Hours of paralyzing pain ignored by 2 hospitals: woman goes home & solves problem herself...

[Bluebear]

The paralyzing cramping in 25-year-old Roshunda Abney's abdomen, side and back wouldn't go away.

For two days, the part-time customer service representative for Quality Towing had taken over-the-counter painkillers. But what had started out as an intermittent dull ache had developed into a recurring, searing pain that made her stiffen and left her gasping every few minutes...

How Abney finally rid herself of her physical distress, according to her attorney, Jacob Hafter, raises serious questions about the availability of competent emergency medical treatment at both UMC and nearby Valley Hospital Medical Center, where she also tried unsuccessfully to get help...

"I was there for almost six hours and couldn't get any help," she said. "I couldn't believe it. I was moaning and pleading for help. ... I went up to the desk a couple of times and so did Raffinee. Other people tried to get me help, too." At one point, Abney said she told the certified nursing assistant who was running the desk that she felt like she was dying. "He asked me how long I had been in pain, and I told him two days," Abney said. "He told me that since I had been in pain that long, another 45 minutes wouldn't make any difference."...

The pair said they then decided to buy some pain medicine and go home. Dewberry said they were thinking at that point that Abney was suffering from gallstones.

About 20 minutes after she got home, she had to go to the bathroom.

She felt a rush of water from her insides. And then, she began giving birth.

"I didn't know I was pregnant," she said, shaking her head Tuesday.

His fiancée's screams brought Dewberry to the bathroom.

He said he saw a baby's legs hanging, with the arms alongside the head in the vagina....

http://www.lvrj.com/news/hours-of-cramps-aches-go-untreated-at-two-hospitals-for-area-woman-78628332.html

[NMDemDist2]

1. this story is very depressing on so many levels

:banghead:

:cry:

:wow:

[niyad]

51. k and r--and agree--and people wonder why I hate western mal-practice so much.

[bbinacan]

2. How is it possible that a woman

would not know she was pregnant?

[Bluebear]

3. Oh, that happens more than you think, actually.

The key is, why did nobody at the hospitals suspect it?

[hfojvt]

11. Did she ever get past a receptionist?

Apparently they are far too busy for their staffing level since she waited for six hours without seeing a doctor or nurse.

[Texasgal]

4. It sound starnge, but it is possible

and it does happen.

[FarCenter]

6. One of the perils of obesity

[shraby]

21. Obesity is not the issue, my SIL never got big enough hardly

to have to wear maternity clothes..just had a little bigger tummy. She was always skinny and you'd think she'd show right away. Nope, not the case..it depends on the baby and the amount of fluid it is in. She had regular run of the mill sized babies too..somewhere around 6-7 pounds.

[verdalaven]

32. It happened to my grandmother

She was small and in her forties. She continued to have periods, and had back aches, but she was a bar matron, so she figured the back aches were from work. Suprise!

[AwakeAtLast]

35. So now we're going to assume that pregnant women are just obese?

Did I read that wrong? :shrug:

[newtothegame]

67. Sounds racist man. n/t

[elehhhhna]

69. Nope. I had a skinny little temp working for me years ago and

she called off one morning having had a baby the night before! In her 20's, never looked pregnant, had a rather small baby, and a surprised but thrilled great-guy boyfriend.

Weird but true.

[eShirl]

16. How is it possible the two hospitals she went to for medical help would not know?

[elleng]

49. Right. No triage?

[Xicano]

74. Because she didn't speak the magic word - $$$$$$

n/t

[Shell Beau]

20. It is a lot more possible than you think.

Of course, I believe she should have taken some pregnancy tests after missing several periods. But I have known of many women to still have what they thought was a cycle. Bleeding during pregnancy isn't uncommon. And you don't typically feel a baby move until around 20 weeks or so (it varies for many women; it can be earlier and much later). And even that movement can feel like gas. The kicking and punching that you really feel comes 26-30 weeks. Some people just look like they are gaining weight, and they don't get that baby bump.

But I can't believe this wasn't one of the first tests run on this woman. So messed up.

[jmm]

27. TLC or Discovery has found enough of these women to make a series

Some basic cable channel has a show called I Didn't know I was Pregnant.

