Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

[Gerontophile]

My friend felt really bad on Monday before he went to work, so his partner called the ambulance, who arrived swiftly.

One of them gave my friend a good once over, and decided that he had constipation, and he should probably see his doctor. But as they were there, they could take him up to the hospital and get him checked out.

Which is just as well really, as it turns out he had a perforated ulcer in his stomach, and had an operation on it within an hour of arrival.

Fucking fucking fuckety fuckwits.

He is fine now btw.

[Sam]

Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

54 weeks ago this weekend, One of my friends had slightly too much to drink in Bristol on a Friday evening and got hit by a bus whilst crossing the road, having forgotten to check the road.

When the ambulance drivers arrived, they took one look at him, turned to the police who'd arrived on the scene a couple of minutes previously, and told them to tape the area off, because by the time they'd picked him up and put him in the ambulance they'd be dealing with a death scene.

He had a month in intensive care followed by about 3 months in HDU, but whilst he needs a bit more physio to get his hand up to the standard where he can play saxophone again (his whole left side was paralysed and he's at music college studying sax and clarinet), to meet and talk to him now you wouldn't know anything that happened.

[EIM]

Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

gerontophile wrote:

My friend felt really bad on Monday before he went to work, so his partner called the ambulance, who arrived swiftly.

One of them gave my friend a good once over, and decided that he had constipation, and he should probably see his doctor. But as they were there, they could take him up to the hospital and get him checked out.

Which is just as well really, as it turns out he had a perforated ulcer in his stomach, and had an operation on it within an hour of arrival.

Fucking fucking fuckety fuckwits.

He is fine now btw.

Sounds like they did OK to me.

[Gerontophile]

Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

by giving him a lift? yes, thats one way of looking at it.

[caja-dglh]

Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

Well, they took necessary precaution. Yes, they called it wrong, but they allowed themselves room for error.

Virtually everyone on this board avoids taking any job like that because of the life or death decisions they make on a daily basis. It is a bit poor to get on anyone's back in this circumstance as they have the best intentions, and we need as many people as possible prepared to do their job. There are hundreds of potential scenarios way worse than this.

[Gerontophile]

Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

Perhaps there are (scenarios wise) and I am sure they have the best intentions. Not disputing that.

I was just pissed off that they got it wrong, and that the repercussions of this could have been much more serious than as turned out. OK, they werent. And perhaps it is wrong to slag people off for trying to do their job, but like loads of other topics written about on here, its good to vent spleen.

[EIM]

Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

its good to vent spleen.

Maybe you just need a poo?

I hope your mate is OK. I didn't mean to demean his situation or owt.

[The Purple Cow]

Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

Well having worked at the sharp end of the British and Dutch health care systems for 20 years, I can say that in my opinion the Ambulance guys did a pretty good job. Nine out ten times their diagnosis would have been correct.

Constipation is very very painful and when we had a patient in extreme abdominal discomfort, your first thought was always in that direction. The other thing to remember is that medical diagnosis is an art more than a science. Especially if you are not a trained doctor.

[Wyatt Earp]

Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

I also think they did OK: you can't expect paramedics to be top diagnosticians, and they correctly erred on the side of caution. But the idea that medical diagnosis is an "art" is deeply wrong, I think. Wrong enough to kill.

[The Purple Cow]

Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

" But the idea that medical diagnosis is an "art" is deeply wrong"

I promise you it isn't. It's part of the art and craft of medicine that comes with experience. Doctor's often go with their hunches and best guesses, and then wait for the lab results.

[Wyatt Earp]

Bad diagnoses by ambulance workers

The Purple Cow wrote:

" But the idea that medical diagnosis is an "art" is deeply wrong"

I promise you it isn't. It's part of the art and craft of medicine that comes with experience. Doctor's often go with their hunches and best guesses, and then wait for the lab results.

The trouble is (and thre have been quite rigorous studies of this), doctors' clinical experience is less reliable than doctors think it is.