Posted on 06/04/2010 7:23:41 AM PDT by smartyaz
My mother-in-law’s doctor found a spot on her lung when she was 88. He told her that they would just watch it. She trusted him completely because he was the doctor that all the other doctors went to. Well, he watched it, right up until she died of lung cancer. In the last few years, he also refused to approve laser surgery for a hematoma that developed on her leg from an accident. It would have been so simple. Everytime she bumped it on anything, it bled so badly that it looked like a crime scene.
exactly right, cause if the ER doc had "missed" a fracture, you'd sue his ass off. Even if they x-ray you, they will tell you, at least the good ones, that you may have a break that isn't seen and to return for a repeat film if pain continues.
This old lady probably didn't meet criteria for x-ray and/or CT scan of the neck. Not uncommon to miss cervical fractures in infants and the elderly. A high index of suspicion and liberal use of radiation is the key to finding the subtle fractures.
The fact that they didn't operate on her should give anybody over the age of 65 pause because her QALY number wasn't high enough. Probably had a lot to do with no initial x-ray as well.
In US emergency departments an x-ray in this case would have been been routine. My father was 95 and fell and was almost immediately diagnosed in the ER with a compression fracture in the lumbar region, despite having only vague tenderness symptoms. We need to export some of our great surplus of malpractice lawyers to the UK.
Wow. I’m amazed that you’re still with us.
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