You'd think health care professionals would be more careful when communicating a diagnosis, especially when they won't take the effort to do it face to face but drop it on someone by phone. Yesterday my wife's youngest sister called my wife in a full panic. She had just undergone an MRI for a lump on her back. The doctor called her at work telling her she had lymphoma and was being set up to see a surgeon. My sister-in-law was terrified to get this cancer diagnosis, wondering if she was doomed to an early death. So the next morning she called the doctor and asked for more information. Then she was told she had a lipoma, a fatty lump, not a blood cancer and had just misheard the doctor the day before. I found this whole episode unbelievable but glad that at least the confusion was now clarified.
Medical miscommunication
- Thread starter vito
- Start date
Colonel Daddy
Buckeye
That's certainly enough to make one panic!!
Vito, I hear what you ar saying. I'm actually diabetic, and I just went in for a regular visit on Tuesday. On Thursday, I get a call from the pharmacy with questions about a new medicine I have not even heard of. My doctor changed the medicine i take without telling me. Very frustrating.
It took a few phone calls back and forth to the nursing staff to figure out the outcome. It's all straightened out now, but not very fun at all.
I'm glad you're sister in law had a good outcome.
It took a few phone calls back and forth to the nursing staff to figure out the outcome. It's all straightened out now, but not very fun at all.
I'm glad you're sister in law had a good outcome.
pisgah
Buckeye
Having recently been through a diagnosis of malignant tumors on one kidney and the subsequent removal of that kidney, I can attest to the fact that medical miscommunication is the norm. After the first incident, I insisted that my doctors communicate any information they developed immediately, in my presence, with my primary care physician, who had agreed to be my surrogate medical advocate in the event I could not advocate for myself. It got a bit heated at times with a couple of them when I said, "There's the phone, doctor. Call her NOW and tell her this", but in the end they all complied with my demand. In recovery after surgery when I came out of anesthesia and the surgeon gave me his report of how it went he pulled out his cell phone and said, "Now we call Dr. H."
coach
Hunter
It's good to have an advocate to listen to what the doctors are saying. The emotions of the moment can make it difficult to comprehend or remember exactly what was said. Having another doctor as an advocate seems like a real plus.
toysoldier
Hunter
Sometimes medical professionals get things mixed up. In urology, there's a big difference between "urethral" (the outflow tube from the bladder) and "ureteral" (the tube from the kidney to the bladder). I've had to remind our schedulers to make sure they get it correct, as there's a big difference in what we set up for surgery.
As for getting medical information second- or third-hand from a lay person, forget it. It is almost always mangled.
As for getting medical information second- or third-hand from a lay person, forget it. It is almost always mangled.
OP
I think its always advisable to have someone with you to provide a second set of ears when meeting with your health care provider about a diagnosis, or plan for treatment or anything related to that. Not only are emotions clearly able to interfere with what you hear and comprehend, but you just might miss some nuance which is very important. I worked in health care my entire working life, albeit in an administrative capacity. But I have seen enough confusion and misunderstandings, even by educated and well informed people, that I always have my wife come with me for important medical appointments. When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer while being evaluated for a kidney stone (in the other kidney) and was told that I would almost certainly have to have the cancerous kidney removed, I really didn't hear or understand much else that was discussed.
Sometimes the health care provider makes assumptions about the knowledge of the patient that he or she should not assume. While I was in the military and served as the Inspector General on an Army base with a large medical facility, I had a soldier come in with a complaint that he was given pills so large that he could not swallow them, but was afraid to complain directly to the military doctor and wanted my help. He told me that he had swallowed one, but didn't think he could possibly try again because he was sure he would choke. Fortunately I asked to see the "pills" in question because I had never heard of pills too large to swallow. The soldier had been given suppositories but had not been given any instructions as to what they were or how to use them. He was just told to use one each morning. True story.
