Posted on 03/15/2005 8:33:35 PM PST by ambrose
Doctors ignore tumor, tell man he's fat:
[World News]: READING, England, March 15 : British doctors somehow missed finding a 55-pound tumor growing in a man's stomach, and instead told him he was obese, The Times of London reports.
News of the missed diagnosis that spanned nearly 10 years came to light Monday when aeronautical engineer Trevor Smithson, 53, announced he was suing the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.
He had first visited doctors there in 1994 complaining of a distended stomach.It wasn't until last year he went to London's Royal Marsden Hospital for help.
Surgeons there removed the mass, described in his medical notes as "a truly immense intra-abdominal liposarcoma," which are slow-growing malignant tumors that develop in fat tissue, and are often found in the abdominal cavity.
Apart from the pain and discomfort, Smithson said his other woes over the past decade have included having to purchase ever-larger clothes.
"I'm a tall man and when I was also that heavy I wore out my shoes very quickly," he said."I couldn't get a job -- once they had decided I was just obese they didn't take any further action."
Doctors at both hospitals refused to comment.
Can you say, "Lawsuit"
Paging John Edwards.
That man is lucky to be still living.
Another fine example of socialize medicine.
On the bright side, now he's skinny and healthy.
:^)
Oh, yeah, we want socialized medicine here, too!
"It's not a tumah!"
Can you say,"socialized medicine."
I'm definitely opposed to socialized medicine or anything else. But, in all fairness, I read recently from a reliable source (forgive me for not being able to remember who/what the source was) that 196,000 people in the U.S. die each year from medical malpractice.
Oh, I believe you and your source---I don't think it was socialized medicine per se, it was the doctor(s) that misdiagnosed this poor guy, BUT
I have seen story after story posted on FR about people in Canada and England that have had to wait so long to get tests, treatments, operations, that I have to assume that getting a 2nd opinion is probably not done much, which would take care of a lot of misdiagnoses.
I just never, ever want to come close to socialized medicine.
Just think, this is what "Hillary Care" would have gotten us. It might still if that freak of nature ever gets anywhere near the Oval Office again. Makes me sick (pun intended) at just the thought.
This has more to do with the sheer stupidity and laziness of the doctors involved than with socialized medicine. My mother, here in the US, was the victim of a stupid/lazy doctor, who kept telling her (for months!!!!) that her symptoms were from a urinary tract infection. When she finally got so weak that she couldn't walk, my father dragged her to the hospital and sat on their doorstep until they admitted her to see what was wrong. She had ovarian cancer, and died 15 days later.
I hate lazy and stupid doctors. They have been the death of many people.
This is what you get with a socialist health care system.
FYI. The lipo in liposarcoma is fat. These tumors can look just like fat on imaging tests and can at times be tricky to diagnose.
I'm sorry to hear about your mother.
What do you call an ill person in England?
A hearse.
On the bright side I just read a report on how the waiting lines for basic operations are coming down in England..
The ones higher up on the list are dying, making room.
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