[CTyankee]

63. I watched it last summer with my 3 granddaughters, 8,11 and nearly 14.

My daughter called it "Pregnant and SHOCKED."

Right after that show, there was another "Pregnant and Obese." They were both sensitively done. My granddaughters were transfixed. One story had to do with a woman who had no health insurance and was in denial that she was pregnant. We had a discussion about birth control, health care reform and sexual responsibility. It was a "teachable moment."

[MountainLaurel]

64. I can't watch that show

Because that is utterly my worst nightmare.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. You'd be surprised

I delivered (as a paramedic) more than one baby and a few moms did not know they were pregnant

By definition those became very high risk deliveries. The most tragic was a 14 year old... she was just having major cramps in school. When we arrived on scene baby was crowning. Did I mention she did not know she was pregnant, nor did she look pregnant.

Mon and baby were fine... but god that was the scare of my life. To see a 14 year old on the ground in the fetal position. I asked her... she even had spotting throughout her pregnancy... not full blown periods, and about the right time. Well we met mom at the hospital, she was a kid of a very rich family. Mom was like my daughter could not... well I thought baby was good enough evidence.

We literally did our full job by doing a full check...

[pansypoo53219]

37. a daughter of a co-worker of my aunt's had this.

got the curse 9 months. hardly showed and baby. but not breach.

[Quantess]

47. There have been several cases,

some of them featured on a cable TV show (TLC or Discovery, I can't remember). A lot of times the mother is obese and has irregular periods anyway, so her pregnancy goes unnoticed.

[Nikki Stone1]

52. How is it that the medical staff of two hospitals didn't recognize a woman in labor?

:shrug:

[mamaleah]

76. Oh it is very possible. Women with irregular cycles, for instance,

might not suspect they are pregnant just because they miss a period. Some women even do have minor bleeding during the first trimester. Not every woman suffers from morning sickness either. Some might attribute the nausea and tiredness to illness or stress. Not every woman "shows" either, and some just think they are gaining weight for whatever reason.

[Blue_In_AK]

81. When I was a teenager, we had a family friend

who had a baby without knowing she was pregnant. She already had four kids, one four, two-year-old twins, and a one-year-old, so she was pretty busy. She hadn't yet started having regular periods after the last child because she was nursing the youngest. She woke up one night and told her husband she felt like she was in labor. He couldn't believe it, but they took her to the hospital and a couple hours later, there was the new little girl. We were ALL shocked because she never looked pregnant in the least. She wasn't obese either, just tall and large-boned.

Her husband's comment was "some wives will do ANYTHING to keep their husband from going on a hunting trip." :rofl:

[Marlana]

90. It happened to my cousin.

She went to the doctor one day after she had been having stomach problems and he told her she was about eight months along, two weeks later she had a baby. She never had a clue the whole time she was pregnant, she had no symptoms and only gained a few pounds (she was pretty small to start with, too). I think she was in her early 40's at the time.

[Orrex]

5. Someday they'll figure out what causes this debilitating condition.

What baffles me--aside from the obvious in this case--is that hospitals can't wait to run pregnancy tests on women who come in for treatment, seemingly regardless of the injury, issue, or malady.

[noiretextatique]

28. i am 51 years old and just had a hysterectomy

i must have been asked a thousand times if i realized the procedure would sterilize me :wtf: and i believe they gave me a pregnancy test during pre-op even though i am a lesbian :wtf:

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. They need to MAKE SURE you understand, even if you do

and the test is not stupid... you'd be surprised. It is not about you but the few women out there that do not understand it will sterilize them, and that are pregnant.

[noiretextatique]

40. but i do understand a few things

1) at 51 years of age, i don't need a uterus or a baby
2) i cannot possibly be pregnant since i don't have sex with men
i definitely got it.
but i understand that others may not be as sharp as yours truly :7

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. There you go

as my doctor likes to joke... for every well informed patient, she has to deal with the other 20... and one or two WOMEN ask for Viagra, since well you know... it's on the TV... and ahem, they may need it.

