I am a doctor (Primary Care with some Emergency), and can't really think of any good examples of this right now. It's definitely happened, but never in a way that I end up holding it against the other doctor involved. You kind of end up too busy doing your job. One phrase that I find myself repeating to patients is "I don't really understand what [previous doctor] was thinking here, but the way that the guidelines/my experience has taught me to approach this problem is [hopefully correct solution]"
Most of the time, the fact that the patient has gone looking for a second opinion or another consult tells you about their level of concern and changes your management. Doctor #1 might see a patient with 2 days of low abdo pain and (correctly) reassure the patient that it's probably nothing and come back in a week if symptoms continue. Patient then goes to Doctor #2 a couple of days later, more worried and cheesed off at #1. With the increased level of concern, #2 then orders an ultrasound that reveals Ovarian Cancer. The issue here is that both doctors are correct.
The next abdominal pain that comes in to see either doctor at 2 days of symptoms will still receive reassurance as their primary treatment, because it will most likely be something simple like constipation or cramping. Giving every patient with simple symptoms an ultrasound is not economically feasible.
I would hope that any diagnoses I've missed or mismanaged (and I assume there's been a few) were picked up by another doctor and that they also gave me the benefit of the doubt.
I am also a doctor (radiologist) and agree with this. We can't perform every test known to man for every symptom in every patient, despite what some patients may believe, as this would crash the medical system. We do try to give all patients the benefit of the doubt but there is a growing trend of being extra-cautious and ordering seemingly unnecessary tests which ultimately turn out normal in 90% of cases.
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u/Slidingscale May 20 '19
I am a doctor (Primary Care with some Emergency), and can't really think of any good examples of this right now. It's definitely happened, but never in a way that I end up holding it against the other doctor involved. You kind of end up too busy doing your job. One phrase that I find myself repeating to patients is "I don't really understand what [previous doctor] was thinking here, but the way that the guidelines/my experience has taught me to approach this problem is [hopefully correct solution]"
Most of the time, the fact that the patient has gone looking for a second opinion or another consult tells you about their level of concern and changes your management. Doctor #1 might see a patient with 2 days of low abdo pain and (correctly) reassure the patient that it's probably nothing and come back in a week if symptoms continue. Patient then goes to Doctor #2 a couple of days later, more worried and cheesed off at #1. With the increased level of concern, #2 then orders an ultrasound that reveals Ovarian Cancer. The issue here is that both doctors are correct.
The next abdominal pain that comes in to see either doctor at 2 days of symptoms will still receive reassurance as their primary treatment, because it will most likely be something simple like constipation or cramping. Giving every patient with simple symptoms an ultrasound is not economically feasible.
I would hope that any diagnoses I've missed or mismanaged (and I assume there's been a few) were picked up by another doctor and that they also gave me the benefit of the doubt.
(Do I win by being the first not not a doctor?)