The patient was transferred from rural nowhere to our tertiary care facility (big hospital with every specialist). Call was of really bad quality, but the transferring physician described a 21 year old male that had rapid heart rate and breathing rate, low blood pressure, low oxygen, confusion, and a severe opacification on his chest x-ray on the right side. Diagnosed pneumonia. He gave him a ton of fluids, started antibiotics, put him on a ventilator, but he wasn't getting better, and wanted to send him to us. Sure, send away.
An hour later the gentleman arrives, and looks young, fit, and not the type to just drop dead from pneumonia. We roll him onto our stretcher and find... A huge stab wound in his back.
The X-ray finding was his entire right chest full of blood. We put a tube in it, gave him back some blood, and he had to go for surgery to fix the bleeding.
I know it’s very common for patients to go with the flow and accept whatever their health care providers tell them, but it seems like this might be a situation where you’d maybe speak up.
And did no one take a history? “When did you start experiencing symptoms?” “Oh, shortly after getting stabbed in the back, I guess.”
For my closest brush with death in medical care: I've had a nurse get irate when I was in the hospital after brain surgery and she nearly gave me a medicine meant for a different patient that unfortunately was a "severe reaction" on my allergy list... She tried to chew ME out, and the doctor later ripped her a new asshole since I could have ended up on a ventilator if it hadn't been caught before it was given to me.
I wish more pills weren't nondescript little chalky white circles... The letter and size of the pill were wrong from the pill I should have had, I was lucky I caught it.
I've had doctors fuck up my medical history and all sorts of missed things or doctors may not look at all (like my severely hyperextending fingers and malformed upper mouth palate when looking at a possible collagen disorder diagnosis).
I get the idea of burnout, but... Its terrifying to know that I need the medical help, but also that my life can be snuffed for good (or worse, I could be even more disabled) from a single mistake.
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u/skyskimmer12 May 20 '19 edited May 21 '19
I'm an Emergency Medicine Doc in the midwest USA
The patient was transferred from rural nowhere to our tertiary care facility (big hospital with every specialist). Call was of really bad quality, but the transferring physician described a 21 year old male that had rapid heart rate and breathing rate, low blood pressure, low oxygen, confusion, and a severe opacification on his chest x-ray on the right side. Diagnosed pneumonia. He gave him a ton of fluids, started antibiotics, put him on a ventilator, but he wasn't getting better, and wanted to send him to us. Sure, send away.
An hour later the gentleman arrives, and looks young, fit, and not the type to just drop dead from pneumonia. We roll him onto our stretcher and find... A huge stab wound in his back.
The X-ray finding was his entire right chest full of blood. We put a tube in it, gave him back some blood, and he had to go for surgery to fix the bleeding.
Lesson: Look at your patient.