And as a medic I got a few patients that I went... you got to be shitting me... many fun stories, soem of them bordering on tragic.

[noiretextatique]

43. i know...i learned the hard way

after being diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago, i know how valuable information is, and that i have to be proactive about my healthcare. i don't claim to know as much as a doctor, but i sure as hell study enough to make an informed decision. and sadly, too many don't. if i hear one more person tell me to "do whatever the doctor says" i am going to slap them across the head.
here's my "do whatever the doctor says" story. i am the first person mentioned.

http://www.americanscientist.org/science/pub/the-evidence-gap-quickly-vetted-treatment-is-offered-to-patients

[shireen]

53. thank you!

that was a very interesting article. How are you doing today, are you in remission? Hope you're doing well ... :hug:

[noiretextatique]

70. no sign of cancer after 2 years

:woohoo: feeling good today, thanks. i need to email that article to my surgeon :thumbsup:

[Le Taz Hot]

62. LOL!

Me too! Even though I assured them that my husband had had a vasectomy and I hadn't boinked anyone else they still did a pregnancy test on me. Like you I was 51 at the time.

[TheMadMonk]

36. Not such a silly thing to do. There are a great many meds...

...that are not good for pregnant women and/or the foetus.

And a great many women/girls who will swear black and blue that they never, haven't and couldn't possibly be.

This is a CYA test I would allow hospitals/clinics without demure. Though I might have a good deal to say about pricing.

[Orrex]

41. But the problem is this:

If the test is so damned routine, how the hell did the hospital fail to notice that the woman was at full term?

[TheMadMonk]

60. because in this particular case. the woman was unable to suply...

...a urine sample at the first ER. And i suspect the other two just dismissed her as a waste of time.

[Orrex]

61. I imagine you're right about the other two.

But holy moley! My wife's ObGyn could determine how the baby was positioned just by passing his hand over her belly once. With two hand-passes he could discern the baby's favorite color and likely choice of college.

You'd think that a roomful of people with training in the medical sciences might have some means of diagnosing such a rare condition as pregnancy!

[TheMadMonk]

88. I wish to fuck that people would stop holding up shining light examples...

...(those with that special arcane knack) while implying that all others should be their equal. Whatever the proffession, outstanding examples are few and far between.

BTW this particular patient never made it into the hands of an OB-Gyn, so I'm not sure exactly what point you are trying to make.


What probably happened is a combination of blind script following and what happens virtually any time someone gives the appearance of questioning someone's professional competence or telling them what to do. Step x says obtain urine sample, so no further processing will take place until urine sample is provided. Then when the boyfriend and well meaning others repeatedly pushed for the admitting nurse to do something, the nurse dug their heels in and refused to be 'told what to do'. Quite possibly they also added a notation such as PIA (pain in arse) to the file which caused the subsequent admitting nurses to be dismissive.

[Orrex]

92. Why you're just a basket full of sweet-smelling rainbows.

BTW this particular patient never made it into the hands of an OB-Gyn, so I'm not sure exactly what point you are trying to make.

It was a lighthearted example, fireball. And, while he's a very good doctor, the point I was making was that the signs of pregnancy require no special arcane knack to discern.

[TheMadMonk]

96. Sorry, but i just get a little sick of people saying how a person they know...

...and acknowledge (usually in the same sentence) as an outstanding example in their field, could have handled a situation better than the mere mortals who actually had said situation land in their laps.

As for the signs of pregancy, several people here have refered to the MTV show about girls and women who were not aware of their pregancies. Further, one of the reasons for routine testing of all women of childbearing age who come into an ER is that the signs of even a late stage pregancy are not always immediately obvious, not even to a medical profesional.

When said medical professional acts: with reckless indifference at best; out of outright racism at worst; and with more of an eye towards the bottom line than the patient somewhere in the middle, all bets are off.

[elleng]

50. Duh, I think most of us KNOW what causes this 'debilitating condition!'

:rofl:

[Orrex]

54. Dirty toilet seats, right?

[LeftyMom]

That's an old wive's tale. Modern science has correctly identified the cause as unprotected

stork exposure. Risks are increased dramatically if the stork encounter takes place in a cabbage patch.

