Have you ever seen a bad doctor?

I have. Whatever the problem is, he makes a personal comment and then asks you if you're depressed about it and tells you to go for a long walk.

I've got a sore throat
you look a bit overweight, does that make you depressed?
What's that got to do with a sore throat?
Go for a long walk, that'll cheer you up

My stomach hurts
are you going bald, does that make you depressed?
What?
Try taking a long walk, that'll help with the depression

Bad doctor, nope. Bad NURSE, yes.

A few years back, my dog was going through behavioral issues because we had adopted another and so she was sort of adjusting to the new pooch in the house. She became withdrawn, cranky, etc, etc because she's a little old.

Anyway, to say the least, one day she bit me when I was trying to give her a bath. So, off to the hospital I went. She got my hand and there were no deep cuts . Just a 2 inch cut and fairly bruised. She seemed to have chomped on a nerve or something.

So, after waiting for a doctor, the nurse came in. Took a look at my hand and she spread OPEN the wound and she was like: "Is is painful? Is it painful?"

Shocked, I was like "OWWWW! OWWWWW!! YES IT'S PAINFUL."

Then, to my surprise, she started pressing down the swollen tissue surrounding the cut and again "Is it painful? Is it painful?"

I was like what the?!? So I yelped "OWWWWWWW! WHAT DO YOU THINK?" (close to tears -- yeah it so did bloody hurt)

Anyhoo, after that, she came in with an injection, didn't even bother to tell me to take off my shirt (was wearing a long sleeved cotton hoodie). She PULLED down my hoodie from my shoulder to get to my arm. I was like what in the world?!?

So, when the doctor came in, I was like: "Your nurse is a sadistic, horrible person." I wanted to say bitch but I was afraid she might come at me with another injection.

I detest doctors.

I broke my hand. I went to an orthopedic surgeon to make sure I didn't have nerve damage, because I play guitar. At the time, I was trying to TEACH guitar online, via video lessons.

So I had an eleven o'clock appointment. I arrived half an hour early, as directed.

At twelve thirty, the nurse informed me that the doctor would be there soon. Seems he had a late night last night, and overslept. She speculated he might even be a little hung over.

At about a quarter after one, the doctor arrived, and twenty minutes later I was sent back into an examination room. Just before two, the doctor comes into the room and asks what the problem is.

I smiled. "I've been waiting over three hours for you. Aren't you even going to explain why?"

And the doctor drew himself up and said "I was dealing with a patient emergency at the hospital," then went on to explain the life-and-death situation involved when one of his elderly patients fell and broke her hip this morning.

"That's funny," I said. "Your nurse said you overslept and were probably hung over from last night."

And there was a long, uncomfortable silence. Then he proceeded with the examination as though nothing had happened, and told me everything would be just fine.

Two years later, my fingers still don't work right, which of course means I can't play guitar like I used to. I'm trying to learn all over again, but it's hard. Things that once came easily don't come at all anymore. My instincts are all wrong.

It's the most frustrating thing ever, because I worked so damned hard for so many years to get the music to come down from my head and out through my fingers, and now it just... won't. It's all locked up in there, and it can't get out.

I had insurance when I saw that doctor. I could have had whatever operations I needed to repair my hand. Once it healed? Well, it's a whole different matter, now. It's become an elective procedure, and the risks are different, and it's quite possible the damage can NEVER be fixed.

I hate them. With a passion. I think they are the most useless, arrogant corksuckers on the planet.

Well, I saw a doctor that was SUPPOSED to give me a COMPLETE physical. I asked for a PSA test, which he did NOT give me. When I found out, he tried to tell me that I was too young. OK, OK, the LATEST things say I am a few years too young for THAT, but he didn't give me a DIGITAL exam EITHER! I did NOT want a digital exam, but I asked for a PSA exam. Some consider them roughly comparable and interchangable. If he says I should not have had a PSA, he should have at least OFFERED a digital, and should have TOLD me he wouldn't do the PSA. THAT was enough for me to consider him a QUACK! BTW the PSA requires him to basically check a box, it is NO effort on his part. Of course, the DIGITAL exam WOULD be an effort on his part. Do I have prostate cancer? WHO KNOWS!?!?!? He denied me BOTH tests!

