Aa
Has anyone sued their doctor for failure to diagnosis or lack of treatment
I'm just curious about any legal position w/ personal doctors and/or Standards and Practices within the AMA. Is there a legal history? It seems there is so much needless suffering for so many people (in legalese, a "class"), and that the most current research is often not known or ignored by physicians. Proper labs are often not administered. Symptoms are ignored. It also seems spectacularly foolish for the FDA to allow a plus-or-minus 10% variation in strength in generic medications for hypothyroidism, and to allow drug manufacturers to use cheap fillers in generic drugs that actually bind the release of hormones and prevent proper absorption. Thoughts, anyone ?
Hey Barb and Stella ,
@Barb, Tirosint is not on the Blue Cross Freedom Blue plan Medicare formulary. I would have to jump through hoops and then pay a top tier drug price. I have been on generic levo since 2009 and Cytomel/generic T3 in addition. My dose isn't resolved yet. ( My advice to all, try not to live past 65, Medicare is a nightmare. Just kidding about the death part.)
As I said, just having a philosophical discussion here, not actually working myself up.
Food for thought:
"common grounds for medical malpractice"
>delay of treatment
>failure to diagnose accurately by act or omission
>failure to follow up on prescribed treatment
>pain and suffering
>loss of life's enjoyment
>loss of marital benefits ( ! )
Bet all of us have experienced some , if not all, of these ! I'm just sayin'. :- \
As to the insurance companies, Oooooh Stella, I don't think we want to open up THAT can of worms, do we ?
Cheers .xo.
@Barb, Tirosint is not on the Blue Cross Freedom Blue plan Medicare formulary. I would have to jump through hoops and then pay a top tier drug price. I have been on generic levo since 2009 and Cytomel/generic T3 in addition. My dose isn't resolved yet. ( My advice to all, try not to live past 65, Medicare is a nightmare. Just kidding about the death part.)
As I said, just having a philosophical discussion here, not actually working myself up.
Food for thought:
"common grounds for medical malpractice"
>delay of treatment
>failure to diagnose accurately by act or omission
>failure to follow up on prescribed treatment
>pain and suffering
>loss of life's enjoyment
>loss of marital benefits ( ! )
Bet all of us have experienced some , if not all, of these ! I'm just sayin'. :- \
As to the insurance companies, Oooooh Stella, I don't think we want to open up THAT can of worms, do we ?
Cheers .xo.
I have to agree, it would be hard to sue.
There is no guideline that would tell doctors what tests to run on ALL because everyone has different symptoms for the same disease. Everyone feels different at certain levels regardless if what test is done. Not everyone reacts the same to medication, so what might work for me, may hinder you.
It all comes down to what relationship you have with your doctor in my opinion. To me doctors have so many patients and are over loaded for me to expect them to figure me out in the 15mins alotted. I love my doctor, & will only go when something is seriously wrong, like running a temp, or doubled over in pain, or unable to keep food down, other than that, I try to go on with life. But this is just how I am.
There is no guideline that would tell doctors what tests to run on ALL because everyone has different symptoms for the same disease. Everyone feels different at certain levels regardless if what test is done. Not everyone reacts the same to medication, so what might work for me, may hinder you.
It all comes down to what relationship you have with your doctor in my opinion. To me doctors have so many patients and are over loaded for me to expect them to figure me out in the 15mins alotted. I love my doctor, & will only go when something is seriously wrong, like running a temp, or doubled over in pain, or unable to keep food down, other than that, I try to go on with life. But this is just how I am.
I have to put my 10 cents worth in here.
