain, luckly you have help and support from your husband. the next person may have no one to turn to and the result could be fatal

Am Ex-HCP here

COMPLAIN
COMPLAIN
COMPLAIN
COMPLAIN
COMPLAIN
COMPLAIN
COMPLAIN
COMPLAIN
COMPLAIN
COMPLAIN

A/E is not the place to make judgements like that about patients.
If you are a self harmer you are doing it for a reason, it is not up to her to make comment/ judgement. (Never her place to judge, but you know what I mean)

I would stick my neck out and say as an A/E doctor her job is to deal with the wound and have the knowledge to know who to refer you to.

I am sorry that this has happened to you. From your post it sounds as though your Husband is supportive? I hope you feel better soon.

Reallyfarout "Self harming is nothing like smoking and there is no magic 'help' to turn the need to do it off" - actually I think the compulsion to smoke is almost identical to the compulsion to self-harm and have found that doing one can help delay the need to do the other.

Both smokers and self-harmers should be afforded the same dignity.

Slow typer here

Would 2nd and 3rd that if if a Doc in the same hospital suggest complain, there is something seriously wrong here.

they normally stick together tigher than a cats bum!

I agree with Jenny70 - there is no way this is not worthy of a huge complaint, whether deliberate or incompetent.

schmee, I know exactly what you mean, but in terms of quitting, smoking isn't comparable. Smoking isn't an expression of desperate unhappiness.

Smoking can do the same job as self-harming, though, you're quite right. Speaking from experience.

I don't think she did a bad job on purpose, she was just totally incompetent and had no idea how to speak to someone who had self harmed. I think that is was has upset me the most, the fact that she had no idea how bad a job she was doing and I don't think it occurred to her to do anything but try to close it with normal stitches even though it was clearly a gaping wound. She asked me before she looked at it if it was bad and I thought, how do I know?

And then when I re-attended A&E I was worried they would think I had taken them out myself for attention and refuse to see me :( Sorry for my rambling.

The nice doctor today told me to write to the bad doctor's consultant about it and gave me his name. I am just worried they will dismiss me as attention seeking and dramatic because I am a self harmer, or they will think I re-opened the wound myself. Which I absolutely did not and have no interest in doing, the self harm to me is the cutting, the after care is an unavoidable hassle that I would rather not engage with but because I am an idiot I self harm to dangerous ways now and I have made a risk management plan with my therapist which promises I will always attend A&E after self harm because of the risk to myself. And I am trying to be as a safe as I can.

You should complain. If you think that she was 'just' ignorant of how to behave/suture/wash hands, rather than beling deliberately umpleasant then there is a good chance of a complaint being successful, because it will highlight the issues for the doctor, and if she is usually a competent person she will be gutted and work to address the issues.

Either way, if you dont complain then nothing will change.

Well they may have thought that. For a decent doctor that wouldn't have mattered anyway because they would've seen it as more proof of how much help you needed.

You NEED attention. Getting yourself the help you deserve and need is NOT the same as 'attention-seeking' in the common usage sense of the term. Not the same at all.

Why why did you feel the need to namechange to spout your shit filled post?

Not weak and pathetic - much.

Fluffy contact PALS and tell them.
You should have received better care.

Your complaint will not be ignored and the fact that you self harmed should not be a factor when dealing with incompetence.

I really cannot thank you enough for your kind kind replies to this thread. I was expecting to be flamed for being a self harming name changing teacher.

Thank you so so much for your kindness :) I will draft a letter tomorrow and post it on here for your expertise.

Fluffy you are definitely not an idiot. The second doctor gave you his name to use in your complaint so no one is going to think that you've done anything to the wound yourself. Please follow it through or at least talk to PALS at the hospital about it