Scary Doctor Incompetence

[chinaski]

My girlfriends best friends mother was found unconscious at the bottom of her 2nd story stairs. When they found her this last Saturday, she had been in a coma for at least 36 hours. The doctors believed she had a heart attack at the top of the stairs, fell down them and then had a severe stroke. Skip too Wednesday... the family and her doctors have a meeting, the doctors tell them there is zero chance of her coming out of the coma and surviving - the longer shes stays in this coma the more likey it will lead to organ failure ect. They recommend taking her off of life support Saturday (tomorrow) - the family painfully agrees its for the best.

So this morning, Bonnie comes out of the coma.

Upon further inspection, the doctors determine she didnt have a stroke after all.

How the hell?? They said the stroke was so severe, its what put her into the coma. now they say she just had a concussion. they still stand by the heart attack diagnosis. you would think a major stroke is a pretty cut and dry diagnosis? this is scary, if her awakening was just one more day out, they would have taken her off of life support.

Shes still not out of the woods, but she is responsive and can feel touch. Shes able to squeeze your hand, but not able to talk yet. this is all amazing news, but i cant help but be pissed at these doctors. how can they get it sooo wrong?

[Eaglesfan27]

Wow. That is a pretty big F'up.

[terpkristin]

That's pretty crazy. I don't know how easy it is to "misdiagnose" a stroke or what her symptoms were that led them to think that....but that seems like a huge screw up.

I hope she continues to recover...

/tk

[CamEdwards]

Just imagine what the stroke victim who was diagnosed as suffering from a sprained ankle is going through right now.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

That's pretty crazy. I don't know how easy it is to "misdiagnose" a stroke or what her symptoms were that led them to think that....but that seems like a huge screw up.

I hope she continues to recover...

/tk

did they do a ct scan or an mri??!!

if they did either of these, which should be pretty standard practice in a stroke victim, they would have seen either bleeding inside the brain, or a blood clot blocking a blood vessel.

either way, it should have been a pretty obvious thing if neither of those were present that she didnt have a massive coma inducing stroke (you can have a stroke without either of those things present, but those kind of strokes dont incur PVS's)

i would call that a huge fuck up by the doctors, for either not doing the diag. scan or for not being able to read it.

[saldana]

dola, glad to hear she is getting better.

[chinaski]

Originally Posted by saldana

did they do a ct scan or an mri??!!

if they did either of these, which should be pretty standard practice in a stroke victim, they would have seen either bleeding inside the brain, or a blood clot blocking a blood vessel.

either way, it should have been a pretty obvious thing if neither of those were present that she didnt have a massive coma inducing stroke (you can have a stroke without either of those things present, but those kind of strokes dont incur PVS's)

i would call that a huge fuck up by the doctors, for either not doing the diag. scan or for not being able to read it.

I dont know which scans they did, were traveling up to Seattle on Thursday to be with her - ill ask then. im so bewildered why this happened and how it could get this far. I was pretty sure diagnosing a stroke was basically a no brainer for any trained doctor. poor family, going thru all of this - making the decision to end life support, only to find out the doctors were complete morons. gah.

[Franklinnoble]

The biggest misconception in the world is that doctors are somehow smarter than the rest of us.

Start treating your doctors like you'd treat your auto mechanics, and you'll get better results.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

The biggest misconception in the world is that doctors are somehow smarter than the rest of us.

Start treating your doctors like you'd treat your auto mechanics, and you'll get better results.

Well, I think that's a tad unfair. I think they're generally smarter than us when it comes to diagnosis and treatment as they've had training in that field. However, they're certainly not infallable and there is some wiggle room there as there are better and worse doctors just like in any field.

It's like someone who starts a post here about "why doesn't my monitor work" and people suggest everything from "your graphics card is hosed" to "check the cable to see if there are any bent pins" to "was it hit by a power surge". Then, two hours later, there's a post about how the monitor wasn't plugged in (d'oh). Sure, it's overly obvious when you know what the problem was but all of those other things could have caused monitor problems too so that doesn't make those other people any less wrong in their diagnostic and treatment abilities- it just so happened this wasn't the case now.

SI

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

The biggest misconception in the world is that doctors are somehow smarter than the rest of us.

Start treating your doctors like you'd treat your auto mechanics, and you'll get better results.

I think even all doctors know that Steve Young isn't overrated, sooo....

[Glengoyne]

This a Kaiser hospital?

Live Long and Thrive. OKAY well maybe not long, but if you avoid any major health problems and thus our hospitals, it could happen.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

The biggest misconception in the world is that doctors are somehow smarter than the rest of us.

Start treating your doctors like you'd treat your auto mechanics, and you'll get better results.

No, but they are more educated in the field of medicine, which means that their opinions should be trusted in most cases. Plus, they aren't usually going to try to sell you an extra leg or tell you that your arm is broken as well when you come in because you have a cold.

[Franklinnoble]

Seems like my analogy is being misinterpreted.

I'm not suggesting that a doctor doesn't know more about medicine than I do.

What I mean is that a car mechanic also knows more about cars than I do... but I treat my mechanic with a very healthy dose of skepticism when he's diagnosing a problem with my car.

I'm the same way with my doctors.

Oh, and I don't have anything nice to say about the Kaiser medical system, either.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Seems like my analogy is being misinterpreted.

I'm not suggesting that a doctor doesn't know more about medicine than I do.

What I mean is that a car mechanic also knows more about cars than I do... but I treat my mechanic with a very healthy dose of skepticism when he's diagnosing a problem with my car.

I'm the same way with my doctors.

Oh, and I don't have anything nice to say about the Kaiser medical system, either.

so whom do you trust to diagnose your car? obviously a second opinion is a wise course of action in most cases, but what about if your car breaks down on the highway? or if your mom has a stroke and falls down the stairs? would you scoff and and ask for a second opinion at this point, or just hope that the doctor knows best and let him go ahead and treat her the best way he can?

or maybe you do something else?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

or maybe you do something else?

Having been through a situation at least somewhat similar (right diagnosis of cause but similarly totally blown call re: withdrawing life support), it seems pretty obvious to me that whenever that option is put into play then it's time for at least a second opinion, maybe more than that.

More than once in my life, at least 3 times to be more precise, I've seen "professionals" push the option of withdrawing life support too hard and prematurely, only to have the supposedly "hopeless" patient make an unexpected recovery less a week after their target date/time for pulling the plug.

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

This a Kaiser hospital?

Live Long and Thrive. OKAY well maybe not long, but if you avoid any major health problems and thus our hospitals, it could happen.

Hahahaha. I was about to post the same thing.

Friends Don't Let Friends Go To Kaiser Hospitals

[chinaski]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

This a Kaiser hospital?

Live Long and Thrive. OKAY well maybe not long, but if you avoid any major health problems and thus our hospitals, it could happen.

It doesnt seem to be a Kaiser hospital, at least from what I can see on their website. This is Evergreen Hospital in Seattle Washington.