Food for thought:
"common grounds for medical malpractice"
>delay of treatment
>failure to diagnose accurately by act or omission
>failure to follow up on prescribed treatment
>pain and suffering
>loss of life's enjoyment
>loss of marital benefits ( ! )
I had/have all of the above, and sure I was bloody angry and still am that I lost my kids, my husband and my job over something as trivial as a thyroid misdiagnosis. (20 years misdiagnosed) Having had all this happen to me, I really can not see that suing my doctor would make my life any better. Would it change who I am today? No. Would my health be any better? No. Would it bring back the lost years of no life? No. Would it make my doctor test any better? Probably not. Would having money in my bank account make my life any better? For sure. But what is money when you have no health in the first place? Nothing. It won't buy me back my life, it can't ever replace the years my kids saw their mum sleeping 18 hours, had no dinner, no clean clothes, looking like a junkie. It can't bring me to be less tired. It can pay my bills to make me less worried, but it still would not bring about the changes necessary to improve other patients lives.
To me as I said in my original post on this thread. I still believe there needs to be an advocacy group of thyroid patient who can tell their misdiagnosedmaltreated stories to the AMA or whichever medical board is in charge in your country, and SHOW doctors the system needs to be regulated. It needs to be a global thing. It needs to be that around the world, reference ranges are the same. There needs to be an automatic testing done on mum's at around the 3 month mark after a baby is born. There needs to be automatic testing on any psych patient (this is actually starting to happen here in Australia). There needs to be more availability for doctors to read up on thyroid issues, and not just a small paragraph in the Lancet (many doctor's have this subscribed to them and they often just never read the articles, unless it is to do with latest drugs)
I sincerely can not see how suing a doctor is going to change anything.
My case in point, I was born with deformities, My mother took Distaval, (thalidomide drig) for morning sickness. It meant I could not join the RAAF, be a driving instructor, go surfing, high dive, many other things. This peeved me no end, so I decided to sue the company which made the drug. (they had been aware for many years it caused side effects, not just short limbs) Our government in its infinite wisdom destroyed all records after 15 years, from hospital births at that time. Why? Lack of room with papers. Bull dust! We had microfische then! Years and years later, I was still angry and tried many ways to sue. One doctor I had been venting to said, "Maria, you KNOW it caused those things, they admitted to it. What good would it do to sue them now? It wouldn't change YOU or make your life any different. Why don't you let it go and enjoy life as you have it, instead of wishing what could be?" I tell you what, that was only late last year and his words certainly changed my thinking.
Suing, and getting the money is like an admittance of guilt on behalf of the doctor. Would it change how they treat a patient? Not likely. They are a business like any other. I know this cause I asked my doctor many years ago about certain issues. They had a budget and had to keep testing down to a low level. They are accountable to our government when they do testing. (our government pays for a lot of pathology) Our doctors have a time limit on their computers, they click they are seeing the patient, then the time they left, if it is common that the doctor is taking too long with many patients, they get sacked. (seen it here in my town, lost 5 good doctors cos they took longer than the mandatory 7 minutes) I stick to the same doctor as much as possible, so they are aware of my case in their heads and not just with the last two pages on the computer screen.
There needs to be a group of us who can get together with the relevant medical boards and start changing health systems way of dealing with patients needs, not just for thyroid.
I jump off my soapbox now and make a cup of tea...ginger of course, to clear the head and brain fog! Hee hee
Cheers!
Food for thought:
"common grounds for medical malpractice"
>delay of treatment
>failure to diagnose accurately by act or omission
>failure to follow up on prescribed treatment
>pain and suffering
>loss of life's enjoyment
>loss of marital benefits ( ! )
I had/have all of the above, and sure I was bloody angry and still am that I lost my kids, my husband and my job over something as trivial as a thyroid misdiagnosis. (20 years misdiagnosed) Having had all this happen to me, I really can not see that suing my doctor would make my life any better. Would it change who I am today? No. Would my health be any better? No. Would it bring back the lost years of no life? No. Would it make my doctor test any better? Probably not. Would having money in my bank account make my life any better? For sure. But what is money when you have no health in the first place? Nothing. It won't buy me back my life, it can't ever replace the years my kids saw their mum sleeping 18 hours, had no dinner, no clean clothes, looking like a junkie. It can't bring me to be less tired. It can pay my bills to make me less worried, but it still would not bring about the changes necessary to improve other patients lives.
