I thought this article should be shared its pretty disturbing but hey thats the nhs for you.
The patients palmed off with an inhal... - Lung Conditions C...
The patients palmed off with an inhaler when they've got a killer lung disease
Written by
ann1webb
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Read more about...
The ability to reply to this post has been turned off.
40 Replies
•
Great post as with guy in art i to sufferd at hands of dodgy GP said my lung diease was panic attacks .. and give me nothing well apart from BS and told to blow in a paper bag even refused to give me antibiotics.
But that is one who is not going to get away with nearly killing me Makrs you think how many more had done that to
• in reply to
there will be thousands more,but we will never no,as they will never disclose how many,bernice,,
• in reply to
Well done Daz for reporting such an irresponsible GP, he should not be allowed to continue in his role as a GP. I am so glad you have survived and you are helping to put a stop to this sort of thing happening to others. Well done again.
• in reply to
well said b, c, he will fight same as the rest of us,and survive,bernicexx
This is very scary, it makes you think how many other people this has happened to.
• in reply tomustcarryon
i think more than the dare to even disclose how many,,bernice,,
ha ann,yes i remember reading that,god love us and save us,as half of the medical profession are a disgrace,,,bernicexx
Yes, half the medical profession are a disgrace, they will never disclose how many have been misdiagnosed. They are so arrogant.
• in reply tomustcarryon
they wouldnt dare disclose how many,the pledge and oath they take to sum,is just hot air and wind meaningless,cowards of the lowest breed scum,,,hide behind say,you make a report against them,the wheels of motion in getin them to courts grind very slow,this they no,so inafact its two fingers to us, but the ones that fight them,my respect to them,.
Yes lets all bash GPs and the NHS on the strength of one article in the Daily Fail - the WORST rag in Britain. When there is no NHS (and believe me that time is coming soon) and we have to try and find companies to insure us for our treatment or worse still our own money to pay for treatment we will look back and realise that in the main, we had it pretty good. Now I am not saying all GPs or consultants are brilliant and it seems there are a number of people on here that have had very poor treatment at the hands of a very small number of medical professionals, but please don't take this article as the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We can change our GPs and choose where we are treated - enjoy that freedom while you can because we all know its going to change and for the worse...
Very good point Marie. My kids' father went to live in USA. How wonderful it all was - loads of money, fantastic lifestyle, best healthcare in the world. He never shared his wealth with our 3 children but his selfishness did not help him when the health insurance ran out. Suffice to say he had nothing to leave his kids and he died depending oncharitable neighbours. If our NHS was rubbish, why do so many people from around the world use it? Being looked after when we are ill gives us riches beyond the dreams of so many. Without it, I would not have lived beyond babyhood. Stop knocking the NHS. Rich people have their insurance, we only have the NHS. It is spread too thinly because it is underfunded. That is not the fault of doctors and nurses. I have had some pretty crap treatment but at least I am alive to be able to moan about it. Recently I have been upset by Boots Opticians who have been checking my eyes every year. For the last 4 years I have had new glasses costing £500 (no I don't buy expensive frames!) Because the lenses are complex (apparently). This year in July they said I needed new glasses which would cost £550. I told them I had no money so i would have to manage in my blurry world. They were quite rude so I left feeling upset. In September I was diagnosed by hospital consultant with bad cataracts in both eyes needing to be removed. I consider that to be appalling treatment but at least the NHS is putting right what the private sector did not even diagnose! Good luck and God save us all from a privatised NHS. Alison
Ive just got up and seen this thread. I am sick and tired of seeing the NHS denigrated in the right wing press in order to create the conditions for privatisation. Of course what happened to this person is shocking but seriously guys, do you think these things don't happen in the private sector? There was an article in the Guardian yesterday detailing private sector screw-ups and believe me they were shocking - out of date blood transfusions given, a surgeon refusing to wash his hands between patients. Having failed to resuscitate a patient, a "do not resuscitate" form was filled in AFTER the patient had died in order to cover their arses. Operations done on the wrong organ or wrong side of the body - the list goes on and this was all detailed in a Care Quality Commission report.
Yes bad things happen in the NHS too but it is so under-funded and doctors and nurses demoralised by staff cuts. It is being run down in front of our eyes in order to facilitate privatisation. As has been stated you will miss it when it's gone - unless you are simply so rich you just don't care. The whole point about the NHS is that it is free for all at the point of delivery, but soon it won't be.
Whilst I have met some doctors (and nurses) who should never have been allowed to practice, in general the NHS is superb and I agree wholeheartedly that we should fight to keep it. Unfortunately, many don't appreciate what they have got until it is gone.
well done 02 trees agree with everything you say we and the younger generation have got to fight the Americaniztion of the N H S its being done to help the american balance of payments they take the profits into America the pound is stronger 1 40 to the dollar they make 40 cents ie 40% profit thank you very much.
There are Doctor's out there who are so arrogant it beggars belief, they think they are God and can do nothing wrong. I know I've been there and i'm lucky that i'm sitting here to write and tell you. To sum it up if it hadn't been for my family insisting I had a second opinion i'd be dead. So I have to put things in perspective and think about the Consultant who saved my life, he certainly voiced his opinion about his colleague and not in a friendly way. So I can see both sides. The thing is i'm in the community so much and I hear so many terrible stories, I hear good stories as well but it isn't those that kill you. It's the stories of neglect that cause unnecessary suffering and even death that need to be held to account.
Well I hope you have now changed GPs and have subsequently reported him to the GMC.
