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Littlebird
USA
391 Posts |
 Posted - 01/16/2007 : 13:47:50
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I recently read that some medical schools are now using actors to portray patients in order to train doctors in their bedside manner. It's been found that a doctor with poor bedside manner is much more likely to be sued when a mistake is made--and being human, all doctors make mistakes. There seem to be a few people in the medical community who are trying to raise awareness of the connection between how a patient is communicated with by the doctor and the outcome of the physical problem being treated.
I've dealt with well over a hundred doctors, not all for myself, but I've been responsible for several family members' health care, and I have to agree with cheeryquery that many seem quite incompetent. Of course, being human, they don't remember everything they learned in school and their schedules make it a challenge to keep up with new information in their own field, much less in other fields. On top of that, I've read (in a recent issue of US News and World Report) that thanks to managed care plans, sometimes the reimbursement a doctor receives for a patient is only about $6, so it's no wonder they want to rush you through. And it may be that dealing with people's problems all day could be depressing for them if they didn't maintain a strict sense of detachment from the patient, viewing patients as mere bodies rather than real people.
But the scary thing is the situations like this one, where it shouldn't have been difficult to look for other reasons for the ongoing pain. My dad died as a result of a doctor who refused to believe that his idea of best way to treat a serious liver problem was not correct. I talked to a couple of other doctors who thought my father should be treated differently, and I got an appointment for my dad to see a specialist, but his family doctor convinced him that was unnecessary. A few weeks later he died. I'm not a person who expects doctors to be perfect, but some things are just too unreasonable, so I would have sued that one, but I was so utterly exhausted at the time and struggling to take care of my mom, who also had major health problems and dementia, that I felt I just couldn't handle anything else at that point.
The medical system definitely has its problems. While it is a lot more likely that we'll be diagnosed with a structural problem when we actually have TMS, I guess we all need to be aware that it can go the other way too. The most frustrating thing is that most doctors aren't going to respond well when their diagnosis is questioned by the patient. The attitude is often, "What do you know? I'm the one with the education." |
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carbar
USA
227 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2007 : 21:06:13
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hi jimmy,
thanks for sharing your story. that is a real ordeal to go through! it is hard to believe that even a TMS doc can be as fallible as the standard practice ones. i can imagine your mind is feeling like it's betrayed itself. i definitely encourage you to keep posting, since this is a big shock to let out. do you think you could talk to your therapist what's been going on, or do you feel a lack of trust there?
I wish good luck and energy to you in your healing...cb |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 12:52:37
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How about a letter to Dr. Schecter, clearly laying out the issues, like
Dear Dr.
I am writing this because I am very displeased with our interactions. I have realized that since I am now talking to others about this, including the members of the TMS forum, it is only fair to communicate this directly to you. Here are my complaints, the expectations I had and my current requests from you:
1) you misdiagnosed me which right now seems it may have affected my body for life
2) for a doctor specializing in emotional issues, and offering an approach as holistic as Sarno's, I had the following expectations which were not met:
a) I would expect you to be conscious about your interactions with patients; you seemed rather unconscious about your own reactions and the effect it might have on me... Since you specialize in an approach which is supposed to be conscious of triggers to rage, you must of course be conscious that your patients' interactions with you could be enraging for them if you are not accountable...
b) I would expect your office to reflect a balanced consciousness: your office does not inspire confidence because it is....
c )I would expect that if you make a mistake, as in my case, you own it completely.
etc.
What I would like from you now is;
(e.g.) 1) an apology and full accountability
2) a refund / partial refund
3) what else do you want
I am posting this letter to the TMS board, where I have already expressed some of my feelings about our interactions, and will post your response"
(This is from me, Wavy:) I have found that in the right circumstances, writing the right letter can be very healing. I would also write at the bottom cc. Dr. Sarno, name of a lawyer, TMS board, etc.
This way you don't feel so helpless. Feeling powerless and helpless in the wrong ways can be enraging and make you sicker.
Just my 4 cents
Hope this helps
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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alexis
USA
596 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 14:02:19
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Just remember that any answer you get is only going to come through the recommendations of a lawyer. This isn't the physicians fault. A doctor in the US would be a fool to handle a potential liability case on their own. It's one thing to write a letter to make you feel better, but don't imagine there is any room in the current cultural climate for an objective discussion or expression of true opinions on this kind of issue with your physician. And whatever else you may think is his fault, recognize that the litigious US health care "system" is not one of those things.
