My mom just went for quadruple bypass surgery yesterday, and i got to thinking, shes been going to a doctor for 2 years, and she always talked about how whenever she tells him about her symptoms (hard time breathing, heavy heart, chest pains), he would either accuse her of lying, or give some b.s. medication (last time he told her to take asthma medications) and have her go back for more appointments the following month. just 2 months ago, she finally changed doctors, and the new doctor picked up the cause for her heart problems almost immediately and sent her to the hospital where they did the surgery confirmed what the new doctor said, and the hospital doctors said that she'd been a ticking time bomb of a heart attack waiting to happen. So i got to wondering, did the old doctor just try to milk my mom for money? and if so, is there something my family can do (law suit, get his license taken away)??
Cigar Monkey
Your mom has no malpractice suit in my opinion. She would have to prove that her heart needed a bypass when she was seeing the first doc and that as a result of his negligence she somehow suffered injury. Since the second doc sent her in for a bypass and she survived she really has little to no damage. The first doc did not CAUSE the condition requiring the bypass.
However, I suggest that your mom consult a med mal attorney where she lives.
pearlmar
You can't win a lawsuit against a doctor just because he gave an incorrect diagnosis. A lot of them do that every day.
Artemis Agrotera
No. There is nothing you can do. And nothing you have described makes me suspect that there is anything going on that is remotely related to medical practice . . . though I would suspect that your mother has not been honest with you.
First, if this doctor REALLY accused your mother of lying why on earth would your mother have EVER gone back to him. I mean seriously. This absolutely destroys your mother's credibility.
Doctors who want to "milk" patients for money don't accuse their patients of lying. They pretend to take every complaint seriously and they order batteries of expensive tests. Oh, and by the way, scheduling surgery is the best way for doctors to earn quite a lot of money - because surgery is MUCH more expensive than office visits.
My guess is that your mother probably didn't like what her doctor was telling her. I would predict that your mother has weight issues, and/or smokes? And her doctor was probably giving her instructions that she didn't want to follow and did not follow.
Patients have the right and responsibility to obtain second opinions. When she FINALLY got around to doing this, she got a different diagnosis and her surgery was scheduled. What would her damages be assuming her first doctor really did anything wrong? The answer is, she has no damages. If she needed the bypass surgery six months ago, she still needed the bypass surgery yesterday. She got what she needed. Problem solved.
Maj. T.J. "Snark King" Kong
Doctors can make more money billing insurance for treating a serious heart condition than a basic office visit. You also can't milk money from a dead patient. Money is not a motive. It could be incompetence, but it's most likely a function of the fact that women's heart disease is poorly diagnosed and treated compared to men.
ADD: Artemis is harsh but pretty much right on. I've seen too many doctors blow off serious, legitimate heart problems in women to completely discount your mother though.
Orignal From: is this Medical Malpractice or something?
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