To me as I said in my original post on this thread. I still believe there needs to be an advocacy group of thyroid patient who can tell their misdiagnosedmaltreated stories to the AMA or whichever medical board is in charge in your country, and SHOW doctors the system needs to be regulated. It needs to be a global thing. It needs to be that around the world, reference ranges are the same. There needs to be an automatic testing done on mum's at around the 3 month mark after a baby is born. There needs to be automatic testing on any psych patient (this is actually starting to happen here in Australia). There needs to be more availability for doctors to read up on thyroid issues, and not just a small paragraph in the Lancet (many doctor's have this subscribed to them and they often just never read the articles, unless it is to do with latest drugs)
I sincerely can not see how suing a doctor is going to change anything.
My case in point, I was born with deformities, My mother took Distaval, (thalidomide drig) for morning sickness. It meant I could not join the RAAF, be a driving instructor, go surfing, high dive, many other things. This peeved me no end, so I decided to sue the company which made the drug. (they had been aware for many years it caused side effects, not just short limbs) Our government in its infinite wisdom destroyed all records after 15 years, from hospital births at that time. Why? Lack of room with papers. Bull dust! We had microfische then! Years and years later, I was still angry and tried many ways to sue. One doctor I had been venting to said, "Maria, you KNOW it caused those things, they admitted to it. What good would it do to sue them now? It wouldn't change YOU or make your life any different. Why don't you let it go and enjoy life as you have it, instead of wishing what could be?" I tell you what, that was only late last year and his words certainly changed my thinking.
Suing, and getting the money is like an admittance of guilt on behalf of the doctor. Would it change how they treat a patient? Not likely. They are a business like any other. I know this cause I asked my doctor many years ago about certain issues. They had a budget and had to keep testing down to a low level. They are accountable to our government when they do testing. (our government pays for a lot of pathology) Our doctors have a time limit on their computers, they click they are seeing the patient, then the time they left, if it is common that the doctor is taking too long with many patients, they get sacked. (seen it here in my town, lost 5 good doctors cos they took longer than the mandatory 7 minutes) I stick to the same doctor as much as possible, so they are aware of my case in their heads and not just with the last two pages on the computer screen.
There needs to be a group of us who can get together with the relevant medical boards and start changing health systems way of dealing with patients needs, not just for thyroid.
I jump off my soapbox now and make a cup of tea...ginger of course, to clear the head and brain fog! Hee hee
Cheers!
["There needs to be a group of us who can get together with the relevant medical boards and start changing health systems way of dealing with patients needs, not just for thyroid"] - redheadaussie
- agree 100%. The problem is the system is in place. Kind of hoped thyroid month would develop into something- good luck. Sometimes its better to create a new 'system' than to correct an old one. And its hard to motivate people (near impossible) for free to do things that even effect them directly. No one can get things done on an individual basis. There is proof that there is power in numbers - that part of how lobbying works. Which means you need people to join something. Anbd that is usually not for free. People will pay $45,000 US $ (a lot!) for an SUV automobile, but not $5 for a worthy cause. Makes no sense to me.
There is a small group here that started there own health insurance with several small clinics - its not for hospitalization, but for other clinic visits. They do what they want, not what a big insurance company tells them to do. The big insurance companies are really what wrecked it for everyone's health - well, in addition to doctors egos.
Oh - suing - a good way to jack up prices even more.
- agree 100%. The problem is the system is in place. Kind of hoped thyroid month would develop into something- good luck. Sometimes its better to create a new 'system' than to correct an old one. And its hard to motivate people (near impossible) for free to do things that even effect them directly. No one can get things done on an individual basis. There is proof that there is power in numbers - that part of how lobbying works. Which means you need people to join something. Anbd that is usually not for free. People will pay $45,000 US $ (a lot!) for an SUV automobile, but not $5 for a worthy cause. Makes no sense to me.
