Susannah Cahalan’s battle with a rare autoimmune disorder can be used as a perfect case study for misdiagnosis with patients, biases that doctors may encounter and the sick role. Firstly, for those that have not read Brain on Fire, it is about the journey Susannah, a reporter for the New York Post, underwent with trying to find an answer to her perplexing medical mystery. Early on in her journey Susannah started experiencing subtle symptoms that she dismissed as the flu and the common blues everyone experiences from time to time. Her primary doctor that will play a major role in the story, Dr. Bailey, also thought Susannah had symptoms along the lines of a virus like mono. She continued with her daily life not putting much thought to her symptoms. Her health continued to gradually decline, and her colleagues began noticing something was wrong with her. At one point her supervisor, after noticing a lack in her performance, gave her one last shot to have the chance to interview John Walsh, famous for America’s most wanted. In short, the interview was a disaster and cut short after Susannah began having an array of symptoms that were observable as being intoxicated. A few days after this event, she continued to get more symptoms and started …show more content…
Misdiagnosis is a huge problem that accounts for a large number of deaths in the United States and around the world. Some of the causes of this could be from the amount of time doctors have with their patients and bias the doctors can have. Susannah was an exception in being able to pay for the treatment she received. The average American would have likely not been able to afford this type of care. This highlights the major medical divide that is present in the country. Susannah is a first-hand account of the dangers of misdiagnosing a patient and the call for better policies that address a better plan of action when making a
The medical staff’s ethical principals were non-existent. Unfortunately since Tomcik was in an institution therefore she had no means of autonomy. She was not able to effectively make her own decisions regarding how she was to be treated. The healthcare staff did not use moral judgment throughout her care. She was ignored and not given the proper care that was needed.
In Chapter 5 there is a passage that discusses the frustration the doctors are having toward the Lees. Neil and Peggy were very upset at the parents for their noncompliance and it was difficult to work with the Lees because of how hard the work was and they had to face resentment, instead of appreciation from the Lees. They were also frustrated that the Lees never paid for any medical care and didn’t seem to appreciate their generosity for helping them when Medi-Cal was a low insurance program. Lia’s parents made Peggy and Neil feel as if all their year’s education, awards, and the amount of time they spent educating themselves about the Hmong didn’t matter. They struggled watching Lia fail to receive treatment and thought they could give her a better life (Passage summary found on page
The patient had a serious injury that could have possibly been untreatable and now they lost a surgeon which they probably had very little of . This isn’t fair at all they didn’t even have that big of a population with very little surgeons. So this brings it down every time a patient
“Benevolent deception” is a typical practice where doctors purposely mask important information from their patients for the patients’ own benefit. Doctors will restrain information because “they believed it was best not to confuse or upset patients with frightening terms they might not understand, like cancer” (Skloot, 2010, 2011, p. 63). In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, doctors withheld crucial information from Henrietta, and overall left her in the unknown. Lacks had to frequently make trips to John Hopkins because of her constant discomforts and pains, and she had no clue what was causing it.
If a doctor however was given the chance to save Lia’s life and failed, they would be blamed for it. There was a feeling amongst the Hmong that because American doctors were so different than the Hmong medical system they were used too, they were more likely to cause harm than restore it. The Lee’s were no different in their judgment of American doctors, throughout the book it was clear that they cared about Lia very much and wanted the seizures that plagued her to stop, but their knowledge of medicine and health clashed with Western medicine and caused the seizures to increase rather than decrease. On the other side of the spectrum stood the American doctors who were more to blame than the parents for Lia’s permanent vegetative state. They didn’t adhere to simple the Hmong culture that would gain the Lee’s respect and understanding.