OK, he ALSO took my blood pressure wrong. He missed something(because he could NEVER see it because he was a QUACK), that could have been solved by prescribing one or two drugs. Literrally 2 months later I nearly DIED! LITERALLY! The doctor said I had maybe 5 DAYS to live. I had an operation that cost over $200,000 dollars! And NOW I am on those two drugs!

As for the hand problem shown above? I can relate. I will tell you of a similar not so embarassing example. I split my lip. LITERALLY, I had about a 1" GASH THROUGH my mouth. They had me waiting for over THREE hours. The surgeon then ARGUED it did NOT go all the way through, though she later said it did. Had I not been SO careful, and maybe had the anticoagulants from the heart problem, that skin could have died, and I could have been disfigured FOR LIFE! LUCKILY, it healed up and now you would never know I had the problem. Of course, I had SOME problems, like a comedy of errors that left me with LOTS of hernias. I had all of THEM fixed which left me with more problems, AND an umbilical hernia. I got a new abdominal hernia from the heart surgery, as well as lost a large part of the right pectoralis major, and got a somewhat malformed chest.

Well, I have seen a LOT of bad nurses! MANY! One came back to listen to my heart because she couldn't tell her supervisor how my heart sounded the FIRST time she "listened" to it. MOST go lub dub lub dub. MINE goes lub ****CLICK**** lub ****CLICK****, because of the operation. Another figured I had an aorta problem, aorta goes to the heart, heart=cardiac, so I should go on the cardiac diet! It was CONTRAINDICATED for me!

OH YEAH, chiropractors? Like the one that left me in pain for THREE days!?!?!?

DENTISTS? Like the one that lied to me, as a little kid, saying that amalgam meant silver. I wondered how the melting point could be so low, etc... But I was there right then, nothing like the internet, and they wouldn't tell me the TRUTH. If I knew it had mercury, I would have said FORGET IT! And they stained my teeth, etc....

Steve

I won't even talk about the moron Dr. in an ER who almost pulled the lens right off my eye (leaving a still visible scar) trying to remove a sliver of metal...

His word "Oops...I guess thats too deep for ME!"

What? You don't even know you're own qualifications and limitations?

Here in Toronto, we have place where if we have a problem with a doctor then we can complain about them.

I have never heard too many stories of someone who does not like their doctor and had to leave them. If you feel that you want to then you can. We all have choices in our lives.

And remember, doctors are not GODS. They make mistakes too, right?

Tal

I haven't been to a doctor in years - just chiropractor and dentist and I love them both especially the free nitrous.

However two stories recently have got me so angry I could spit nails.

My friend went in for a physical because he wanted to start working out again. He passed with 'flying colors'. On the way out he mentioned well why do I have this pain in my neck and shoulder after my 16 hour online days for 15 years? (duh - I would just assume it is my neck and shoulders being strained).

OK son, lets take a look. Whoops! you have an artery that is 90% blocked and you need to go in to the hospital - 2 hours we will clean that out and you will rock like a 20 year old.

He went to hospital - they find (1) high blood sugar (how do you pass a physical with flying colors like that, yo?)

(2) Then they find out he has a congenital heart condition where the muscles are twisted - involves 5 arteries that are blocked by the twist.

He is now as we speak in open heart surgery for 4 hours with his heart stopped. (Please pray for him - he has the biggest heart in the world) only in his mid 50s, 3 kids, one only 3 years old.

Story#2 - My other friend's daughter lost 12 pounds in about a month and felt terrible. She goes to the doctor and BEFORE they do any tests or get any results they are informed it is a strong possibility she has Leukemia. She is 19 years old.

Well you can imagine how her mother was feeling - of course they take 2 weeks to come back with the results -

She has a fricking 'bad virus' - now I think that whoever even suggested a terminal disease without having any results should be FIRED.

(however this is a hospital where you hear stories over the years about people in surgery being sewed up with sponges and other instruments still inside them)... It is insurance but one step from a 'public' (read poverty) hospital).

