Maybe Doctors Should Ask for Second Opinions, Too?

A woman in West Virginia has sued the health professionals -- physicians and pathologists -- who misdiagnosed her cancer.

She was diagnosed with a form of lung cancer, and underwent both radiation and chemotherapy. However, it seemed like the tumor wasn't responding to the highly aggressive treatment. So they did another biopsy to try to figure out what to do next and -- OOPS! She didn't really have cancer. That was two years ago.

It's one of the unusual types of misdiagnosis -- just like mine was -- where she was told she had cancer, but she didn't really have it. Our cancers were different -- hers was lung cancer and mine was lymphoma. I never had treatment. She will pay for the treatment she had for the rest of her life because now she has to go through a difficult procedure once every five to six weeks to stretch open her esophagus so she can eat. I just can't imagine how that feels.

I CAN imagine her anger. Been there. And I CAN imagine the stupid things people say to her. Like the pathologist who misdiagnosed her who now says "We do our best, but we can't be 100 percent accurate."

Or like her pulmonologist who, upon learning about the misdiagnosis, says he was "somewhat surprised" by the diagnosis since she was a non-smoker and had no other health problems.

It makes me wonder what my oncologist would have said if we had discovered my misdiagnosis after I had gone through chemo and radiation. I can tell you that after I figured out I didn't have it, I asked him, "How many other people sitting in your infusion center don't really have cancer?" His reply -- just as stupid as these others was, "I hope not many."

Don't get me wrong. I am not so naive as to believe the doctors can be right 100% of the time. I realize there has to be a margin of error. But here we have doctors who are surprised by findings -- and don't take the next step to recommend another opinion. And then, post-mistake, we have pathologists who, instead of simply apologizing and admitting their mistakes, try to explain to the patient herself that they can't always be right. argh. Just apologize, please, and leave it alone.

What can we patients learn from this? Yes, we can learn that doctors and pathologists and the others who diagnose us do make mistakes. They are human.

But the bigger lesson is to keep asking questions. To insist on second opinions. To make sure that we never have to go through difficult procedures and treatments without making sure that every last detail has been reviewed and it's the only answer.
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