This is the system that when it comes to treating the underprivileged puts them at risk since they are the ones that suffer from the mistakes of medical students. On chapter 9 we are introduced to Mr. Rose, a man who “was clearly sick, but wasn't actively dying.” Mr. Rose was under the care of medical student Pearson, who worked in the clinic that helped the underprivileged, yet the help was not enough and full of mistakes. Mr. Rose died because Pearson couldn't detect what was wrong with his urine sample soon enough to get him help. Guilty, Pearson wished for Mr. Rose to have been insured and have had a primary care doctor that would’ve caught the cancer in its early stages and provided him with the necessary
Nao Kao did not understand why his daughter was tied down, revoking more of his trust in the health care system he kept removing them. This is a perfect example of how easily communication and trusting nurse-client relationship could have prevented this misunderstanding and ambiguity. Peggy and Neil prescribed numerous medications for Lia over the course of her hospital visits. Nao Kao and Foua did not speak or read English, leading her to keep seizing because she did not have enough Phenobarbital in her blood, “Foua and Nao Kao, of course, had no idea what the labels said” (p.46). American doctors believed decreasing the risk of the seizures as more important, and the Lee’s viewed Lia’s nature and personality as more significant.
In modern society, most depend on the opinion of a trained healthcare professional to ensure a solution to an issue. But what does one do when the patient has no understanding of the potential harm and side effects caused? Henrietta Lacks, a black woman of low social status, faced the trials of cervical cancer without providing informed consent, or the “legal rules that prescribe behaviors for physicians and other healthcare professionals.” If Lacks had not been a crusader in informed consent, then the legacy of patient awareness would not exist today. Lacks’ story takes place in Baltimore, Maryland when she checks into Johns Hopkins Hospital, to address a pain in her lower abdomen.
Blair describes the frustration of self-medicating and not receiving the support she needed from others who dismissed her pain as "normal". She talks about how she suffered in silence and felt alone. This resonated with me and reminded me of my own struggles with invisible illnesses. Like Blair, I've been told by others that my pain is "all in my head" and it's been a struggle to get the support I need. Blair's story also highlights the stigma that can come with a diagnosis.
A considerable number of people believe that the diagnosis and treatment of health problems are beneficial to improving and maintaining overall health, but too much dismay, there are also potential harmful affects with this type of medical practice (Martin, 2017). The practice of overtreatment and overdiagnosis is a prominent issue within the healthcare system. One of the main reasons that healthcare providers and their patients feel the need to treat and diagnose each health problem, big or small is that society has a compulsion to cure. Healthcare providers conform to the idea of compulsion to cure because amongst other reasons, they fear litigation and disappointing patients if they choose against conducting tests in order to diagnose and
Treichler starts off her article by grabbing the attention of the reader adequately by presenting the controversial ideas of improper diagnosis by a domineering husband taking advantage of the time periods stereotype of hysterical women. She then persuasively depicts the setting of the story and adds some sympathy for the narrator who is being forced to accept her diagnosis. The introduction she gives is excellent because it provides the background information to the story and adequately prepares the points that she wants to get across to the
In this case study the primary nurse, Amelia Wilkerson, is caring for a patient, Katy Palmer who has recently been admitted to the hospital for fatigue and abnormal lab counts. The patient asks Amelia for information regarding her diagnosis. Amelia has seen Katy’s results and knows that she has been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. The ethical dilemma seen in this situation is that it is outside of the scope of practice for Amelia to discuss Katy’s original diagnosis with her.
Atul Gawande in his article “Whose body is it, anyway?” introduced couple of cases, which discussed a controversial topic, doctors dealing with patients and making important medical decisions. These are difficult decisions in which people might have life or death choices. Who should make the important decisions, patients or doctors? Patients don’t usually know what is better for their health and while making their decisions, they might ignore or don’t know the possible side effects and consequences of these decisions.
Missed identification of shock symptoms in Ms. Gadner 2. IV infiltration being missed resulting in her not receiving fluid ordered 3. “Scanty documentation” depriving the physician of information on Ms. Gadner’s current condition 4. Administration of valium and morphine, contraindicated in shock, nursing not questioning the order 5. Didn’t communicate need for transfer to Dr. Dick.
It is very clear to most that Grey ’s Anatomy is an inaccurate depiction of medicine and the healthcare industry. Though heavily dramatized and ‘doctored’, there have been moments of learning, especially with this ethical issue.