Can a radiologist tell how long a patient has had COPD from a chest xray?

[sissy27]

My mother passed away from COPD and Lung Cancer in 1998.  She was diagnosed with lung CA in 1989 and COPD soon after.  For the purpose of a law suit I need to provide documentation that she was ill prior to 1996.

I have found an xray taken of her lungs in 1996 and I am wondering if I paid a radiologist to read it, is it possible to tell how long she had the disease.  The xray was taken only a few months prior to her death so the disease was very advanced.

I would appreciate any advice available and I only have until November 15th to provide the necessary information to the court.

thank you
sissy

[lynnkay]

I do know that xrays can determine when a disease approximately first began. My mother had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Deadly terminal lung disease. She had been ill for several or more years, before any doctor was able to diagnosis it. Doctors kept running heart tests, said she had asthma, etc. Then finally in 2004 a doctor determined she had the IPF. After that, we took her to a pulmonary specialist. We gathered up all her xrays that had been taken, by these other doctors. This lung specialist was able to determine that my mother had IPF since 2001, by looking at all her xrays. Which would be the correct time frame. As most IPF patients only live from 5 to 6 yrs. The lung doctor saw the first spot of the IPF back in 2001 from the xrays. A number of doctors missed this. My mother passed away in Aug. 2007 four months after a lung transplant. Our only hope. I will say that the university hospital that performed the transplant killed my mother. She got to go home for 2 days after the transplant. She spent 4 months in the hospital being brutalized after the transplant. One example of a mistake made. After the new lung was in, a stint had to be put into the lung. They open my mother up for surgery. Once she was on the table, they realized they did not have the proper stint to put in her. That is only bad example of poor care she received. And this was a top university hospital in this country. We finally moved her to another hospital. But, by then it was just too late to save her. Our last attempt was putting her on dialysis, as she was going into renal failure. Within a days, she was dead. My step-father at this time is suing this hospital. I hope you have much luck on this. I understand how you feel. I watched my sweet mother suffer a terrrible disease and then a brutal death. Since my mother passed away, I have been diagnosed with COPD. When my doctor told me I had COPD, I immediately asked for a second opinion. I question everything that any doctor tells me or wants to prescribe for me. I also will do research on my own. But, the medical field is a close community. They will protect one another. As was advised in a previous post. Also, get an attorney as was suggested that does it on a contigency basis. If the attorney does not win the case, then you do not owe him any fee whatsoever. I though am in your corner. It maybe a tough battle, but one I think you should attempt to try. There are good and bad in every field. Even doctors and hospitals make very bad mistakes. The very best to you on this.

[authrjenn]

lawyers have experts that can testify to that if you bring a law suit against someone. The also take cases on a contingency basis. No win-no pay... Best of luck!

[sissy27]

I do not want a doc to turn on another doc, I just have located an exray that was taken in 1998 and want know if a radiologist could tell from the xray that she had the disease for a long period of time or not.  I know that she was first diagnosed in 1990 but I need some proof of that and was wondering if this xray would do it.  There is no other doctor involved.

[authrjenn]

Sorry for your loss. Good luck finding a doc to turn on another doc.......You won't find it on this forum Best of luck!