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jimmyjimmy
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 20:18:10
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Thanks for the input, I have no intention of writing Schechter. It is not about money at all, or an apology, or helping him make his practics better. I am permanetly disfigured and having a hard time of it. I posted here as a service to others. Nobody believes in the Sarno appproach more than me, in fact I have preached it for 14 years or so, but an MD shoud have caught this.
If you have pain that is not reponding to tms treatment, and you have accepted the TMS diagnoses fully, see another docotor, I would say see at least two other doctors.
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alexis
USA
596 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2007 : 20:59:03
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| I just want to make clear when I said "This isn't the physicians fault" that I was referring to the previous sentence -- the need to use a lawyer is not a doctor's fault. I'm obviously in no position to know what is or isn't the doctor's fault medically. I myself had 7 or 8 doctors fail to recognize my B12 deficiency over several years...and had to schedule the lab test myself. So I'm all in favour of the 10th opinion and then doing your own diagnosis anyway. |
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jimmyjimmy
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2007 : 12:31:41
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quote:
Originally posted by jimmyjimmy
Thanks for the input, I have no intention of writing Schechter. It is not about money at all, or an apology, or helping him make his practice better. I am permanetly disfigured and having a hard time of it. I posted here as a service to others. Nobody believes in the Sarno appproach more than me, in fact I have preached it for 14 years or so, but an MD shoud have caught this.
If you have pain that is not reponding to tms treatment, and you have accepted the TMS diagnoses fully, see another docotor, I would say see at least two other doctors.
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alexis
USA
596 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 11:12:08
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| Just bumping this back up for new people. |
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jimmyjimmy
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 22:00:55
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I have been reflecting about my care under DR. Schechter and really feel I need to actually warn people about him. He not once did any tests on me. Even though I had Classic symptoms of osteomalacia--severe pain in my feet, hips and spine--he never bothered to take a blood test, or a urine test, or ANYTHING. This was over a four year period of seeing him every few months or so and my condition kept getting way way worse.
Many Many people told me I was crazy and that I was in denial, but I kept telling them that I was seeing a Doctor trained at NYU!
Turns out I could not have been wronger. And he could not have been more negligent and less caring. I am not kidding. He has yet to express any kind of remorse, or even decency to me and I am completley disfigured, completley.
I even made him take x-rays in '05 and he said they showed nothing, when in fact they showed TWO completley collapsed vertebrae! He said I had good bone density, when in fact I have off the chart osteoporosis. Had he noticed any thing, or done any simple tests I would have caught this before the deformity of my spine and chest and hip occurred.
I am left three inches shorter than I was, I am now a 40 year old man that is 5'6" with a hump back instead of a 5'9" regular height man. I wake up crying everyday, and sometimes it never stops. And it didn't have to happen, it didn't have to happen.
Dr. Schechter is not only a slip shod, incompetent doctor, but a jerk and a coward. STAy away from him at all costs.
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Edited by - jimmyjimmy on 02/12/2007 22:27:24 |
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tennis tom
USA
4746 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2007 : 08:04:51
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Dear JimmyJimmy,
It's very disheartening to hear what has happend to you. I hope that there is something that you can do to "fix" your bones. My experience with Dr. Schechter is somewhat similar to yours but in regards to my dx the other side of the TMS coin. He took a look at my images and concluded that I needed hip-replacement, sooner than later. I am in agreement with you in regards to his bed-side manner. I travelled 500 miles to see him and my best descripiton of the experience was that it was "perfunctory". I was hoping for a little more empathy from a TMS doctor.
TMS doctors are few and far between and the TMS portion of their practices, I imagine is more of a side-line to conventional medicine
because that is what most of their patients expect or demand.
My experiences on my one visit to him can be viewed by doing a "search".
Don't give up hope yet, modern medicine can perform some miracles if one can persevere and find the miracle workers. The body is still the best healing machine we possess and perhaps yours can still be fixed.
My Prayers,
tt |
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jimmyjimmy
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2007 : 13:24:53
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| wanted to bump this up |
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wrldtrv
666 Posts |
Posted - 03/22/2007 : 19:52:00
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| Thanks for that, Jimmy. We haven't forgotten. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 08:14:59
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What a sad story....Since the link to this thread was recently posted I thought I'd keep it alive as it's such a heartrending story.