Patrician,

They often don't check blood sugar AND, if they do, they have a HIGH tolerance, unless they SPECIFICALLY tell you to FAST! If you want a GOOD diabeties test, ask for an A1C. They are ONLY NOW starting to get them into drug stores. Apparently the only LEGITIMATE one in stores now is A1CNOW by BAYER. The OTHERS are fine for tracking, comparing, planning insulin, and detecting diabetes IF you fast, etc... but otherwise are worthless. In fact, unless the diabetes is off the chart, and you were really careful, you might want to do it several times. One tester I had said, IN THE DOCS, that it averaged a 20% error!!!!!! With 100 being normal, a 20% puts normal into pre-diabetes or diabetes. The A1C is bad for everything else but shows a history of your blood sugar so it is good as a diagnostic tool.

BtW The A1CNOW test apparently has 2 test sessions, and costs about $30 or so.

That 90percent blockage is NASTY, they shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. I would have said "It COULD be minor, but let's check things out to be sure." Frankly, that is like having a rusted out piece of a chassis on a car. You figure there is a GOOD chance something else is hurt also. I wish him the best of luck. BTW MY operation took 13 hours, and was probably SIMPLER! With ME they JUST(YEAH, I KNOW it is hard work, but STILL), preped me, removed some muscle to put me on bypass, put me on bypass, cut my chest open(I mean LITERALLY cut the sternum in HALF), opened the pericardium(they will probably have to do that with your friend), cut out my aortic valve, cut out a damaged part of my aorta, glued part of my aorta, sewed a hose to the aorta, which was hooked to the new valve, sewed the valve onto the heart, started the heart back up, and reversed the rest. So don't be worried if the operation is LONG. and they had 5 people working on me.

BTW average full FAST with the other tester was about 100. Average with THIS one after eating a low glycemic meal? 85! BIG DIFFERENCE! From questionable to NO diabetes! Now if I were diabetic, the 100 might have been fine, keep it as a baseline, and try to manage things. As you can see though, NOT a good diagnostic tool.

Steve

When George Burns was about 95 a reporter asked him, "Hey George, what does your doctor think about you drinking 6 martinis and smoking 10 cigars every day?"

George replied, "I don't know, my doctor died 30 years ago."

Thanks Steve. I would be terrified if lasted longer than 4 hours and it really sounds like it will be judging from what happened to you. He has a program so all the affiliates are praying in a Skype chat for a week now. This guy has so many people that he has helped - I don't know what would happen if something goes wrong.

My issue is this - it was not a drug store kit. He was paying for a physical exam and blood sugar is one of the most dangerous things there is to be wary of. He is a big guy 6'2' and a little over weight (50 lbs) so it should have been a red flag. Even if just losing weight will correct it, he should have been told that, not 'you passed with flying colors, no problems'.

What the hell do you go to the doctor for? To get the real deal. I know nothing is perfect but my trust in them is really not very much - until they save your life and then you don't mind their 'little' mistakes.

Thank God they usually get it right. However I have seen many stories lately about how many people die only because of malpractice and not from whatever got them to the hospital.

That poor woman, yes that person should be FIRED, I can only imagine how she must have felt for those 2 weeks, no-one should have to go through that.


I have a doctor who I went to for a long time and she was always 'ok'. Then last year my 10 year old son was sick with a fever and I took him to the docs and got a different doctor and she was really good. She said it's probably a virus and if he still has a fever in 2 days to bring him back in. So 2 days later he still had a fever and I took him back in and got our usual doctor this time.

She looked at him and did the usual check of his ears and throat and then told me it's just a virus he's ok. She then looked at me and said 'were you expecting some sort of miracle cure?'

I was so angry, it's like she was telling me I'm just a paranoid mother. Yet the other doctor told me to bring him back if he still had a fever.

Anyway, the following day he got a LOT worse and I ended up taking him straight down to the hospital. The doctor there was really good. It turned out he had Tracheitis which is an infected windpipe. Tracheitis is actually very serious in children and if it doesn't get treated fast enough sometimes their windpipes can swell up and they can stop breathing.

Thankfully, my son was ok, but I was really angry to be spoken to like I'm just a paranoid mother, when in fact my son was very sick and she just didn't find what was wrong.

