mistyhound2 said:Okay, so who actually diagnosed her with ovarian cancer if this lady just sent her straight to a psychiatrist? I’m guessing it wasn't a psychiatrist. 😁
And why would you even hate someone, even if they were the doctor who messed up the diagnosis? I run into colleagues every single day who get diagnoses wrong, but I don't hate them—God forbid—I just think they have no clue. Luckily, there are also those who actually know what they're doing.
And btw, why shouldn't a doctor make mistakes? They aren't all-powerful (thank goodness). I bet even you, being a chemist or whatever you are, mess up more than a little...
Let's take these questions one by one:
Nobody diagnosed it. Through some connections, she eventually ended up in the gastro ward after the cancer had already spread through half her intestines, so they started surgery and then called in some gynecologists to help finish the job.
Why would I hate someone who gave a wrong diagnosis? Well, because it's just human nature to try and rationalize things when you lose important people in your life—unless you're religious, in which case you say Bog took her and Bog gave her. If that doctor had just done her job (which should have included running a CA125 blood test, assuming a color Doppler was too expensive for her), or at least said, "Ma'am, please see someone else because you're wasting my time," maybe my mom would still be alive today. On the other hand, maybe she would've beaten the ovarian cancer only to get hit by a truck a year later, and we'd be right back where we started anyway.
You seem to think my feelings toward this "doctor" should be different (btw, I did say I'm past the hating phase, but I still wouldn't exactly jump at the chance to chat with her).
As for mistakes: yeah, doctors make them. We'd all love to believe they don't, but unfortunately, just like any other job, they're part of daily life. I chose to be a chemist; you chose to be a doctor. One reason I decided NOT to go to med school—which my aforementioned mother was really pushing 😁—was the fact that I couldn't handle facing people whose lives were ruined because of MY mistake.
When I mess up, my supervisor yells at me and everyone moves on.
When you mess up, someone dies.
You doctors are the ones who have to live with that responsibility. So don't act surprised when the deceased's family hates you.
PS: I have nothing against you, mistyhound2. Or against dozens of other doctors who truly proved themselves to be decent humans and experts during the days we spent visiting the hospital constantly trying to make their final days easier. The same goes for many nurses and others we met. That's exactly why I emphasize in every post that I have a very positive view of doctors in general, because the number of people I've had bad experiences with is way smaller than the rest.