Sometimes the health care provider makes assumptions about the knowledge of the patient that he or she should not assume. While I was in the military and served as the Inspector General on an Army base with a large medical facility, I had a soldier come in with a complaint that he was given pills so large that he could not swallow them, but was afraid to complain directly to the military doctor and wanted my help. He told me that he had swallowed one, but didn't think he could possibly try again because he was sure he would choke. Fortunately I asked to see the "pills" in question because I had never heard of pills too large to swallow. The soldier had been given suppositories but had not been given any instructions as to what they were or how to use them. He was just told to use one each morning. True story.
Long time ago (35+ years) when I had a real job... I had to get a blood test to become a permanent employee (this was with a hospital system)... week after giving blood they call me in and tell me I have a severe liver enzyme deficiency .... show me the chart and the line on the graph drops almost down to zero..... nurse ask me all kinds of question about how much I alcohol I drink.. other drugs and such.... So, I have to go see a doctor... takes another week or two to get an appointment and he looks at the charge... ask all kinds of questions and then I remember working at a laminating plant one summer breathing paint thiner.... he says the next step is a biopsy to see what's going on... "Oh, cr^((" ..... as I leave he says me might aught to do another blood test first... week later someone from the doctor's office calls and tells me the 2nd blood test shows I'm just fine... almost a month of expecting to get ready to die or at least have to change my life... and then I find out someone in the lab probably bumped the machine when the first blood test was running......
told this to a nurse a year or so later and she said you should always get a second test if the first one doesn't look good.
told this to a nurse a year or so later and she said you should always get a second test if the first one doesn't look good.
pisgah
Buckeye
blume357 said:
Amen, my brother. I had a very similar experience 15 years ago when my then-doctor (who, just coincidentally, had recently bought a treadmill and EKG machine for his office) insisted that I must have a stress test. Why? Well, never had one before. Okay. (Through talking to scores of his other patients -- small towns do have advantages -- I discovered that without exception he had found the same "medical need" for stress tests for them, too, at about the same time.)
After he glanced at the results, he told me he saw "something" he didn't like, and said he was referring me to a cardiologist. What was the "something"? He wouldn't say.
Off to the cardiologist, who did a nuclear stress test and $2500 later told me I had a right-bundle branch block -- the result of a birth defect common to a huge percentage of the population and one for which the accepted treatment was, do nothing. In the absence of any other symptom of cardiac problems, it is harmless.
So, I suppose happily, I have not yet dropped dead of cardiac arrest -- although in the period before I knew the final result I could have just, just from the worry.
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When I had a weird lump on my back, I went to have it checked. I thought the doctor told me it was a lymphoma, and not of worry about it. So I told anybody who asked, that it was a lymphoma, and I wasn't worried about it.
They all thought I had cancer and was in denial. It took a while for me to realize it was a lipoma, and it was different than a lymphoma. LOL.
In my defense this happened before the internet.
When I met my wife, she decided she wanted to see what was in the lump, so she squeezed it until it popped. It was really nasty and foul smelling. Now it is really small it must drain on its own in the shower.
They all thought I had cancer and was in denial. It took a while for me to realize it was a lipoma, and it was different than a lymphoma. LOL.
In my defense this happened before the internet.
When I met my wife, she decided she wanted to see what was in the lump, so she squeezed it until it popped. It was really nasty and foul smelling. Now it is really small it must drain on its own in the shower.
Some years back my barber asked me if I had ever seen a dermatologist about a bump on my head. I said no but, I would have it checked. So, went to Dr. , bump was fine but, there was a malignant skin cancer on a forearm that took 2 tries to dig it all out.
phonejack said:
Nasty stuff, a friend had one on his arm taken off last year. Now when he told me he was going to have it removed he said he had a "spot" taken off.
Well I saw him a month later and it looked like someone had taken an ice cream scooper and taken a chunk out of his arm. It looked awful and this was after much healing had begun. I couldn't believe they did that to him but I suppose it takes what it takes to get it all.
toysoldier
Hunter
eveled said:
That was NOT a lipoma, that was an inclusion cyst. Lipomas are solid lumps of fat, a "fatty tumor." I have seen them as large as a baking potato.