[a la izquierda]

91. Oh my word, I just spat water all over and scared

the hell out of my dog laughing!
Thank you for that!!

[Orrex]

93. Why was your dog laughing?

[a la izquierda]

95. Even HE thought the stork bit was priceless

:silly:

[LeftyMom]

58. Seriously. I could walk in with a sucking chest wound and the first question would be my LMP

And would doctors please stop asking me if there's any possibility I'm pregnant and then testing me anyhow when I say no? If I don't get to decline a test don't make a show of asking me first, thanks.

[Swamp Rat]

7. Senator Ben Nelson doesn't give a fuck about you lady...

nor any of the republicans, or insurance-industry-owned-bible-thumping dems.

They don't want women to have complete healthcare for 'some' reason, and you aren't their daughter or wife.

[Zoeisright]

8. I would think that a simple palpating of the abdomen would have solved

this 'mystery' in the hospital.

[hadrons]

9. Doesn't MTV have a show on women who didn't know they were pregnant?

I see it alot on "The Soup"

[Bluebear]

10. I have seen the title before....maybe it should be required viewing for ER staff!

[bluedeminredstate]

13. TLC

I've seen it a couple times but it's not like you don't know the resolution so it's kind of a letdown...

[WeDidIt]

12. Best Healthcare System In the world MY RATIONAL PROGRESSIVE ASS!

Fuckers.

[izquierdista]

19. Best health care in Nevada

For those of you not familiar with Las Vegas, UMC is University Medical Center, a TEACHING hospital. This is the kind of care they are teaching to future physicians.

[enlightenment]

Health care in Las Vegas is terrifying beyond words.

I've lived here for 10 years - the hospitals are horrid. UMC is the only 'public' hospital in the county, it's understaffed and overcrowded. The private hospitals are no better.

This past year, a friend had an ear infection misdiagnosed by multiple physicians; she lost her hearing. Then she developed a systemic infection because of the misdiagnosis and her kidneys failed. They wouldn't even admit her to hospital until she collapsed and seized in the doorway of the ER of the fancy pants private hospital her husband had rushed her to for the fourth or fifth time.

She went from an ear infection to seizures and dialysis in three months - she came very close to dying. Six months later and she can finally walk without a walker. For something that should have never happened except for shoddy medicine.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

14. After two weeks of pillaging his staff, House would have made

a differential diagnosis and determine that the woman gave birth two weeks ago. Still, I like the show even if the man tortures those around him.

[Cleita]

15. Two days with excruciating abdominal pain could also be

peritonitis, which is lethal if anti-biotics are not given in time. Both those hospitals need to be investigated for turning medical decisions over to unqualified staff.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

22. Or an ectopic pregnancy, kidney stones, gall stones, appendicitis, ovarian cyst, etc.

or last but not least a near full term pregnancy. Horrible job of triage.

[Bluebear]

23. Exactly. Really, non-triage.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

24. Last time I checked.

Abdominal pain in a woman of child bearing age is presumed to be an ectopic pregnancy until it is ruled out.

[ohheckyeah]

45. I had a doctor call me at home at 10:00 p.m.

when she got back to her office (after surgery) and found a note that I was having pain in my left side. She had me in getting a sonogram first thing the next morning fearing an ectopic pregnancy. It wasn't an ectopic pregnancy but there were other issues that prevented the pregnancy from going to term.

[tblue37]

55. Or what I had my excruciating pain from--an ulcer that went

undiagnosed for months. For months I was in agony every time I ate--and sometimes even when I didn't eat. I lost 40 pounds (I needed to, so that was good), but it was over a year before I got the right diagnosis and proper treatment. (Now I am kind of afraid of food--and I still can't digest most vegetables.)

It turns out that I probably had the ulcer for years, but was managing it by cutting out almost every sort of normal food, until basically all I could eat was white bread or pasta, which is how I gained weight. I love salads and fruits and veggies, but I simply couldn't eat them. Then, during that last year, I couldn't even eat white bread and pasta without pain and violent vomiting. Finally the doctor had me checked by a specialist who did an endoscopic procedure and found the ulcer.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

66. Been there. Absolutely no fun.

[ipaint]

17. That story is horrendous.

She was six months pregnant and gave birth (breech) at home to a 1 pound 6 ounce fetus that died. The nurses repeatedly asked her to have the baby cremated.

