It’s peculiar that you know so much about my work, but you believe somehow that it clouds my opinion of doctors. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, if you ever read the bulk of what I write you would see that I most often defend doctors based on the constraints under which they (you)operate. I do so to help patients understand why their health care just isn’t the Welby-ism it used to be. I will allow that when it comes to talking about medical mistakes, I do have a very unique perspective, and it’s very difficult for me to be objective.

I don’t ever claim to embrace a doctor’s point of view, only a patient’s. I do try to help patients understand a doctor’s point of view, however, because I believe that helps all of us communicate better.

Look at it this way: can you ever subtract your ability to read? Of course not. Can you read and understand something written in the Russian language? Probably not. You, as a trained physician, can “read” both patient language and physician language — and you can never subtract that. Patients, on the other hand, can “read” only patient language. They cannot read medicine because they haven’t been to medical school. It puts us in a very vulnerable position which doctors (you) can’t understand. It’s all Russian to us, (or perhaps Greek.)

I stand by my statements. And I sign my name to them, Anonymous.

Trisha Torrey
Every Patient’s Advocate
http://EveryPatientsAdvocate.com
http://patients.about.com

The best course of action would be to communicate with the previous doctor whose judgment and knowledge are in question. Ask him or her what he thought of the case. If you don’t do this, you know nothing. Your input is therefore likely to be destructive.

If I was the oncologist, I would tell the patient the facts- that the tumor was present on a prior x-ray but would be careful not to lay blame.
We don’t know who is at fault here. Did the PCP get back the x-ray report? Was there a f/u appt after the x-ray that the patient missed?
The oncologist has an ethical duty to inform the patient of the error. But since he doesn’t know for sure that it was 100% the pcp’s fault, he should be careful not to lay blame- the patient can figure this part out for himself.

Trisha:
re: “It highlights what I’ve contended for a long time, that once a doctor has that medical training, and develops a camaraderie with other doctors, he or she can no longer think the way a patient with no medical training thinks. That doctor can no longer clearly see a patient’s point of view.”

I am not only a doctor. I am a patient, father, son, and husband. I assure you I can see a patient’s point of view. Your personal opinions of doctor’s is well known. The sad fact is you have turned your own personal expereince with one diagnosis/oncologist into a blanket statement against all doctors. It is really and truly sad.

Respectfully, some of you are forgetting that doctors are only half of the equation.

or Google “Adventures in Cardiology”

I think if doctors were generally more open about the mistakes, patients would have more realistic expectations and accept that mistakes are a part of life.

Not sure what it would take to turn all this around, though!

Most medmal cases are weak, so say judges, juries and appellate courts, and at every stage of litigation. The expert witness has the litigation privilege that immunizes irresponsible declarations of superior knowledge. These irresponsible second guessers then get to boss the doctors of an entire state at the point of a gun of the government. These inexperienced academics get to impose their atavistic garbage science on far more experienced and intelligent clinicians.

This litigation privilege is to generate lawyer jobs. I do not differentiate between the evil that the defense bar does compared to the plaintiff bar. They work together to attack clinical care.

As a patient, I suggest that plaintiff experts and other arrogant second guessers get placed on a list. They get shunned by all service and product providers. If their boiler breaks in 0 degree weather, no heating technician may answer their call. If they enter a supermarket, security expels them without their groceries.