A teenager who begged doctors to take her health fears seriously in the months before she died from a rare cancer was told by medics to "stop Googling your symptoms".
Bronte Doyne died on March 23, 2013, aged 19 - just 16 months after she first complained of severe stomach pains.
In text messages, tweets and personal diary entries, the student expressed her worries that medics were not acting as her health deteriorated.
Doctors dismissed her concerns, leaving her desperate for someone to take her seriously. In one tweet in July 2012, Miss Doyne made a cry for help:
Finally, after pleading to be taken seriously, she was admitted to hospital where she passed away 10 days later.
Now bosses at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust have admitted they "did not listen with sufficient attention" and that they must embrace the "internet age".[...]
As tragic as this story is, it must be put in proper context.
ReplyDeleteFor every genuine illness there are 100's of patients who consulted "Dr Google" only to learn they have cancer when, in fact, they have constipation.
Wgat you are saying has some trutg to it but doctors could use a dose of humility
ReplyDeleteThis tragic event occurred in the United Kingdom which of course has universal socialized health care, which promises a lot of care, but very little in the way of actual medical treatment..You see, the physicians at Nottingham University Hospital "cared" very much about about Miss Doyne's suffering, but there was very little they could offer her by way of treatment. Socialized medicine has strictly controlled priorities and medical procedures are doled out very sparingly. Socialized medicine is pretty much like everything else in life: you get what you pay for. and if you pay nothing, you get nothing.
ReplyDeleteLet this be a cautionary tale: This will be what medical care in the United States will look like in the near future unless the trend that started with the Affordable Care Act is reversed.
Many politicians express concern that there is a growing disparity in earning strata. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. Socialist thinking addresses this inequity by promoting schemes that will render everyone equally miserable.
But at least it will be "fair".
Our future dystopia has been prophetically described by Kurt Vonnegut in his short story "Harrison Bergeron" which is included in his collection called "Welcome to the Monkey House".
Read it and weep.
a dose? they need a complete personality transformation which should start with a pay cut
ReplyDelete