Even though it is uncommon for a woman not to know she is pregnant when she is well along in a pregnancy, Hafter said that is no reason for emergency personnel not to suspect that condition when a woman complains of intermittent abdominal pain.

"A basic rule of emergency medicine is that any woman of childbearing age who complains of abdominal pain is considered pregnant until proven otherwise," said Hafter, who was a paramedic for 15 years. "The fact that Ms. Abney's complaints of intermittent severe pain, which comes and goes every three to five minutes, were disregarded by emergency rooms should create significant concerns for this community."


She went to 3 hospitals. Other people in the waiting rooms were asking that she be seen first because she was in so much pain, they were told to mind their own business.

[Ms. Toad]

84. In fact - despite the misleading headline-

pregnancy was my first thought when I read the problem was intermittent abdominal pain.

[Cass]

18. This is so sad. Why in the world was this woman made to wait for hours while she was in

such pain?? The attitude by employees at two hospitals was beyond deplorable...who are they to treat a patient like this? Who knows if her little baby would have lived if she had been treated. I hope people lose their jobs over this because they have no business working with patients.

[Kber]

26. Maybe the baby would have lived, maybe not

but it's no small miracle that the woman is alive herself after her experience.

Pregnancy is dangerous! I've had three pregnancies and two wonderful children (and one horrific ruptured ectopic) to show for it and it's a sobering thought sometimes that if I'd been born in 18th century America (or present day Afghanistan), I'd likely be dead and certainly be childless even if I'd survived.

[Cass]

29. That's very true...

What if she had appendicitis, ectopic pregnancy like you did or some other life threatening condition and was basically ignored for hours without treatment. I vaguely recall one similar case where a woman died in the ER waiting room after being ignored for hours. What is wrong with medical personnel who treat patients like dirt? Its disgraceful.

[Shell Beau]

30. With proper prenatal care, the baby would have had more of a chance IMO.

It is really hard to say, but prenatal care is huge.

[Kber]

78. It's more than huge - 100% agree.

[Odin2005]

25. WTF?

:wtf: Incompetent idiots at that hospital.

[skygazer]

31. I waited in an ER for over 6 hours with a broken back

I had a fracture of my L1 vertabra - I didn't know it was broken because I could still walk but I was in excruciating pain. I had fallen from a horse. I spent 4 hours in the ER waiting room before they finally sent me to the "fast track" waiting area. Where I spent another TWO HOURS.

In that entire time, I had no pain meds and was forced to sit which was the worst thing for my back since it put pressure on my spine. I finally laid on the floor. I couldn't go anywhere else because I hadn't been at my job long enough to have insurance and this was the county hospital.

When the doc finally told me I had a broken back, I asked for pain meds and he told me he couldn't give me any if I was driving. :wtf: I told him I could barely move and I wasn't fucking driving!

I feel so bad for the woman in this story but this type of thing is not uncommon in America.

[noiretextatique]

44. yep...best darned health care system in the world

:eyes: except not for 99.9% of the population.

[EFerrari]

59. I left the SF General ER after sitting there for 12 hours

with a head injury because a kid has just died on a gurney and I was afraid I couldn't handle the riot that was breaking out as his poor relatives stormed the desk about the ambulance that took too long to pick him up.

Don't get hurt. Don't get sick.

[Pool Hall Ace]

33. Holy hell. If you told this story to those who believe that

the United States is the greatest nation on Earth when it comes to health care, how would they respond?

Many years ago, I knew a woman who was not aware of her last pregnancy until she was six months along. All that time, she had continued to take her birth control pills. She was very ill for the remainder of her pregnancy, and although she did give birth to a healthy boy, his twin sister died.

The outcome would not even have been that favorable if she had received deplorable care similar to what Ms. Abney received.

[TheMadMonk]

39. I'm surprised nobody here has managed to diagnose the pre-existing conditions...

...which lead to her being denied care.

