Lesley is here now - Message Board

Good haircut. All gone straggly bits.

Nephew with broken leg says it'll be at least six weeks before he can put any weight on it. Miserable. I haven't asked him how he fees about moving back in with his parents. It's wonderful that they can look after him but I don't need to ask if he wishes they didn't need to.

Reply #3441. Sep 16 11, 11:29 AM

Thats good Lesley, i am a need for a haircut nut not ready for the convict look just yet,

Another one with a broken leg not good my mums still not got full cast so is longer then 6 weeks for her.

Reply #3442. Sep 16 11, 11:54 AM

I believe he broke it a week ago. He said that the cast was making him feel claustrophobic. (Not surprised.) Then he saw his GP, who said, when he changes to a hard cast next week, he should "request a removable boot instead to make it more bearable!"

It'll be six weeks with one useful foot and two crutches. :(

He's been going to a gym for years, and doing weight-lifting; and he's strong. I'm sure that'll help his recovery.

Reply #3443. Sep 16 11, 4:59 PM

There's an article in the local paper about a woman in her early thirties, in remission from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It says she spent months seeing her GP about a persistent cough, and the GP said she had a virus.

"Having a virus" has lost all meaning. I think it's the modern equivalent of take two aspirins and call me again on Monday.

In the end, she got a private consultation, which resulted in an immediate diagnosis, and she started getting treatment, not a minute too soon. Why are our GPs so rubbish at diagnosing? And what's the answer? Perhaps we could start with giving every patient a cudgel, and a sign that says Take Me Seriously. Or Do Your Job Properly. Anything that discourages them from palming people off with platitudes and dangerous nonsense.

Reply #3444. Sep 16 11, 5:14 PM

I do like thast idea Lesley but as i normaly only see the good doctor i would never get to use it lol

Reply #3445. Sep 17 11, 1:08 AM

C30

1. My father had been involved in RTA (road traffic accident, he was taken to Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge.
When back home he complained of chest pains......doctor referred him to Newmarket Hospital.......he was diagnosed with a broken rib that Addenbrookes somehow failed to notice!

2, I had phoned my doctor when unwell on Friday, asking for home visit as was unable to drive. This was refused and told to "take paracetamol and come to surgery on Monday". A friend called round to see how I was, took one look at me and whipped me to Hospital........2 hours later I was being operated on to remove appendix!

3. For the past 2 years, I have seen just about every doctor at the practice, because of permanent gastric nausea.
To date I have been told, it isn't cardiac, it isn't this and it isn't that..........do have some more pills!
Still none the wiser as to what it is, still got the complaint, still taking pills........but givewn up as a bad job seeing a NHS GP!

4, Lesley's "take two pills" is probably just as effective as seeing a GP!

Reply #3446. Sep 17 11, 2:36 AM

In 1998, I rang the surgery for a house call. Husband had told me that he'd been up all night with indigestion, and would I get Jonathan to school, and get him some antacid on the way back. Obviously I didn't buy that: his theory, or the antacid. And I didn't want to call an ambulance because I thought it would frighten the life out of him. (With hindsight, I think this may not have been one of my best decisions.)

The receptionist who answered the phone was a happy soul, with a husband who earnt *Lots* Of Money, who could afford to send two little darlings to the local public school, and for whom the worst thing that could happen would be the dishwasher packing up, or a fingernail breaking.

I told her he'd **said** he had had indigestion for eight hours.
"Bring him into the surgery then."
He can't move.
"Oh Lesley, you're not seriously asking for a house call because he's got indigestion?"
I didn't say he had indigestion: I said he *said* he had indigestion.

But no, she still didn't twig. So I gave up. Actually, if I'd said he had chest pains and blue lips, she still probably wouldn't have twigged. She probably would just have let her mind drift to her newest lipstick.

While I was trying to unfreeze my brain, there was a ring at the doorbell, and it was our GP - the one with the brain. He sat on H's bed and quietly called an ambulance. With hindsight, that's what I should have done. Very few practice receptionists are as clever as they think they are. Many of them are tight with appointments because they're scared of the practice manager! The one I got that morning was just thick. Unfortunately, soon after that, he retired, and passed us on to the one I put up with till a year ago.

A few years ago, I was refused an appointment on my GP's afternoon off, so I went to the hospital instead. Actually, Jonathan drove me - after he'd driven one of the cats to the vet (have to get your priorities right!) - and they said I had cellulitis (OUCH), and was absolutely right to come to them, not to wait for attention.

And then, of course, eighteen months ago, I gave up on his flights of fantasy about self-resolving sub-acute gastro-intestinal blockages, and took myself to the hospital, where they kept me for three weeks. There, at last, I got a real diagnosis, and real treatment. And a new GP. This is my equivalent of the woman in the newspaper getting a private consultation. Not as expensive, but still vital.

Any GPs out here who think we're being unfair? Anyone who thinks that a GP, presented with a patient who says she can't breathe, who doesn't pick up his stethoscops, deserves to be struck off? or shot?

Reply #3447. Sep 17 11, 7:15 AM

Jazmee27

Anyone who thinks that should himself be shot

Reply #3448. Sep 17 11, 7:33 AM

100% agree with you Lesley sadly there are a lot of doctors out there that are far from doing their job right i am lucky i have one that does.

