Doctors and expensive mistakes...

[FlashGordon]

About a month ago i buggered up my knee playing football, swelled and was really painful, didnt go to the dr thought it would clear up...month later still pain when i exercise so i went to the Dr about it. The Dr said i think you've torn something in your knee, to which i was devastated because im going travelling on the 18th and i told the Dr this...she said it was urgent if i was going travelling as the likelyhood was that i could tear it more then have a real problem. But to determine the extent of the damage she said i need an MRI scan asap and said i should go private so i can get it all seen to before i go away...

...I spoke to my parents and they agreed to pay for the scan at Bath Clinic...which cost over £1k to do. I go to the Dr today to go through my scan (a different Dr as the original gp was fully booked) and she goes through the scan and the specialist report with it which declares there is NOTHING wrong with my knee ligament wise.

Now im relieved as i dont need an op like the Dr originally said etc but im also pissed off big time - as my parents have wasted a massive amount of money on something the Dr said was 'urgent' and i need to go private to get it seen to asap! The GP no doubt gets paid a shit load and maybe doesnt matter to her but for me £1k is a massive financial mistake to make!! Worst thing is doubt i can complain etc just needed a rant.

[Simon Pieman]

So what is wrong with your knee then?

[flammableBen]

Isn't this good news?

Would you have preferred the scans to show that the doctors suspicions were right, your knees were fucked, and you couldn't go travelling?

[FlashGordon]

Essentially they've found nothing wrong with my knee - so presuming i just bashed it badly when playing footie a month ago. Yes its good news as i dont need an op bt op or not i would have gone travelling. Just pissed off the Dr said it was so 'urgent' i 'needed' to get the scan done privately - i could have waited on the nhs for free to find out nothing was wrong

[Simon Pieman]

I get the impression the doctor was giving you advise based on the assumption you'd want it all better before you went away.

Oh well, mistakes happen. At least you don't have a terminal disease they failed to spot for months and months.

[Sippo]

You doc probably said urgent because if it was ligaments or whatever and you made it worse then it would probably have been game over. Better safe than sorry.

[flammableBen]

I get the impression the doctor was giving you advise based on the assumption you'd want it all better before you went away.

Yeah I made that assumption too.

[Don Rogers Shop]

As i am pissed off and in a real cuntish mood i have the pleasure of saying that if you went to the hospital in agony instead of the doc you would of got a scan their and then. Hope this helps

[Bennett]

i went to the docs with another issue (not itchiness) and asked whilst i was leaving if anything serious could have happened as the top of my left leg has a slightly numb feel to it.

he said that it's probably just me having damaged the nerves in it and they'll get better oh in a year or so. if it's not better in a month or two come back

i hope i've not had a stroke

[jonny72]

she said it was urgent if i was going travelling as the likelyhood was that i could tear it more then have a real problem. But to determine the extent of the damage she said i need an MRI scan asap and said i should go private so i can get it all seen to before i go away...

I don't think anyone needs to make any assumptions as to why the doctor told you to get it seen asap by going private, when you've given the reason in your post. If you hadn't said you were going travelling and weren't in too much pain they would have just referred you to the hospital.

If you'd gone abroad, especially outside the EU, and had a problem with your knee you would have been in deep shit financially. No chance of any insurance covering it when it was a pre-existing condition, which would have left you with at minimum a 5 figure bill for medical treatment.

As someone else said, you should have found a way to get the hospital to see you straight away. Either sweet talking your doctor, or making out the pain was so bad you couldn't walk.

[4D]

FG are you going on a "Summer of Noughtie Nine" organised tour to Austria? 

[FlashGordon]

Unfortunately not...Australia and Fiji

[magicroundabout]

About a month ago i buggered up my knee playing football, swelled and was really painful, didnt go to the dr thought it would clear up...month later still pain when i exercise so i went to the Dr about it. The Dr said i think you've torn something in your knee, to which i was devastated because im going travelling on the 18th and i told the Dr this...she said it was urgent if i was going travelling as the likelyhood was that i could tear it more then have a real problem. But to determine the extent of the damage she said i need an MRI scan asap and said i should go private so i can get it all seen to before i go away...

...I spoke to my parents and they agreed to pay for the scan at Bath Clinic...which cost over £1k to do. I go to the Dr today to go through my scan (a different Dr as the original gp was fully booked) and she goes through the scan and the specialist report with it which declares there is NOTHING wrong with my knee ligament wise.

Now im relieved as i dont need an op like the Dr originally said etc but im also pissed off big time - as my parents have wasted a massive amount of money on something the Dr said was 'urgent' and i need to go private to get it seen to asap! The GP no doubt gets paid a shit load and maybe doesnt matter to her but for me £1k is a massive financial mistake to make!! Worst thing is doubt i can complain etc just needed a rant.

i don't really understand your rant as it seems you got the answer you was hoping for was you not?

As for being urgent yes it is.

I damaged my knee playing football in Sept 2006. it swelled like a balloon and i could hardly walk on it. doc said i'd strained ligaments and to rest. two weeks off still not any better. 4 months pass and suddenly my knee locks and i can't straighten it.

Called in for an emergancy op to see whats wrong and they discover i'd torn my Miniscus (which was wrapped around my joint a locking it) and also my cruciate ligament.

i then had to wait a further 12 months before i had my knee operation (Feb '08) where they replaced the ligament. Unfortunatly it got infected and had another operation 2 weeks later to clear this out. i was then left with an open wound for 10 weeks whilst it healed and i couldn't do any physio until it was healed so now my knee is basically fucked as all the muscle has worn away.

so for me your outcome is woth paying £1k for and be thankful eveything was ok.

[Fred Elliot]

i went to the docs with another issue (not itchiness) and asked whilst i was leaving if anything serious could have happened as the top of my left leg has a slightly numb feel to it.

he said that it's probably just me having damaged the nerves in it and they'll get better oh in a year or so. if it's not better in a month or two come back

i hope i've not had a stroke

I think you've got Polio mate

[Power to people]

I think you've got Polio mate

Is that the mint with the hole in the middle