My opinion about doctors has gone way down too. They are supposed to help patients right? The one I saw was so bad I actually went to the state medical boards website to see if she really had a license. Unfortunately and to my horror she does. How do these idiots get licenses? I mean health and lives are in these ppls hands. She is a brand new doctor, less than a year experience. I really feel bad about the Saba school if they would let someone like that graduate. I have considered complaining to the medical board, but don't know if it will do any good. I told ppl afterwards I wasn't going to see a doctor again unless I had to go to the ER. I know how you feel Kierk, this one was similar, ignored what I was there for completely. I went to the office manager and said put it in my chart I never want to see her again as long as I live. Waste of time.

I did was every good patient was suppose to do, I went and got my annual physical, well, annually.

Considering that when a fall put me in the hospital and during that visit they informed me I was in renal failure and had less that 25% of my kidney functions left,
I have certianly had doubts on whether my physician was so good after all.

In all fairness though, it has also been suggested that the steroids they gave me could have caused the renal failure,who know?

Now wait just a minute - we will have no words against chocolate here. Furthermore IT IS THE REFINED SUGAR, not the chocolate that is dangerous.

Chocolate (especially dark) is an antioxidant and a few are selling it (Mars/Dove) with low sugar content - then you have all your copy-cats doing dark chocolate but loaded with sugar like nobody willl notice.

Steve - my friend is out of surgery and waiting to get out of ICU so it sounds like your situation was way more complicated than his - which took exactly 4 hours. They say everything went as planned. Thank God.

So far so good, but not out of the woods yet I guess. The worst part will be keeping this workaholic in bed to rest. They say bed rest for at least a month after he gets out of hospital in 5 days. This I've got to see...

Steve, 25% was when they "discovered" I wsa in failure. At this time my kidney function is zero.
And you are right when you mention the link between diabetes and kidney failure.
I don't have diabetes,thank goodness, but the majority of people I have met with kidney failure do.
And with the diabetes comes thing like amputation. Not a fun scenario there either.

Seen one on TV. I think his name was Dr. Shipmann

Hi

Most of these answers seem to be from the USA, but we in the UK also have our
fair share (in fact I believe more than) of bad doctors. I have had the "luck" to
bump into more than one of them over the past 15 years, especially since I moved
to my present abode.

Mind you, I do not let them away with it. After all it is my body and my life they
are dealing with, and I am attached to both!!!

What started my campaign of speaking up was when I worked in a doctors surgery,
I will not say where, but there were two doctors. One was on holiday when a
young teenager patient's parents called the doc out to their daughter as she had
taken a further turn for the worse, after having been ill for some time. The doc
who had been treating her long term, this time finally called an ambulance and sent her into hospital. She died shortly thereafter from bowel cancer. He had been
treating her for upset stomaches and constipation.

The girls funeral took place a few days after the other doctor returned from holiday.
After the girls doctor returned from her funeral I happened to be walking down a
corridor past their office when I head one voice say, "oh well, at least she is buried now, my mistake is buried with her". I give credit to the other doctor in that a
massive row ensued.

That was the wake up call I needed, and ever since I have taken great care to
check what is happening to my own health. I check on medications that doctors
prescribe, I double check with a nurse friend on treatments, diagnosis, or anything
that I am in doubt about.

An example would be when my blood pressure suddenly shot up very high. I do not
suffer from hbp, and this was very unusual. My doctor immediately jumped at the
chance to get me on high blood pressure tablets, but I knew once I started on them
you are not supposed to be able to come off. So I refused, stating that I would try
other methods of try to bring my bp back down, like diet, cutting out salt, etc. If that did not work within a month then I would consent to the tablets. My doctor was furious, but could not persuade me.

I went back three weeks later for another pb check, and my blood pressure was
back to normal. My doctor did not even say well done, thats good, not a word!
Nor has he mentioned my blood pressure from that day to this!!! I do get it checked
by one of the nurses in the practice now and then, but my doctor has not forgiven
me for knowing better.

That is not the only time I have got the better of him. You may ask why I do not
change doctors, but none of them are perfect, and I now have a working relationship
with this one, in that he knows that I know he has made mistakes, and that I will
catch him out if he does not watch his work, so in some ways I get better cover
because he knows I will not stand for his nonsense.

Advice I would give to all patients, is that doctors are people too. In all jobs there
are people who are perfectionists, who enjoy their job and want to be the best, and
there are those who were forced into it, or whatever. Doctors are no different, but
they are supposed to be looking after your health.

