YOU ASKED ABOUT A  MISDIAGNOSIS - HERE'S YOUR REPLY.

THE KUHNS REPORT

LAS VEGAS - Hello America, and how is the world treating you?

This reply goes out to Beverly, from Laguna Beach, California.

Beverly, you  asked me about how to approach the situation when a doctor has misdiagnosed your condition/ailment. Believe it or not a misdiagnosis occurs quite often in the medical field. I myself had a misdiagnosis by doctors and staff in an HMO health program. Briefly, the doctors told me I had a muscle strain and the pain would go away in about a week to a month. Guess what? Even after x-rays and other scans on my original visit they misdiagnosed a broken hip and let me walk around on that broken hip for one month with bone grinding against bone. When I returned to the clinic a month later and told them I was still experiencing excruciating  pain they again scanned my lower limbs and then told  me they make a "mistake" and said instead of a muscle strain I had a "broken right hip."They immediately transported me to a hospital and the following day they performed surgery. So, I can relate and know how you feel. The clinic, technicians and doctors didn't even apologize. I later wrote a complaint to the HMO, C.E.O.,  but all I got was a phone call from a low level employee saying "they were sorry." In any event, To this day I still experience pain in my hip and legs because of the HMO's technicians, doctors and staffs incompetence. Well, enough about my bad experience with an HMO. Clearly if a person goes to a clinic or hospital complaining about pain in their legs and hips the first  order would be to x-ray and scan to determine if there are indeed any broken or fractured bones. And one would think that the technicians and doctors after reading and evaluating all the scans and x-rays they could "clearly" determine the extent of the broken limb. Right?

Beverly, here are some figures for you to consider when it comes to misdiagnosis, There have been numerous studies done and reported that on an average ten (10%) percent of exams on persons after death, on autopsy,showed that during  malpractice lawsuits filed by  various insurance companies nine (9%) percent of claims relating to "misdiagnosis"came from obstetrics; a whopping sixty-one (61%)came from pediatrics. It  was also said that each and every year, five (5%) percent of adult outpatients are diagnosed with a misdiagnosed error. Wow! I guess I was one of those adults. Shame on this particular HMO and it's incompetent providers, including the doctors, technicians and staff.

What's my advice? First, for starters -  after a diagnosis get a second opinion and question the original doctor as to how he or she came to their diagnosis. Is it something else than what he/she said it could be? Beverly, hope this rely helps. -And, that's my opinion. Make your own decisions. You decide.

BRADLEY W. KUHNS, Ph.D., O.M.D.
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Dr. Kuhns ca be reached by email at:
bradleykuhns@gmail.com