In June of this year I was diagnosed with Burnt Out Cardiomyopathy. I went to my GP to get some insight to what this meant and to decifer the Cardioligists report.
Her first utterance, once I explaned my position, was to say that I would be lucky to live another 10 years.
This kind of floored me, I'm 58. When I delved deeper into my GP's knowledge, she comfessed tat she hadnt read my Cardioligist report and that no one in the surgery was an expert on cardiac issues.
I left her office and changed my surgery.
What do the experts on here think - can an experienced GP make that kind of prediction?
I'm sorry you have this problem. I would advise you to go back to your cardiologist to ask for all the treatment options and a full explanation- and take someone else with you to help remember all the details. You should be treated at a specialist heart centre so d push fr treatment
I think that we expect a lot from our GPs, and it's a really hard job as they need to know enough about everything to know when to refer and when not to, and that's actually knowing what you don't know, which is really hard.
Having said that, I do expect any GP never to make claims about such hugely emotional things such as life expectancy without having the backup of specialist information, and knowing what they are really talking about.
My old GP, who was quite elderly and has now passed away, literally knew nothing about AF, he was stuck in the 80s/90s attitude of there is nothing anyone can do. It was a battle to get a Noac/Doac prescribed, and several times he told me "well you're going to die anyway". I have to say my opinion of his AF knowledge was so low it just washed over me without effect, but it should still never have been said.
I think there are VERY few GPs who I would trust with an opinion about life expectancy and AF.
GPs are general practitioners, and she shouldn't make such claims without the knowledge to back it up - especially not having read the evidence from the cardiologist!
Good advice above. I think your GP was insensitive and not having read your file or letter before pronouncing a death sentence is not good practice to, tonsay the least.
I also think expecting our GPs to have in depth knowledge of specialisms is somewhat unrealistic, since my GP retired there is no-one at the surgery who can even read an ECG so they always refer to the hospital.
I do hope you are now receiving better understanding and treatment at your new surgery,
I am utterly amazed and so angry on your behalf. No wonder you changed your GP. I really hope you experience a better level of care from now on, and yes, I agree, see if you can see your cardiologist again. I doubt he would make such a wild prediction either.
I have a terminal illness (Not heart related) and my doctor has never given me a time limit! He says everyone is different and there are always new treatments coming out! My sister has the heart related problems, but she plans on living a long time! So should you. There are always new treatments made available for everything. No one knows the answers to this.
Good grief - there is no excuse for such an unprofessional statement, compounded by an admission that she had no knowledge of the subject and hadn’t read the cardiologist’s report.
You’ve done the right thing in putting this behind you and moving to another practice and the best person to advise and explain the meaning in your particular case would be your cardiologist.
To answer your last question - no, the best medical minds in the world cannot accurately say more than that very few of us will be around in a hundred years’ time! I hope your new GP can help and is a step up from the last one.
Thanks everyone for your reply's they have really helped. I had parked it in the back of my mind but every now and again, when I'm feeling rough, it pops back into my head.
You die when your heart stops beating and electrical activity in the core centres of your brain ceases. That can happen to anyone anytime. In the meantime what do you choose to do .....?
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