Reply #3449. Sep 17 11, 7:42 AM

When I was young, fit and attractive, doctors were attentive.

Now that I am aged, listened to their advise (which was a stupid thing to do considering the outcome), and am no longer 'hot stuff', doctors continue to dismiss me.

It also depends upon the job you have in the real world. Unless you are in a position they consider as necessary, it appears they believe not only a spouse is better off without you, so is the world as a whole.

The next doctor who indicates that is how he/she feels about me, I will advise them they are now responsible for everything I do...and I do mean everything!

Patients are not experiments but living, breathing beings. Too bad so many in the medical 'profession' only see them as dollar signs and as a way to get a fancy new car.

Reply #3450. Sep 17 11, 8:07 AM

I think the doctors stateside are money orientated, is a shame Obamma has not done more to reform things.

Mare to me you are a attractive woman as you care about those around you, Doctors do not realise that.

Reply #3451. Sep 17 11, 8:14 AM

Professer, it just proves they are blinded by their positions.

President Obama can only do so much. There are those who, simply due to their being on a different 'side' politically, do everything in their power to undermine any president we have without remembering it is the people who pay them for their representation. Considering they are our employees, the ability to fire them is a difficult one.

Reply #3452. Sep 17 11, 8:29 AM

Totally agree Daymare are politicans are the same , we are supposed to have the power to recall them i for one have not seen it.

I am part of aorganisation that looks for fairness in things occuring. I have said we need a law that says if !5 of the voters declare no confidence the politicans must go

Reply #3453. Sep 17 11, 8:39 AM

My American cousin has been telling me about people there who pay for tests, and are then recalled because the tests "didn't look right" and have to pay a full repeat fee. Sometimes it's because the people reading the results didn't know what they were looking at, including a call for a cervical smear test, to check some cervical cell abnormalities, to someone who'd had a hysterectomy. "Oh sorry, I didn't read your file."

We have the BMC to protect us, and America has the AMC, but I don't know how effective they are, or if they just close ranks.

My old GP was only interested in his male patients. If you're a man, you will get automatic respect from him: even better if you have a scientific mind. We know a man who is a Professor of Mathematics. He and the ex-GP used to natter for hours. When Jonathan announced his choice of degree subject, he spent about fifteen minutes listing all the reasons why a straight medicine degree would be a better choice, and none of them that I recall mentioned Vocation, or Healing. Me? I got a succession of placebo doses of a variety of pills, and a string of irrelevant referrals, and was eventually denounced as a liar and a hypochondriac.

All I wish for him is the same thing to happen to him.

Reply #3454. Sep 17 11, 8:40 AM

Doctors close ranks when one is under fire.

To me, that means they do not care if the bad ones further destroy the profession which was once medicine.

I recently received the last doctors records. What an eye opener. We have returned to era of the 1950s when women were seen, not heard, not respected and not treated as the valuable people they were and are today.

Reply #3455. Sep 17 11, 8:53 AM

Lesley, not only must we pay an additional co-pay if any lab work is done incorrectly, we, and our insurance, must also pay again even though we are not the ones who messed up the tests. Then, to receive results, we again pay another co-pay in order to be told the outcome.

Then, we are told by our insurance it is up to us to 'monitor' our medical bills in order to reduce costs. Just try it. You get no where as the doctors are above reproach. Then the patients are blamed for the high cost of medical care.

Have you noticed the only profession which grows is medicine? Every other profession is hurting due to the economy. Not the medical profession.

Reply #3456. Sep 17 11, 8:57 AM

I recently received the last doctors records. What an eye opener. We have returned to era of the 1950s when women were seen, not heard, not respected and not treated as the valuable people they were and are today.

Am totaly lost for words Mare, that is the worst thing i have heard regards Doctors, I maybe old fashioned but have always respected women and value their views this Quack needs his licence to practice revoked or he needs to be told he can only treat pigs.

Reply #3457. Sep 17 11, 8:59 AM

So that's the only field in which you can make all the mistakes you feel like making, because the customer will ultimately pay for everything, and you won't be accountable for anything. Getting a new doctor won;t help if they're all the same. *scream*

Would P Obama's plans for healthcare make this sort of thing rarer?

I believe that veterinarians need broader qualifications than practitioners of human medicine. I wonder if it's possible to be just a pig-doctor? Hmmm!

Reply #3458. Sep 17 11, 9:09 AM

I like pigs. They are cute.

Actually, from what I understand, President Obama's efforts are to prevent people from being uninsured. Many employers do not offer health insurance. This results in too many not getting/receiving help for medical issues until it becomes too late (and thus, more costly).

I believe, and understand this is my opinion and not meant to reflect negatively on any one else, President Obama sees more than people realize about 'regular people'. The people who are the backbone of our country but as they are not 'experts' in their field, are dismissed as easily as tossing a coin. I would go further but cannot as politics are not allowed in FT.

Frankly, it's time the ones in charge understand, if not for the people they profess to represent, they could become some of the people they appear to look down upon.

Reply #3459. Sep 17 11, 9:17 AM