Yes, doctors are miracle workers, a lot of the time.
But doctors and, all medical personal for that matter, are only human.
They make mistakes. Sometimes their mistakes lead to death or irreparable physical damage to a patient.
Beyond mistakes though, just like any other job or career field, you do have those people that make everyone wonder... "How the HELL did you get this job?"
That shouldn't be a question for a doctor.
Redditor PeaAdministrative874 wanted to hear about how participants in the medical field have made a few mistakes too many, by asking:
"[serious] What is the worst case of malpractice you've ever seen?"
One of my best friends lost her life due to a litany of crappy doctors (thank you Medicaid). Waiting for a kidney can kill you, literally, and so can the doctors helping you look for one.
"McBurney's spot"
head feels GIFGiphy"Had a doc misdiagnose my ruptured appendix. Said it was likely just an upset stomach from an antibiotic. I wasn't really pissed until I learned how simple it is to screen for. Just poke me in the stomach. 'McBurney's spot.'" ~ cmoellering
Quack
"I had a doctor mis-diagnose me with nothing more than a post surgical infection. He was the doctor I saw locally close to my home after my trauma surgery that took place in another city. All he would ever do is double the dose of the anti-biotics I was prescribed."
"Turned out I had a hole in my diaphragm that was allowing my lacerated liver to flood my chest cavity with bile. They drained a liter and half from my chest in the ER. I still remember the sound of the doctor screaming in the ER about "What kind of a quack would release a person in this condition?" ~ Stephenburnett98
"growing pains"
"My doctor told my mother that the pains in my side were just "growing pains." For years, he said this. Well, after sixteen years, my kidney finally gave out. It turns out, the pediatrician who had taken care of me for years had missed a kidney birth defect that should have been found when I was born."
"I spent the first 16 years of my life having pains that were similar to having kidney stones--all the time. I have a rib cage that is deformed because my kidney was so swollen during its formation. If he had even felt my ribcage he would have known this."
"My mom believed him because he was a doctor. None of this was found until I was 16 when the damage was already done. They tried to fix it, but it didn't work. Unfortunately, by the time any of this was realized, my doctor had died, so I didn't have a chance to sue him." ~ Lostyouruckinminds
It really sucked
"My mom had a kidney defect that was never caught because she was born before they were able to detect those things in the womb. her kidney was so messed up that it barely functioned, and paired with a history of alcoholism, the defect wasn't found until she was in the hospital with multi-organ failure from the build up of toxins created by her other kidney failing to do the work of both."
"I was 14 when that happened and she was early 50s. She ended up in end stage renal failure and was dependent on dialysis for the rest of her life because her kidney function was never able to be restored. If the defective kidney had been found earlier they might've been able to save the other. It really sucked." ~ immapizza
Dr. Chris
johnny depp edward GIFGiphy"Dr. Christopher Duntsch is known as Dr. Death. He used to go on days-long Coke benders, stay up for days, do lines, and cut people open. If you can handle it, look at an X-Ray of his work... looks like Steampunk meets Edwards Scissorhands in terms of surgical quality." ~ -_-_-----_-___
Doctors and medical people in general really should be taking daily field sobriety tests. And mental health checks. We need to know they're performing at their best.
Fallen
"I fell down a flight of stairs after pinching a disc in my lower back which caused me to black out. I had to call my uncle to come help me off the floor & take me to the local urgent care clinic. The doc told me to bend over & touch my toes which I couldn't of course & then diagnosed me as fat."
"I was like "I've been this weight for a while. My body didn't just suddenly decide I was overweight & to stop functioning. I felt a pop in my back which caused me to black out." Nope according to him I just needed to lose weight. I yelled at him all the way back to the waiting room full of patients for being a jerk."
"One of his nurses noticed the bruising on my arm was indicative of a broken arm & suddenly he was taking me seriously. Apparently not noticing your arm is broken because your back pain is overwhelming any other feeling is the indicator that you're actually seriously injured."
"I had my uncle take me to the ER instead where I was diagnosed & treated. Just the arm though, the back took about a year of physical therapy. And all my paperwork had to go back to that doctor since he was the initial treator. I included a lovely drawing to be faxed over with my papers (🖕) as well as message that called him a freaking idiot which made the ER doc laugh." ~ Stefie25
The Hen's teeth
"I went in for a simple hernia repair. The surgeon perforated my bowel in 9 places and sewed me back up. By the morning I was in full septic shock. My kidneys failed, I got piped and a hole opened in my side that connected my bowel to my skin allowing crap to flow out of my body. I spent 10 months in the hospital, mostly NPO with nothing by mouth."
"I lost over 120 pounds. I had multiple surgeries. I had to go to rehab to learn how to walk again. I told the surgeon about my prior bowel resections for Crohn's disease and the internal scaring I had. His exact words, "Complications are as rare as hen's teeth." Oh, and I told him I was on drugs that depressed my immune system. So when the septic shock hit, I didn't respond to antibiotics."
"I got a settlement of $1,000,000. My lawyers took $450,000. My health insurer took $350,000. My ex-wife took the rest. I got run from my job as a senior director after missing that much time and actually got more from the wrongful termination suit than the malpractice suit." ~ Howabouthatnow
Med Mal
"I worked for attorneys. They handled a lot of Med Mal cases. We had one where the doctor just lopped off a leg of a man who was there for a minor kidney stone procedure. Something about medical charts being switched. Guy received a lot of money as you would imagine. There was also one where a doctor left a dirty sponge inside the patient while he sewed her up causing massive infections, which led to death." ~ Reddit
Get the $$$
"A family friend had a minor surgery in the abdomen area, but the cut into his lower intestine and it seeped for way too long. Poor guy almost died. They cleaned it up but they had to remove most of the lower intestine and bowel.
The doctors/surgeons were sued and I hope they got a lot of money from it." ~ ktarzwell
That was the 70s...
"It wasn't considered malpractice at the time, and nothing bad happened afterwards, but: When my mother went in for a tubal ligation, the surgeon decided to remove her perfectly healthy appendix as well, since he was in the area. She was furious, but didn't file a complaint as he was a family friend. This was in the early 70's. Imagine this happening now!" ~ blitzen_13
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