Lackochashadosis coupled with excess melanin syndrome.

[voc]

48. That's the syndrome. nt

[varelse]

87. Ouch

:(

[malaise]

46. I saw a program on TLC about this recently

Not one of the women knew she was pregnant and many were by no means obese. Of course none were neglected by doctors at the hospital.

[JVS]

56. Awful

[Starry Messenger]

57. Terrifying.

:(

[AngryAmish]

65. My wife recently gave birth without anesthetic/epidural etc.

Anesthesiologist could not be bothered to come to the birth. She must have had better things to do. Then the birth nurse left the room during the labor - before the OB/Gyn showed up. We were alone when the baby crowned. I almost had to deliver and had to assist the doctor.

This is with "cadillac" insurance in a most renowned birth hospital in Chicago, if not the country. Prentice Womens Hospital.

[Leftist Agitator]

68. Each one of those heartless fuckheads should be fired and sued into bankruptcy.

And charges of criminal negligence should be filed against the lot of them.

[liberalhistorian]

71. Good luck with that. Nevada enacted strict medical malpractice

"reforms" at the behest of the medical and insurance lobbies. These "reforms" have made it VERY difficult for even quite legitimate, slam-dunk cases to be brought. And that's just the way the medical and insurance establishments want it.

[goldcanyonaz]

72. Why didn't they give her a pregnancy test?

I had an accident at work a few years back where I injured my back and they immediately took a pregnancy test.

They said it's procedural anytime a woman comes to the ER where other tests are needed; X-rays, Cat Scans, etc.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

73. Based on the story it appears she got fed up with waiting and left...

before receiving any kind of check up that would have revealed a pregnancy.

Or did I read that wrong?

[tigereye]

75. well, typically they triage people and assess risks so that

this kind of thing doesn't happen...

[hedgehog]

77. Some medical personnel assume that if a black person is complaining of pain,

they are either exaggerating or faking.

[Shagbark Hickory]

79. This gives me a great idea for a halloween costume.

You just need a wig and a doll and some elastic straps.

[Bluebear]

83. Tasteful.

[Xithras]

80. Here in the California Central Valley, a 6 hour ER wait is considered a GOOD day.

12-16 hour waits aren't unusual on busy days, and neither are days when they lock the ER door completely because they can't handle any more patients. Seriously. You could be bleeding to death outside their doors, and they'll call an ambulance to take you somewhere else.

20 years ago there were 8 emergency rooms within 30 minutes of downtown Modesto California. Two decades later, with a population that has nearly doubled, there are four. The rest were shut down because they were "unprofitable".

That's what happens when medicine exists at the mercy of profitability.

[davsand]

82. I think you have to go via ambulance if you want to be taken seriously in some ERs.

If you come in an ambulance you will get into an ER a whole lost faster than if you show up under your own power.

When Kevsand had his heart attack I made the mistake of DRIVING him to the hospital rather than calling 911. (NEVER again, I promise.) I ran into the ER clutching our HMO ID and started screaming for help to get him inside because he was having a heart attack. They had him inside and on an EKG before I had finished signing him in. About 45 minutes later he was in surgery.

Our next door neighbor is an EMT and he gave me holy hell for driving Kev into the hospital. He was absolutely correct to do so (as I realize now) but he made one comment that I have NEVER forgotten. He told me that if you even THINK it might be serious you need to go to the ER in an ambulance because that moves you to the front of the line... Yep, you do pay for that ambulance ride, but how much is it worth to you to sit in the ER for several hours while you are in a lot of pain or thinking you are seriously ill?

I can't answer for you, but in my book I'm willing to pay just a bit more to get in faster. Now, if you are that poor woman--possibly with no insurance--would it be worth it to you to go just a bit deeper in debt and actually get TREATMENT rather than sit there and wait to die?

It sucks but it is true.



Laura

[boobooday]

98. I drove my dad to the ER and got chewed out

The doctor said, what if his heart had stopped while you were going 70mph down the highway? What would you have done?

I said {gulp}.

This woman's story is tragic, and some of the comments at the end of the article are disgusting.

