Posted on 06/24/2015 2:32:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
It's the worst kind of cautionary tale in medicine: a tragic death that may have been prevented if only doctors had been willing to listen to their patient's concerns.
But this one carries an particularly 21st century twist to it: Doctors told 19-year-old Bronte Doyne and her family to "stop Googling" her symptoms after they brought up the possibility that her rare liver cancer had returned. By the time she was readmitted to the hospital in March of 2013, it was already too late and she died ten days later on March 23, only 16 months removed from the day she first sought treatment for suspected appendicitis. Now two years later, the hospital that managed her care is finally formally apologizing to her family for their fatal lapse in communication.
As the Nottingham Post reports, Bronte was a vibrant 18-year-old girl who received horrifying news in 2011 when she was told that her stomach pain was actually caused by fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma, a rare cancer with no more than 200 cases diagnosed worldwide annually. Surgeons removed part of her liver, and the doctors were confident that she would recover.
But as diary entries released to the Nottingham Post by her mother, Lorraine Doyne, reveal, Bronte wasn’t getting any better. "Feeling sick for months now. Tired of this feeling crap. Hospital not worried so trying to get on with it," she wrote in one such entry in November 2012.
Attempts to get doctors to pay attention to her ailing health fell on deaf ears, as Bronte and her family were ignored when they inquired about the chances of her cancer returning, relying on information about the disease from the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation.
"It's not just some pathetic website on Google, it's been endorsed by the White House in publications, and was
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Me thinks they will be apologizing with a check. A very large check.
But to be blunt, that won’t bring her back to life. Sigh.
Doctors get really bugged when you know more about your condition than they do. Because, you know, they’re so much smarter than the rest of us.
This sounds weird. If someone has had cancer, the after care of surgery or chemotherapy generally includes frequent blood tests to watch for signs of either recurrence or remission. This reads like something so much more primitive... oh come back we’ll CAT scan you in 6 months to see what the site of the malignancy looked like.
So, they didn’t run tests in light of her history and reported symptoms? I mean, who cares that she used Google to check her symptoms? I don’t think that should have even been a consideration.
No, this is the British NHS. It’s the Government. No one will be required to take responsibility. Welcome to Obamacare.
It’s worse than cold to dismiss a specific widely well regarded information and support resource as the same thing as “Googling for symptoms.” It’s downright ignorant.
When they must cover all manner of vanity procedures, “Cost Containment” has to be their middle name.
Is it British Healthcare we are talking about here?
British and Canadian universal healthcare were uses as standard for ‘advanced’ countries. You never hear this kind of stuff during Obamacare debate. Lots of horror stories ignored.
“Me thinks they will be apologizing with a check. A very large check.”
England. No suing hospitals; they are the government.
Google malpractice settlements for idiots.
Too many Doctors have this attitude.
I saw a doctor totally ignore a nurses comments during my wife’s pregnancy, and it turns out she was 100% correct.
But HE was not about to let A LOWLY NURSE diagnose anything...
I called him aside afterwards and asked him when he stopped learning. She was right, and he ignored her POINTEDLY, even when it became obvious she was right... I was pissed, he knew he was wrong, and I hope he learned something.
that there’s funny....!
Yep, I am surprised the Cancer Drs. were not more in tune with her symptoms and on the look out for the cancer to return. I think if my Dr. ignored my concerns I would have gotten a second opinion. Many years ago, long before google; I had one of those Encyclopedia Medical books. After a couple of years I had to throw it away. Every time my wife or I got sick we would self diagnose each other with rare and often fatal diseases. We would go to bed in a panic only to wake up the next day feeling better and realizing we just had a common cold or 24 hour bug....
Many years ago I recall a smartass doctor snorting and making some derisive remark about my having found health info on the internet. I calmly replied something like “Yes, those kook sites like JohnsHopkinsMedicalSchool.com probably should be avoided.” That sat him back and shut him up.
I must have really good doctors. I have usually self diagnosed by the time I go in they’ll say......yep.
I have some pretty rare stuff too. The general practitioner PA I see actually likes that I am the ‘research queen’. Lol. She said you know your symptoms better than anyone.
There are three essential rules for when you or someone you love has cancer.
1) Procrastination is forbidden. Even if the victim is having an emotional crisis and more than anything else they do not want to believe they have cancer, they have cancer, and if they do not act, act a lot, and keep acting, they will die.
2) This rule applies doubly to doctors. There are far too many doctors who will say, “You have cancer. You should make an appointment to see me again in two months.” For what? To see if they still have cancer? Because it is more challenging for them to work on a more serious cancer?
3) Congratulations, you have a new, full time job. You might need to relocate to a cancer treatment hub and live in an efficiency apartment to get your cancer fixed. Your family will forgive you. If there is an established, effective treatment for your particular kind of cancer, get it first. Only if it doesn’t work should you guinea pig it with experimental treatments. And make sure you know the “windows” (cancer stages) for different experimental therapies.
Uk govt hospital. No check.
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