There is a small group here that started there own health insurance with several small clinics - its not for hospitalization, but for other clinic visits. They do what they want, not what a big insurance company tells them to do. The big insurance companies are really what wrecked it for everyone's health - well, in addition to doctors egos.
Oh - suing - a good way to jack up prices even more.
Red, that was just excellent, what a great post ! And great words from your doctor for all of us. You're an inspiring kinda gal.
To all:
Good ideas and thoughts, every one of you. I so agree that it's not about money, it's about patient advocacy, it's about how to facilitate and if necessary, force the system to change. This forum is a powerful first step...what in the world would we do if we didn't know what others are going through and what they've done about it? I absolutely believe that old adage: Strength United Is Stronger. The information I've gotten here on the forum has saved me so much time. Since I am a relative newbie here, I am wondering if there is a part of the site I don't know about where links are posted to websites or articles that participants find to be valuable, categorized by topic? Our own little WIKI library. For instance, Stella spent a HUGE amount of time for me and gave links to information that I'm sure will be beneficial to me. I hope others will see those links too, but they'll have to wade through my stuff and I doubt many will. This knowledge needs to be shared. I have reams of paper in my office of scientific articles I've printed out for study that I've found, and that have helped me. I no longer know the links, but I would have registered them had I known where to do it. It's a winding path to get into the European medical journals and reports from clinical trials, where a lot of the more interesting information lies. There are other links I've stored on my computer. Someone on the forum told me about Dr. Aram's book, which helped to pull all the random knowledge I'd gained into focus. Does everybody know about this book ? I get the feeling from some of the posts that they don't. Saying something is interesting to read is different than endorsing it.
I'm off to bed, praying for sleep ! Any thoughts? Any other good ideas for how best to advocate? Any links to established thyroid patient advocacy groups? Any plans for going to DC and appearing before Congress with reams of paper representing our stories? I this economic climate, our struggle is going to be that much tougher, so I guess we need to be that way too.
Blessings. You Go, Girls !
To all:
Good ideas and thoughts, every one of you. I so agree that it's not about money, it's about patient advocacy, it's about how to facilitate and if necessary, force the system to change. This forum is a powerful first step...what in the world would we do if we didn't know what others are going through and what they've done about it? I absolutely believe that old adage: Strength United Is Stronger. The information I've gotten here on the forum has saved me so much time. Since I am a relative newbie here, I am wondering if there is a part of the site I don't know about where links are posted to websites or articles that participants find to be valuable, categorized by topic? Our own little WIKI library. For instance, Stella spent a HUGE amount of time for me and gave links to information that I'm sure will be beneficial to me. I hope others will see those links too, but they'll have to wade through my stuff and I doubt many will. This knowledge needs to be shared. I have reams of paper in my office of scientific articles I've printed out for study that I've found, and that have helped me. I no longer know the links, but I would have registered them had I known where to do it. It's a winding path to get into the European medical journals and reports from clinical trials, where a lot of the more interesting information lies. There are other links I've stored on my computer. Someone on the forum told me about Dr. Aram's book, which helped to pull all the random knowledge I'd gained into focus. Does everybody know about this book ? I get the feeling from some of the posts that they don't. Saying something is interesting to read is different than endorsing it.
I'm off to bed, praying for sleep ! Any thoughts? Any other good ideas for how best to advocate? Any links to established thyroid patient advocacy groups? Any plans for going to DC and appearing before Congress with reams of paper representing our stories? I this economic climate, our struggle is going to be that much tougher, so I guess we need to be that way too.
Blessings. You Go, Girls !
Careful. We have males working on this too. :)
One of the best firecrackers on this revolution is responding too... right LM? :)
One of the best firecrackers on this revolution is responding too... right LM? :)
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