[Liberal_in_LA]

85. Awful! I hope she files the biggest lawsuit

[cannabis_flower]

86. I recently had a incident....

I had an injury in August where I hurt my knee. I wasn't sure how I injured it but I woke up one morning in pain.

I went to my primary care physician and he said it didn't seem to be broken and that if it didn't get better in about 10 days that he would refer me to an Orthopedic Surgeon.

Well, it didn't get better but since my insurance allows me to self-insure, I just found an Orthopedic Surgeon through my insurance company.

He took an x-ray and then ordered an MRI and said I had a bone bruise and it would get better and he prescribed a cane and some prescription anti-inflammitory (Naprelan) and gave me a letter to get a handicap sticker. But the pain continued to get worse. I called back and the nurse said I could take extra-strength tylenol. It didn't help much and I called back and they finally gave me a prescription for some pain medicine. The pain medicine only stopped the pain enough to allow me to work. It still hurt when I put weight on it.

I went back to the doctor at the prescribed time and he said I needed physical therapy. I was still in a lot of pain. My friends were all telling me I should go to a different doctor.

So I went to a doctor I had been to before for something else. He acted weird and he didn't do anything new and told me exactly what the other doctor had said. And gave me another prescription for pain medicine, which I got hassled over at Walgreens because the pain medicine prescriptions were from two different doctors (even though they were a month apart.)

About ten days later, on a Monday, I was hurting so bad I called and made another appointment to the second doctor, they said he was out that week and I should call his on-call doctor. I called and made an appointment with him and then I went to try to get up on break and I couldn't put any weight on my knee at all. I had to be carried out of work. I was taken to the hospital where they gave me a shot of Toradol and a prescription for stronger pain medicine and told me to follow up with my doctor. Since had an appointment for the on-call doctor I went there the next day. My friend had to drive me and get a wheelchair from the doctor's office to take me up to his office.

This doctor gave me a shot of cortisone in my knee. The ordered a brace for me and gave me a prescription for some Meloxicam (an arthritis medicine). That was Tuesday, on Thursday when I woke up to go get fitted for the brace, I forgot my knee and stood up and walked to the bathroom without pain. Of course, I walked about five steps and then went and sat back down because I didn't want to hurt it by walking without the brace.

I went to my next appointment with the 3rd orthapedic surgeon (4th doctor) and he decided to do an x-ray and said he could tell just by the x-ray that I had significantly more space on one side of the knee bone than on the other and that that told him that I had moderate arthritis in that knee and said I should also take Glucosamine.

What I want to know is why didn't those other two othopedic surgeons do something like the third one did? At least the first doctor tried something, but when it didn't work he didn't believe I was still in pain. He said I was feeling "a little instability". The first two would rather believe I was just a pill head trying to get pain medicine out of them than believe that they might have been wrong about what was causing my knee pain.

[shireen]

89. i've heard so many stories like that in my online support group.

it's horror stories like this that make me wonder what these clowns learned in medical school. Being sick really sucks, and you depend on these medical experts to help you get through it. If they don't even take the pain seriously, what hope do you have?! It's ridiculous. :mad:

[Spacemom]

94. If you are poor

you are immediately assumed to be drug seeking. I have no health insurance so a few years ago I went to a county clinic for an ear ache. I was put on antibiotics but the pain got progressively worse. I was thinking of suicide it was hurting so bad. I went back to the clinic where the doctor rolled her eyes at me and prescribed 2 (yes 2) pediatric doses of some sort of pain medicine.

I haven't been to the doctor in 3 years now because it makes me so mad to remember how I was treated. I'm 38 years old, I rarely even take OTC meds, I haven't even smoked a joint since high school, I have maybe 2 or 3 drinks a year, but I'm treated like a junkie because I'm poor. :mad:

I can totally understand why this woman walked out.

[Tailormyst]

97. My heart just break for this poor woman.

I cannot imagine the hell she went through and is still going through. Those people should be removed from their positions so they cannot harm any more people. I hope she sues the hospitals for their gross neglect.

[BoneDaddy]

99. She really didn't "solve" her problem

it kinda of just happened. How out of touch do you have to be.