wow! Talk about Doctor Problems!!!

susiestar

Roll With It
Has anyone heard about the cancer doctor in Detroit who purposely diagnosed healthy people with cancer and gave them chemo and radiation just to make money? The doctor has pleaded guilty, so it really did happen. For each of his charges, each case where he did this to a patient, the doctor admitted in court that he knew treatment was not medically necessary.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...cer-doctor-fighting-keep-feds-email/15716679/

This doctor was widely regarded as a very good doctor and had a large practice, so the community was greatly shocked by the allegations and charges and his guilty plea and admissions of guilt. I can only feel horror and anger on the part of the patients and families that he has harmed, as well as for the families and future patients of doctors who will be afraid to get treatment for serious illnesses because they are afraid that their doctor will be like this one.

We have had a few medical threads lately, so I thought some of us might be interested in this. What do you think that we, as patients, should do to protect ourselves from doctor error, accidental or otherwise?
 

Scent of Cedar *

Well-Known Member
Great discussion question.

I have always wished I had known, back when difficult child daughter fell apart, what I know now about rehab and condemnatory "helping professionals."

We were babes in the woods when our family fell apart.

The police were very good and helpful to us. There were three people, out of all those people we saw, who helped us.

The rest -- the psychiatrists in particular -- were not only arrogant ( and expensive)...they were dead wrong.

I've always wished I could sue them for the way they pretended to know how to help us. Precious, irreplaceable time was wasted. Because they implied that what was happening was some response to something bad in our family without telling us what it was, we parented our younger child out of a sense of brokenness and uncertainty.

Can anyone prove he would have become an addict whether that had happened or not?

No.

So those therapists and psychiatrists and treatment centers get to keep all that money we paid them to help us, and my broken family just keeps suffering and trying to pick up the pieces.

The place I have truly found comfort, have been upheld, have learned what it was that I needed to know is this site.

I don't even know where we all would be today, had I not found this site.

Cedar
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I can't even imagine what those poor people and their families went through, thinking they had cancer when they really didn't.
 

nlj

Well-Known Member
Unbelievably horrible.

I posted about my experience with incompetent doctors on another thread.
It took me a long time to recover and when I eventually looked into making a complaint was told that, because it had happened more than 6 months previously, that I could not complain because there was a time limit of 6 months for making complaints about medical negligence. It had taken me more than 6 months to recover!
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Doctors...ugh. I have seen some real losers.

Cedar, I have often wondered looking back what would be today if we hadnt followed some of the really bad advice. One thing that I really could kick myself for was not listening to my own instincts about Cory's profanity. Cory had a mouth that would make a sailor blush from a young age but the therapists told us to put that on our "worry about that when everything else is better" list. Well as we all know, nothing really got better but today he can hardly have a conversation with anyone that doesnt include profanity every other word. Now I admit I have a potty mouth but its not every other word. Well not unless I am mad...lol.

I wish we had come down much harder on him about cussing. He knew well enough he couldnt be physically abusive to us, I dont think it would have taken him long to learn he couldnt cuss at us but all the therapists said its okay, he needs to vent.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Susie, I saw it on Facebook.
I think the article I saw added that he usually would "diagnose" older people who were sick with something else, with cancer and then give them the chemo. They often would die quickly.
I am sickened. Beyond sickened. If I were in that courtroom and had any say in the matter, even though I am conflicted about the death penalty, I think I would be okay with it in this case. A horrible story...simply grotesque.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I have heard of some medical professionals doing that...the angel of death syndrome. I sure dont want to find one of those.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
To a very great extent, it was the bad advice from doctors and tdocs etc... who instilled my belief in my instincts. The major mistakes we made were almost all from following what some 'expert' said instead of doing what my/our instincts said we should do.

We got that advice about cussing too, Janet. I called BS on the docs (often to their faces) and taught my children 2 fundamental rules about it. First, they are going to try it around other kids - everyone does for the most part. DO NOT let me hear it around your grandparents/elderly relatives, in any situation that would embarrass me, or direct it at me. Second, you are smart enough to find much better words to use - and this book called the dictionary has most of them. read it and give me 10 and their definitions. And if i hear that word again? it will be 20 and you will have to write out the words and definitions.

That worked astonishingly well. esp after relaying that my father not only would NOT allow a teacher to give me detention for calling another girl a terpsichorean, he suggested the teacher consult that big book called a dictionary BEFORE contacting him about his child's vocabulary. My dad even offered to go discuss it with the school board if they wanted to push the detention. As a terpsichorean is a dancer, my dad didn't think it deserved a detention. He did offer to have me draw up a list of vocabulary words for the teacher to study, and offered my time after school to tutor her on that list if she needed it. The teacher never again even threatened to contact my parents.

I think Wiz only gave in to this because he LOVED finding words that other people thought were cuss words but were not. I didn't care WHY he listened, and he has a potty mouth at times, but he rarely used cursing to embarrass me.

I think you did a great job raising Cory and the other boys also. You had a LOT to cope with, and you did a remarkable job. It is time to not beat yourself up over mistakes made so long ago. You did the best you could, and that is more than good enough.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
I saw that. Appalling. I hope he rots in jail.

I try not to think about it but ... yes, we do have to self-advocate, educate ourselves, and get second opinions. Don't let doctors kowtow you into not getting a second opinion.
 

ThreeShadows

Quid me anxia?
I will never understand how some one who has spent so many years getting educated in such a grueling field could be so bleeding stupid as to risk it all because of money.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I don't think he thought it was mercy killings...I think he did it for the money. Sick greed. I too hope he rots in jail.
 
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