cathy Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Hi all...just need to share what happened yesterday when my dad went for radiation... he's been suffering from severe shortness of breath.... told his radiologist, that he thought it might be a side affect from the radiation... he said he knew of a few people(thank you wilma) that have suffered from this....the radiologist got angry with my dad and said to him " the radiation would not cause it maybe after his treatment was completely over and I'm the doctor so go get your treatment" Can you believe the arrogance? My dads responce was " I'm the patient and I'm not getting it" Well my dad got in the same day to see his lung specialist and was told to quit radiation because something is going on. .... he couldnt pass the breathing test either.... his lung specialist said good for him for saying what he did to the radiologist.... He's going tomorrow for a cat scan to see if he has radiation pneumonitis. Needless to say he is going to switch radiologist if he need more radiation at a later date. He was beginning his 5th week.... I found this incident totally unacceptable.... what do you think? P:S Wilma, thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU...................cathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karma1976 Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 That is completly unacceptable. good for your dad!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gail Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 I had radiation with my first breast cancer. I found that radiologist completely cold. He actually stood there and waited for me to take my top off. At that time I had no idea I was to be examined. It was a trying time, and he didn't help. Needless to say, I switched doctors too. We can only hope they learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karma1976 Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 eww gail what an a*s he must have been. Thank god you changed Radiologists!! I mean be professional it is not your fault he had maybe spent too many years in the books and not on dating! haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 I once saw a man who bought a "lemon" from a car dealership, they wouldn't take the van back and give him his money back. So he spray painted on the side of this white van in huge letters "This Lemon Was Bought At ABC Car Dealership in Portsmouth NH". It got so much attention that he got a new Van. It is too bad that we don't have a publication or something that we can say "I got crappy health care at..." After all what is more important to a person than there health???? I don't have cancer (Mom Does) but I had a broken bone in my leg that an MRI missed... because of massive swelling.. etc.. It doesn't happen very often... I was told to go to therapy and lift weights. I was crying with pain for like two months. The doctor told me I was "babying" myself and to go back and try harder. Finally I got the money to switch doctors and I had to have a cast and an operation to correct it and the damage in my knee caused by lifting the weights! It set me back by months Doctors need to be held accountable... Sometimes I think that they give you those statistics for malpractice insurance reasons. I mean what good is a statistic anyway... I think they are Covering their butts.. making you sign disclaimers and all. Only way you can be compensated is if you sue them and who has the energy to do that when your not feeling well. Sorry I got a little worked up there. But I'm glad your Dad is getting a better doctor and spoke up for himself! I will be praying that the new doctor will be compassionate and provide him with healing... Laurie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debaroo Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Cathy, GOOD FOR YOU CATHYS DAD!!! That doctors behavior is what I would call a "What the--- " moment. It is unbelievable how they can hold THEMSELVES up on a pedistal like that. When I was about 22 I broke my ankle in a "freak" jet-skiing accident (the freak being me) and had a tri-maliolar break (all three ankle bones) anyway, as I lie on the stretcher in the ER this young orthopedic surgeon came in and said (I wish they had a emoticons face to represent an arrogant doctor) "Boy, you have bad luck-you have a bad break, you need surgery, the only good luck you have is that I'm going to be doing the surgery." I looked at him and said "I hope you can live up to what you think of yourself." Complete attitude adjustment after that. I mean, I'd never been under anasthesia before and I was really nervous. I'm so glad that your father had the courage to call the shots on his own behalf. Unfortunatly, I don't think too many people would have the confidence to do that. And it's great that his lung specialist was so supportive. It just goes to show you, listen to you gut, you know your body and how you feel-you have to be your own advocate. I'm sure your Dad knew you'd back him, too, which is a great help. Keep us posted as to how he's doing, and continue to take care, Deb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlon Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Oh man, Where to start. LOL. Two weeks ago, my mom was hospitalized again(for fever presumably caused by pneumonia). She has two pulmonologists at our local hospital. One guy, one lady. We didn't see EITHER of them until the next day, and they kept my mom in the ER for 6 hours, just doing nothing but giving her Motrin IB. I got there before they even sent her up to the hospital room. The nurse in the ER was freakin' nightmare. She was nice and all, but this lady couldn't figure out why her IV needle wouldn't fit into my mom's chemo port. LOL. She had to get someone from the Oncology floor, who uses different needles. And it gets even better... She had to draw blood from my mom from two different spots, one from her arm, one from her port. And while this lady was drawing the blood from her arm, she was pulling the IV hose as if to keep it straight. And PLOP! Out comes the IV