Re: Medical Malpractice?
From: anne (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Tue, 11 Dec 2001 12:15:28 -0600 (CST)
L,
My advice, make an informed decision, sit down with a lawyer. Many will
offer a no fee consultation. Your quality of life was diminished by the
doctors/lab's failures and your health was put at risk. However,
medical malpractice can be quite difficult to prove and can be costly as
you almost always need a medical expert to even proceed with a claim.
No matter what else you do, write a complaint letter to the Board of
Medical Examiners in your state against the doctor and lab.
And no matter what else you do, change doctors - mine follows through
after a test has been ordered.
Good luck.
Anne
At Tue, 11 Dec 2001, L wrote:
>
>Hi,
>
>I was just recently diagnosed with PCOS - officially, that is. I've
>thought for years that I have it, and two years ago, went to see my
>doctor to be tested. Well, when he ran tests, and I never heard back
>from his office, I assumed that meant that the tests were negative, and
>I didn't have it.
>
>So two years passed, and despite dieting and exercising, I gained
>another 30 lbs. I also lost lots of head hair, my facial and back hair
>problems got worse, and my periods only come every three-four months
>(and when they do, it's like the great flood). A few weeks ago, after
>some really bad ankle swelling, I went back to the doctor. My blood
>pressure and cholesterol - which two years ago, were quite normal - are
>now through the roof (I'm thirty years old!). So the doctor looks
>through my chart, and then tells me - with no apology or explanation -
>"well, we don't really know whether or not you have PCOS - the wrong
>test was done". How wrong of a test? Well, instead of the LH/FSH
>hormone levels test that was SUPPOSED to have been done, a PSA (prostate
>specific antigen) test was done. (It turns out that I paid for the
>test; my insurance documents, which I ran home to look at, showed that a
>lab test had been denied coverage; but it just said "Lab/Pathology
>Testing", so at the time, I just assumed it was yet another test not
>covered by insurance, and so paid the amount to the lab). The doctor
>made noises as though he wasn't really sure who had made the mistake -
>him or the lab - and ordered the new test. Well, the new test is done,
>and an insulin level. He then diagnoses me with PCOS. I started taking
>Glucophage and Spironolactone, and have lost 20 lbs in six weeks. Even
>though we discussed the periods, he still hasn't given me anything for
>that, though.
>
>So my big question is this; I would have been diagnosed 2 years ago (and
>could have started treatments) if the doctor had either requested the
>right test, or informed me of the mistake immediately and redone the
>test. Meanwhile, that's two years where the side effects -
>hyperinsulemia, the cholesterol, the blood pressure, the facial hair,
>the balding - have all worsened and gone untreated. Should I try to
>file a medical malpractice claim?
>
>Part of what bothers me most is that there was no apology- he kind of
>even acted like this was somehow my fault.
>
>What do you all think?
>
>--
>L
>
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