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Right... give me as many stories as possible about doctors/consultants getting things wrong

84 replies

emkana · 10/03/2006 21:03

Going through a difficult time atm with uncertainty about my unborn baby's health.

Even though it might be clutching at straws it would cheer me up to hear stories about how doctors can get things wrong. So please indulge me! Anything - pregnancy-related or not - welcome!

OP posts:
muma3 · 12/03/2006 13:42

my grandad has hereditary bowel cancer and was told 19 years ago he had 6 months to live !!!

Highlander · 12/03/2006 18:14

DH( who is a doctor) looked at my swollen heel and said there was nothing wrong with it.

I went to the GP who said it was a nasty infection.

harrisey · 12/03/2006 19:21

My dh also a doc, misdiagnoses things with us all the time
Mind you, he freely admits he's not being balanced dealing with his family and usually thinks our things are much worse than they really are!

Blu · 12/03/2006 19:36

Emkana - we went through the whole scary scan business, with the consultatnts muttering about all sorts of very unpleasant c0onditions. What I didn't realise was that only a tiny proportion of children with the indicators that DS had actually had anything abnormal to show for it.

When he was born, i felt that the paediatricians were hovvering hopefully over every scan and x-ray, looking for those rare ocurrences that are research-progressing for them, but heart-stopping for a parent.

They deal in tiny margins of difference. The best units are also research units - they always look for the rare and new.

I know none of this will take your worry away - nothing will, because even a very slim statistic is a huge thing in your emotional landscape.

But you know what it feels like to hold a newborn and love them, and that will happen, whatever your baby may or may not have. Your baby may well be 100% absolutely fine - or may need some help. But I do think consultants have a sort of magnifying effect on the chance of a problem.

HERE'S a good consultant story:

Hesters consultant offered termination at 30 weeks because her baby had talipes - clubfoot, and said it could be an indicator for all sorts of other things. The problem turned out to be simple and 100% treatable without surgery!!

Caligula · 12/03/2006 19:37

I once had a doctor who misdiagnosed a miscarriage as a kidney infection

And another one who misdiagnosed gallstones for IBS. He also diagnosed something my DS, who was about 4 at the time, had (maybe a virus, maybe food poisoning, maybe something completely different, we'll never know now) as a form of IBS.

He's very keen on IBS

drosophila · 12/03/2006 19:50

A friend of a friend was told that there was a very high chance of her baby having Down's after Amnio. THey did not abort and baby was fine.

Heard a similar story on TV except in this case they did abort and the baby was fine. Terribly sad. The woman had fertility problems and had taken 10yrs to concieve.

Sometimes I think these tests are more a curse than anything. They give more questions than answers and give us HUGE amounts of worry at a time when you a less able to cope with it.

drosophila · 12/03/2006 19:52

Also DP's brother was sent home from A&E and told he had flat feet which is why he had the pain in his foot. ABout 4 days later he died.

nulnulcat · 12/03/2006 20:25

gp missed my pre eclampsia! told me i was making a fuss about nothing and pregnancy wasnt meant to be comfortable, dd had reflux asthma missed and worse of all meningitus!! when i couldnt wake her up properly one day i was told babies are supposed to sleep a lot! gp has since been struck off

nulnulcat · 12/03/2006 20:25

i had menigitus at 18 mum called gp out and he told my mum i had a hangover 1 hr later i was in intensive care!

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