cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/[email protected]/t/717544
A Winnipeg man who was misdiagnosed with a fatal disease by two different doctors says anybody believed to have a life-threatening condition should be sent to a specialist in the field for final determination. A neurologist at Sunnybrook Hospital agrees.
I’m fucking sorry, but that first doctor needs a kick in the nuts.
A fucking diabetic shows up with those symptoms, you still refer them to a neurologist even when there’s a family history of ALS. You don’t just tell the person they’re fucking dying. Hell, you don’t tell a patient they’re dying until you’ve done a full diagnosis anyway, because (like the article said) that is a diagnosis of exclusion. You have to rule out other things that can be directly tested.
The first two doctors are fucking idiots for trying to diagnose ALS on their own to begin with, but telling the patient they’re dying right off the bat? Fuck that.
There’s a lot of thing GPs and family medicine doctors can do just fine without a specialist because there’s clear diagnostic criteria that can be directly tested for. Even pretty severe conditions. But ALS is not one of those, and any fucking GP that got their licence should know that.