I remember Jimmy posting to the effect that he'd lost height, and a few of us were alarmed enough to urge him to get a second opinion...If a bunch of lay people had enough common sense to recognize that this couldn't be garden variety TMS, how could a trained physician not?
I would absolutely sue the guy, if for no other reason than to make sure it becomes a permanent part of his record...These days people check docs out before seeing them...I know I do.
Maybe you can save someone else from some similarly terrible fate... |
Edited by - art on 09/15/2007 08:18:51 |
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Sky
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 19:51:28
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Notify Schechter if you want him to learn how better to do his job. The letter WavySoul laid out was pretty good at doing that.
Sue him? This country has far too many lawsuits as it is.
He is allowed to have his beliefs in TMS. He has probably seen a huge number of patients get better with TMS knowledge and similar symptoms as many of you had. Don't neglect that you, yourselves, neglected to double check with other doctors' opinions.
Can YOU imagine seeing patient after patient after patient and being absolutely tender and caring with every one of them? What do you do for a living? Do you have the energy to treat every single person you interact with, every day, all day, in that way? I think that is a excessively high and unfair standard to ask of another person, even if he is a doctor. Why become a doctor if every single patient will potentially sue you and ruin your life if you happen to be having a bad day/minute/hour/month/year and your mood reflects it?
Shechter appears to have done a poor job. Tell him, and tell him how, so he can improve and be aware of his shortcomings.
It's unfair to him, and future patients of his, not to tell him. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 22:08:46
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I really couldn't disagree more, and I'm constantly talking about how bad our system of justice is in this country...It should be loser pays court costs for one thing, in any law suit...
That said, this guy is dangerous. It's just inconceivably negligent that he let this happen. You hold physicians to a remarkably low standard.
You say he should be "allowed to have his TMS beliefs?"
"Allowed?" "Beliefs?" What is this, witchcraft? These guys purport to be scientists. Or at the very least, trained in science and acquainted with its methods...He's not supposed to look at the evidence before him? He's not supposed to be competent to read an x-ray?
He's done a "poor job," you say? Really? You think? Holy smokes, he's ruined a young man's life.
Letting this man, this supposed physician, go on his merry way is a monumental disservice to his future patients.. |
Edited by - art on 09/15/2007 22:18:56 |
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Scottydog
United Kingdom
330 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 22:18:24
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Jimmyjimmy wrote
quote:
He took x-rays and missed the compression fractures in my spine
In the UK any initial Xrays are always reported by a radiologist - even if you are seeing an eminent othopaedic surgeon, you may not get an immediate report but the films are always reported and the report sent to the surgeon.
Maybe it's different in the US. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 22:21:51
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quote:
Originally posted by Scottydog
Jimmyjimmy wrote
quote:
He took x-rays and missed the compression fractures in my spine
In the UK any initial Xrays are always reported by a radiologist - even if you are seeing an eminent othopaedic surgeon, you may not get an immediate report but the films are always reported and the report sent to the surgeon.
Maybe it's different in the US.
I'm not sure how it works here...The key point as far as I'm concerned is that this poor fellow lost inches of height...How in the world could that be interpreted as TMS? |
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JohnD
USA
371 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 23:00:32
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| There are 2 sides to every truth. I don't know if Shecter was wrong or not, but Jimmy doesn't take much responsibility for himself in his posts. We have no way of knowing of whether or not what he is writing on this forum is accurate. |
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la_kevin
USA
351 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 23:59:13
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Does Jimmy post on this board anymore?
Anyone else here a Schecter patient?
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2007 : 16:14:46
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quote:
Originally posted by JohnD
There are 2 sides to every truth. I don't know if Shecter was wrong or not, but Jimmy doesn't take much responsibility for himself in his posts. We have no way of knowing of whether or not what he is writing on this forum is accurate.
Of course that's always the case. But I see no reason not to assume he's telling the truth.
When you say he doesn't seem to take much responsibility for himself, I'm not sure what that means. Should he have seen another doctor? Clearly. BUt how does this mitigate Schechter's professional responsibility? Patients tend to trust their doctors, which as far as I can tell only increases their obligation to take the utmost care.
TMS docs in particular it seems to me need to be extra careful, since they're spending a great deal of their time telling their patients there's nothing structurally wrong with them...When they're wrong, it can be with devastating consequences... |
Edited by - art on 09/16/2007 16:17:00 |
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Cautionary tale