needle, blood spurting and everything. "O my God!", I let out. In my head I'm thinking, "What an idiot!" Because of that interruption, she had to start over again. Can you believe that crap? My mom tried so hard not to give her a hard time, but failed. LOL. They finally sent my mom up to her room, and all you can hear is the doctors and nurses coughing and sneezing. It is cold here in the Midwest, and my mom told me that almost all the patients on that floor had pneumonia. So did she. So they kept her there for five days. I wasn't there, but when her guy pulmonologist finally comes in, he says "Oh its been a long time, Raquel". They got to talking about my mom's upcoming surgery to re-expand her lung, and the guy told her to be skeptical, because there isn't a high level of success with those "laporoscopic surgeries". He has absolutely no idea how miniminally invasive the VATS procedure is. That must have hurt his ego, because instead of being supportive, he's imposing his doctor's will on her. The next day, after all the tests on her fluid, he comes back and says that they might have to remove her Pleurx chest drainage tube, because they are afraid its gonna get infected. This was the guy who put it in back in October! My mom said something like, "No, if I'm gonna have a surgery I'm gonna have it at Lutheran", with the good lung surgeon we met with. Then this guy goes, "Well, next time you have a problem why don't you just go there then?" It is obvious to me that they gave her that chest tube because they didn't think she was going to live much longer. She gets better(no thanks to them), and he gives her a hard time. To me, it sounds like they don't want to be held accountable if she were to get an infection from the chest tube. Later on that day, the woman pulmonologist comes in and talks with my mom, and tells her its good that she's capable of having a surgery. I guess they talked it over with their doctor board, because the next day, the guy comes back in, and before releasing her says to do the surgery wherever, but get that chest tube out ASAP. He told her that chest tubes are still pretty experimental. The next week, my mom's PET and CT scans come back clean. Call me paranoid, but it sounds like they are using my mom as a guinea pig for research on chest tubes. Her lung surgeon isn't keen on those tubes, because they tend to cause problems in the long run. I wish we had found her first! I am seriously contemplating writing another letter to patient relations. I say we post the names of these people on here and show it to them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Wood Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Cathy, good for your dad! 'We tend to forget that the patient really has the final word, not the doctor. I'm glad he remembered. I personally don't cater to doctor ego stuff. My wife had radiation on her upper spine where the main NSCLC tumor is. She became hoarse and had trouble swallowing. It wasn't until we confronted the radiologist that he admitted this was probably from the radiation. He did take a visual probe of the throat, we all looked at it, and as he said, it looked normal. However, he really did not acknowledge her symptoms as important. She felt dismissed. We only had a few more treatments left, so we went ahead, but we told our regular oncologist about it and how unhappy we were. He suggested we go to another clinic if in the future we need more radiation. He at least heard my wife and her anxiety and acknowledged it. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginnyd Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 1. Both U of Penn and Fox Chase Cancer Center told my husband he should have surgery. It offered the best chance for cure. The radiologist who did the whole brain radiation said - You should not have the surgery, it will not cure you and you will probably have severe pain the rest of your life. Don't know yet if it cured him, but he does not have any pain now at all. What does a radiologist know about chest surgery. 2. We went to two thoracic surgeons - two opinions. Funny, they both scheduled surgery for 12/3. When we called the first surgeon to tell them we had made the decision to go with the 2nd surgeon, his secretary said "Oops, he forgot to schedule that surgery". We had a brochure with the instructions and the date and time of surgery. Arrogant, uncaring etc. thank God not all doctors are like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teetlee Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Thank God for people like y'all who don't have a problem reminding doctors that they are not God and they need to get off their pedastels. My first onc. was a grandfather type. When I would ask questions he would pat me on the head and say you don't need to know that. Well, I guess I finally grew up and had enough when he made me wait 10 days for my pet scan results. He actually tried to blame his receptionist. I found a new onc. who does answer my questions and much more. Really regret I didn't do it sooner. Teet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathy Posted February 19, 2003 Author Share Posted February 19, 2003 You know its unbelievable all the stories...... I know there is a website QUESTIONABLEDOCTORS.COM, however I think its drs. that have had legal actions against them..... there is a list of the drs. but anything more you want to know they charge a fee....I did look his radiologist up in the beginning of my dads treatment but his name wasnt on the list..... I just feel if he did this to my dad who else is going to have to suffer..... I dont think we can just forget about it....I keep thinking what if my dad went for that treatment what would have happened to him....... everyone else has stories just as scary....... When I started to read all the different incidents I just shook my head because I cant believe it ..... something needs to be done.... Its not fair to the ones who have suffered..... I keep you posted .....cathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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