As I get older, my trust in doctors diminishes after reading all the crazy stories online about people being misdiagnosed or badly treated in the hands of a "trusted" medical professional. The thing is, I should feel the opposite, because I'll be in need of their care more than ever as old age takes a toll on me.
So you can understand how anxious I feel when there's something wrong with my body. I could have the flu, but I'm always worried it's something more serious than that.
Being misdiagnosed is one of my greatest fears. Some people have had such terrible experiences at the doctor's office or hospital that's actually led to their death...
Just last week, a five-year-old girl died shortly after she was denied treatment for being 10 minutes late to her doctor's appointment.
The mother and her daughter, who was reportedly 'wheezing and unable to walk" at the time, was forced to return home. The little girl's mother checked in on her every now and again to make sure she was okay. Close to midnight, she found her daughter on the floor, blue in the face. It was believed that the girl died from an asthma attack.
Some doctors seem to be too busy to take illnesses seriously, and now a six-year-old girl has died from meningitis because one doctor believed the mother was "paranoid" about her daughter's flu-like symptoms.
If that doesn't sound crazy enough to you, wait till you hear the full story...
A Worried Mother
Kirsty Ermenekli rushed her little girl to the hospital after she developed a high fever, had a rash mark on her hip, and complained about feeling sick.
"It felt like ages before the doctor came, a good couple of hours," Kirsty recalled. "We were seen by the nurse three times in between but I was quite concerned as I had never had a child with a temperature that high with it not coming down."
Doctors sent her daughter, Layla-Rose, home and told the mother that her little girl just had a bruise and was suffering from a viral infection. But the six-year-old girl was not feeling better, her condition worsened, and like any concerned mother, Kirsty returned to the hospital. Eight hours later, Layla passed away.
Now an inquest is looking into the negligence of care at Royal Oldham Hospital in England.
"I have concerns regarding the length of time we were in [the emergency room] and no blood test was done. I felt I was being looked at as a paranoid mother and the doctors couldn't be bothered," Kirsty said. "I was not being kept informed of development. I couldn't fault the care on the children's ward but all that time in [the emergency room] could have made a difference and Layla should have been admitted sooner."
The Report
Doctors later learned that Layla died from meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia.
Investigations revealed that there were "missed opportunities" to accurately diagnose the young girl: "The doctor who saw the patient initially did not recognize the rash, which was not documented at the time as being of a worrying nature, as a result the diagnosis of sepsis was missed for three-and-a-half hours, during which treatment opportunities were missed."
No matter how many apologizes are given to Kirsty, there's no way she'll ever get her little girl back.
"Nobody knows their child better. Now I'm more paranoid then ever. At the time I thought she was in the best care," she said.
[Source: Daily Mirror]