Do no give them full control. By that I mean do not accept what they say as gospel. Check for yourself. Check their diagnosis. Do not be afraid to ask for a
second opinion, you are entitled to. Check medicines to make sure they are the
right ones for your condition, etc., that they have prescribed the right dose, etc.

Each of us only has one life (as far as we know) and we need to take some
responsibility for it ourselves, and in the field of health care we should not let
even a doctor have full and final say without being sure they are right.

Here endeth my lesson!!!!!!!

Ritaj

"and what if something is GODO for you, like tryptophan, or one of the B vitamins found to be good for kidney disease? The FDA may actually BAN it! "

I found an article, and I may have actually posted it before, I can't remember, but it tells how some doctors in Boston I think have developed a kidney transplant procedure where a few months after the transplant the immune suysten has adapted to the new kidney,is no longer trying to reject it, and allows the patient to NOT have to take drugs every day for the rest of their life.
It had I believe an 80% success rate, yet I never saw anything about it again.

I have. Nearly lost an eye due to three dr.s diagnosing me with pink eye because they didn't care to bother looking past "yup your eye is pink, must be pink eye". As it is I managed to keep the eye but lost a good bit of clarity in it.

Or the two dr.s that blew me off when I told them I had vertigo problems when I went in with sinus infections. They would tell me it was just from the sinus infection, and I'd tell them no, it had been happening for five years and I sure didn't have a sinus infection all that time and they'd walk out on me. When I got a Dr. to actually listen to me, turns out I have odd heart problems and seizures.

What the heck, here are four more examples of quacks, etc.....

1. Someone prescribed a "cough suppressant". It didn't get rid of the need, but only the ABILITY to cough. The stuff nearly killed me.

2. I was prescribed eye-glasses to get rid of a problem I STILL have(about 12 years later). SUPPOSEDLY, the problem was due to eyestrain. OBVIOUSLY, that was WRONG! My vision went from 20/25 to past legally blind(luckily I have near 20/20 WITH glasses) Only a couple years ago I got my FIRST restricted license(must have eyeglasses).

3. My mother, when I was a baby, kept giving me aspirin to keep me awake, I guess I slept too much for someones liking at some point. I have NO idea why she gave me the aspirin. she SUPPOSEDLY went to many doctors, until one FINALLY told her I could get kidney damage if she kept doing that. The CURE!?!?!? DO NOTHING!!!!!!!! She was effectively poisoning me.

4. One time, I went all over trying to figure out why I had some problems. Some doctors thought I was nuts. ONE gave me a hush hush test(I had to ask the lab for the results). Maybe that was an AIDS test, who knows, though it obviously couldn't have been AIDS. BTW they said I was fine, and this was almost 20 years ago. I had to find the answer in a Q&A section of a body building magazine. It was a magnesium deficiency.

Steve

This country has nobody to blame but themselves for having so many crappy doctors.

When people in this country are so quick to sue a doctor for anything they possibly can, the doctor will either stop practicing or stop seeing hmo patients

so you get doctors that are crap, hide behind state laws where they can't be sued and the good ones disappear or are unavailable to the average moe.

Hi! Yes you right that some Doctors are So bad you share your experience many people
talk about that kind of behavior of Doctors but i never face such problem i meet those Doctors are very humble and caring so i think some are bad but mostly Doctors are so nice and good.

My Mother was an RN, so she was not the kind to freak out when you came home wounded, like a lot of mothers...we learned to field dress our own wounds and broken bones early on...:rolleyes: Self-diagnosis was SOP...

I grew up on a street with several Doctors, and our next door neighbor was an overweight, chain-smoking doctor

I could never believe a doctor who gave someone else advice he wouldn't follow himself! :p

Frankly though, I've always been stunned by the hours they expect doctors and interns to work - considering you are putting your life into their hands, and need to count on them to have all their mental faculties...

I really can't remember the last time I saw a doctor but someone I know went to see one when he was overseas. He had a slight ear blockage (which was fixed later with some warm-hot water) and the doctor gave him medication for it -- he didn't take it obviously :rolleyes:

According to me all doctor are bad hahahhahaha

There are all sorts of bad doctors, I've known a doctor that takes advantage of his patients or asks them for their number and have midnight rendezvous with them. This is borderline harassment.