Reporting a doctor

LegacyUser

Just read something on another thread about someone reporting their doctor, and it got me thinking. My mam was diagnosed with bladder cancer in January of 07. For at least three months before that she had been going to her doctor complaining of things, like pains etc. The doctor prescribed antibiotics AT LEAST 5 TIMES. I think it was actually more. But only when she was passing so much blood in the end she went into the A&E and got a diagnosis.

She died just over two years later, in March this year. Even her homecare nurse said that if she had been diagnosed earlier she would've had a better chance.

Surely this is then down to the doctor that just kept ignoring the problem...?? Should we consider looking into reporting her? She's been a doctor for everyone in the family since we were young, and I gave up going to her years ago cos I had IBS, and I went to her about it when it started, she just brushed it off, told me to take painkillers. Only got this diagnosis last year (ten years later). She's just pretty useless. And the fact that it seems now my mam would still be alive only for her laziness, makes me feel we should report her.

What do you guys think?

carlybabe1

absolutely OP, there are far too many doctors out there who dont do their job well enough, yes report her

leesmom

op i could have written this myself 4 and a half years ago, only difference was my mum had colon cancer. she literally plagued her doctor telling him that she was ill, constantly asking to be tested. she knew something was wrong. between 2001 and 2003(when she was diagnosed) she had 3 colonoscopys. nothing was picked up, even though she had cancer, this consultant has since been made a professor.
anyway when she died i wrote a letter to her gp asking him why he had not picked up on the symptoms, , she had them all for the type of cancer she had. he wrote back to me very symapatetic:rolleyes: saying his mother had died of the same type of cancer and he understood what i was feeling, blah,blah. he said i was free to go to his office to discuss it with him and he could get details of all the concultants my mum had been to over it. but thats not what i was askin for really, i wanted to know why , he as a gp never picked up on something when someone is constantly going to your sugery.,paying you money the dont have telling you what is wrong with them and you let them go undiagosed until their illness is terminal.
i never did go to talk to him after that, i was only 16 at the time and had a lot to deal with, it was quite difficult also as my aunty is a nurse and would have nothing bad spoken about ANY doctors, anytime i brought it up she would say ah hes a good doctor?
anyway after my long wafflly post, i think YES you should report the gp, if we go to them with symptoms and they dont pick up on what you have after constant visits then why should they be allowed to practice and do damage to more people.

LegacyUser

thanks for the responses. Thinking about the reality of doing it now feels odd. I just feel my family would be against it, probably for fear of upsetting things. I don't know how they would take it.

Leesmom what do you think?

Victor

I think you need to proceed carefully.

I think, first talk to either a solicitor or another doctor (perhaps not in the same area) and determine the best way to proceed and also whether a different intervention would have had a different result.

Op,
I think you would be far better off putting your energy into an awareness campaign.
Along the lines of if you are not happy wth your doctors advice ,it's very important to get a 2nd or 3rd opinion ESPECIALLY if you are still unwell.

I'd not be reporting doctors unless there were several cases of bad diagnosing that you were aware of.
In the absense of that just channel your energies into support charities.
You'd be far better off going down the ronan keating route.
Less pain in the long run.

LegacyUser

OP, I would agree with the other opinions offered here, particularly that of Black Briar regarding putting your efforts in to an awareness campaign as perhaps being the better response at this time.
I understand your strong feelings of anger after your mother's illness and late diagnosis. Obviously it is very upsetting and you feel the pain years later. I would think carefully about making an official report at this stage. Getting involved in a dispute might only add to that pain.

I would agree that if a person feels they are not being treated as they would like/expect by their GP, they should go to another, or seek a second opinion or third opinion.
GP's are only human after all and prone to errors like us all, especially when busy or under pressure. Like every other profession there are good ones and less good ones. It is just unfortunate that some times their mistakes can have serious consequences.

My sympathy on the loss of your mother.

leesmom

well firstly i forgot to say that i did get a friend of my mums who works in the law area to check the letter for me to make sure i wasnt saying anything that could have gotten me in to trouble.
the reason i didnt do anything at the time was because of my family and because i was so young and had to live with my aunty and uncle(my mum was a single parent) which meant i had to do evryting they wanted me to do and i was afraid to go against them.
i know my mum did want to report the consultant that tested her for cancer 3 times and didnt pick it up even though it had spread to her liver. she didnt report him becuse she was determined to ensure nothing stood in her way of getting the best treatment possible in an attempt to live for as long as she could for me.
as the time has passed the anger i have for the doctors has slowly left me, not entirerly, when i think about it does really upset me to think that if it wasnt for their lack of care my mum wouldnt have had to suffer in the way she did.
if you do report the doctor i dont know what effect it will have ,whether it will be followed through or not. when i wrote the letter to the doctor it did help my healing process slighlty.
im not sure really what you should do, i think you are probably very angry and are in a way looking for answers as to why this happend to your mum.
i think over and over again doctors will make mistakes and people will go to doctors and feel like their questions havent been properly answered.
i dont know what the answer is, my mum went to several doctors over a very short period of time when her gp failed to help, each of those gps also failed to pick up on anything sending her home with antobiotics and tonics until she almost collapsed in work and had to be driven to a and e.

LegacyUser

Thanks for the responses esp leesmom.

I know people probably think that this is all in anger over mam dying, and i did feel some anger for a month or so after. but that passed, to a point. But this is more about the doctor actually being able to get away with it, and she never apologised, to mam or anyone. My dad still goes to her, though he can see how sh*t she is. She's all about pre-cautions with us now.but i actually still worry about him going to her (he's had blood pressure problems in the last few months). I don't trust her at all.

Anyway rant over. I'll think about it a bit more before deciding.

Thanks for all the input again....