I've been having health problems since 2009 where I would be shakey, confused and disoriented among other things. The first doctor I went to or this thought I was having anxiety and sent me to a psychologist, who said it seemed like it was something physical and that I seemed mentally alright, especially since I've had anxiety in the past and distinctly knew it wasn't that.
I then when to another doctor sometime later and he was telling me I had hypoglycemia from taking Metformin for PCOS. I told him that this had been happened before I was even on any medication for anything. He ignored me and told me to stop taking it anyway. He ordered a fasting blood test not once, but twice and there was no indication that I was hypoglycemic. However he never did anything else to help me and told my problems were just that I was fat. (and yes, he did use that word and not 'overweight').
He lied to me and said that he had done a blood test FOR MS and Fibromyalgia in regards to pain I was having when there was none and said my good cholesterol was very bad. He also kept me on a medicine that I repeatedly told him was making me sick and that he thought was aggravating another condition of mine. He never really examined me as my most recent doctor has and only did 1-2 tests before deciding that there was, in his words "nothing pathologically wrong".
Sometime after all this I collapsed for seemingly no reason and decided it was time to get a second opinion. This doctor told me that my good cholesterol was only 2 points lower than it should be, is testing me for bone and muscle disorders and decided to give me an MRI for the shaking and cognitive problems I've been having.
My MRI came back and they found that I have a cyst on my pituitary gland that is most likely causing a good amount of the problems I've been having since 2009 and that I need surgery to remove it.
I didn't feel that it was grounds for malpractice but my family thinks it is and thinks that after I get the results of my x-rays to check my joints that I should sue for malpractice. I'm still not sure if it's grounds for it and was thinking about filing a complaint. I don't want him to get off scott-free because I can't help but think that it could have been worse and he said I was fine, or that this might happen to someone else who desperately needs a diagnosis.
Zach: Thanks, I didn't think it was but my family kept saying it was despite my disbelief, so I decided to ask even though I was sure the answer is no. Thank you for answering and being polite.
Drixnot: I see. Like I said, I wasn't the one that was thinking of malpractice. But they think I should have gotten the MRI because I was shaking a lot and having seizure like symptoms. I'm just glad it's nothing really serious. I don't think he's a bad doctor but he recently went to primary care when he was just a cardiologist before. I just think he should have stayed that way!
Laughter_every_day: I don't assume. I have the god damn images on a CD and I can see the fucking cyst. It's obvious there's a huge cyst there. You don't have to be a prick, I said I was asking because my family is pressuring me to file when I don't think I have grounds for it. I live in Massachusetts and I didn't lose any money from this, money is not my concern, him ignoring me and telling me I was fine when I wasn't
Zach
From what you've indicated here, it doesn't sound like malpractice. It sounds like a rude doctor, but misdiagnosing occurs all the time. You'd have to prove he needed to check your glands, failed to and it caused your condition to worsen. It sounds like a misdiagnosis
laughter_every_day
First, the mis-diagnosis did not cause the illness. Assuming the current diagnosis is correct (and why you make that assumption I do not know), your only damages stem from the delay in the diagnosis. So, you could expect to spend tens of thousands of dollars in an unlikely effort to recover a few bucks. If you are trying to ask if you can complain to the state licensing agency, of course you can. You can complain to that board, and to your bartender and to anyone else you want.
Stuart
Malpractice can be proven when you can show that the physician intentionally and knowingly did harm to you.
There are 206 bones in the human body. There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body. Each person inhales about seven quarts of air every minute. A human heart beats 100,000 times a day. And you plan to sue because of all of the bodily functions that are possible causes of disease, a doctor didn't consider ordering an MRI on your pituitary gland.
Wow.
You've got some balls on you, bubba.
- Stuart
Drixnot
Since the test that discovered the cyst is not typically given to someone with the listed symptoms you will have a hard time proving malpractice.
If, on the other hand your medical problem would have been discovered easily with routine testing and the doctor still missed it then you would have a good case.
Basically you need to prove the doctor in question had all the information needed to make a diagnosis.
Artemis Agrotera
I'm sorry but I think you are right and your family is wrong.
To have a successful action for malpractice it isn't enough to prove the doctor was wrong or made a mistake, you have to be able to prove that the doctor did or didn't do something that any other doctor would have done. So, if you had gotten the MRI and the MRI showed a problem that any other doctor would have immediately detected but your doctor missed it - you've got malpractice.
But doctors are allowed to screw up a diagnosis without fear of being sued. (Otherwise nobody would stay in this profession.) That your doctor gave you misinformation is disturbing - but it seems almost certain that he would either deny it or claim he had ordered the tests.
The general attitude of the tort system is that patients have a duty to get second and third opinions - especially if they have a reason to think the doctor is mistaken.
You might consider writing a professional and factual letter to the doctor who blew your diagnosis. If you report him to the licensing board, he will go on the defensive and is unlikely to learn anything. But if you lay out to him what he didn't do properly, he might absorb this and treat the next patient a bit better.
Justmeinthisworld
this is typical behavior---yes it is malpractice
but the thing is that malpractice is based on if it is what a reasonable doctor would do---and they ALL do this---even though it is clearly incompetace---they stop working when the feel they did as much as they are getting paid by the insurance and then whine about their malpractice rates..
the medical board will side in his favor..if they decide at all--they protect each other....usually they decide not to decide saying its not in their jurisdiction
I refer to my health problems as medical malpracticitis
an MRI is typical for your symptoms
and you went through long term pain and suffering---did it do any damage?
OBVIOUSLY another doctor would do an MRI as one did
its one thing to appropriately TRY to get a correct diagnosis, but not be able to...but this doc did NOT pursue a correct diagnosis.
Orignal From: Is this grounds for malpractice?
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