This happened over 40 years ago. I certainly changed gp, however although letter's were written that's as far as complaints went.
Yes, i agree, all errors should be held to account in the NHS, as they should be in private practice but usually aren't. At least you could get a second opinion. Many countries you wouldn't have been able to get that.
hubby was also sent home with an inhaler, no explanations, so off we went on holiday to Denmark where he collapsed and was admitted to hospital. With the Danish doctors' expertise we managed to get home where again our doctor said it was nothing to worry about. He became ill again about two weeks later, luckily at a weekend so called the out of hours and he was admitted immediately. The rest is history as they say.
unbelievable...thank you for showing us this article.....there are good and bad doctors everywhere, sometimes it is pot luck. I have an excellent GP but he gave me a 7 days course of steroids when I was ill last time at home.....and guess what..I ended up a few days later admitted to hospital with pneumonia...I also have an excellent consultant, who cares about how I feel emotionally...as well as physical. He keeps trying different antibiotics that just don't work.I have gone the alternative route now... have nothing to lose. Not telling the doctors though, as they only believe in their own medicines.
I agree. Tory rags like the Mail will present the 'facts' to suit their political agenda. I agree that the NHS can really cock things up but imperfect or not at least we have it. I went into a USA lung disease site the other day. It was shocking. One person blogged in that they were told they needed oxygen but couldn't have it because they couldn't afford it. They were asking if anyone had any ideas. An English friend who had lived in the USA back in the 70's (so don't know if it is still the same) said her father became ill with motor neurone disease. He had loads of health insurance. But they deliberately refused to make a firm diagnosis so they could avoid paying out for treatment. This went on for years until the family were wiped out. Then they returned to Britain and within 2 weeks he was officially diagnosed with MND and treated free on the NHS. She said this was common practise in the USA.
So God bless our NHS and long may it keep us safe.
• in reply to
I totally agree with all the positivity about the NHS. You hear the bad stories, but you dont hear all the good stories and I can quote a few. The trouble that the DM is a scurrilous depressing paper, who is anti everything. We are lucky.
Agree with many points here ,especially those good folk defending the generally excellent health service most of us get ,most of the time .The Daily Mail is a nasty very right wing ,extremely manipulative ,filthy rag .Unless you are white ,middle class,tory voting,resident of what they call the home counties ,hetrosexual ,employed .sooner or later they will attack you .They have a vested interest in knocking the NHS,their close friends in the tory party are privatising the NHS now ,and they are happy to support this .
I wouldn't label the entire NHS responsible for the failings of a GP, these GPs should be reported, patients should report such incidents through the proper channels, so that such failings can be investigated and the appropriate action taken. If the matter is not investigated through the proper channels, it becomes more difficult to stop these GPs from doing the same thing again to someone else.
NHS, medical professionals do still save lives. Yep let me say that again....
NHS medical professionals do still save lives.
We will be very sorry if we lose the NHS.
For guidance on procedures about GP complaints check links below or phone the BLF helpline for their advice on this situation.
NHS Choices / GP Complaints
nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Yourc...
CAB: (Citizens Advice Bureaux)
Hopefully Pat Cowe, is being looked after properly now, has made contact with the Nottingham Breathe Easy group/s closest to him and is now aware of the BLF helpline. Also aware of access and how a pulmonary rehabilitation course can help him understand and be aware of how to manage his symptoms and take the action needed to help preserve lung health.
My final word on this is, think before you link to this 'paper', any other given day, they will be labelling the folk who come on here as scroungers, malingerers, benefits cheats, and anything else they think we might be guilty of because we are all ill in some form or another. I would hope that someone would point out that the term 'killer disease' is not helpful either, just scaremongering hyperbole.
I can identify very well with the experience of the sufferer in this article. My GP sent me away for over two years despite losing two stone in weight, constant chest infections and being unable to get my breath and told me I was depressed . My children showed no support believing the GP would of had me checked out if he was concerned. How can someone who has a reasonably good job, is active and healthy , deteriorate to such an extent that they would rather not move to be comfortable. Of course I was depressed. GP's need to update their knowledge of respiratory disease. This is not complaining about the NHS..I received excellent care from my consultant and the respiratory team but GP's I have no faith in!
The NHS and GP's are wonderful on the whole. It's incredibly shocking when mistakes are made, of course, and I get angry as anyone would when they happen to me and mine.
Over the years I have learned that GP's are human. They don't know everything about everything and mine will often err on the side of 'wait and see' - even when I am telling them what I need, from my experience of my condition. They also give the lightest touch meds first, working their way to the big guns. This is particularly important with antibiotics as they need to keep some back for serious needs. Sounds fair enough to me.
So I wasn't surprised that the GP didn't immediately diagnose Pat's COPD. The problem was, why did the GP not investigate it further as Pat deteriorated? Maybe he got complacent in his diagnosis. Maybe Pat didn't go back often enough. I have learned to return to the GP, and know what I need to say, if something is really bothering me, otherwise the Dr will think it is having a minor impact on my life and therefore not too serious . Although, I would have thought, as Pat was a miner, the GP might have looked into it sooner. Pat will never be able to get these years back.
The article itself reads well - it's just that silly provocative headline that spoils it.
I think we are very lucky to have the NHS but for how long I think its just a matter of time. This is because people for many years have used the NHS just to get benefits they go to hospital complain of a bad back clog up the waiting list and end up in every department of the hospital except the mortuary. We have a lot more people in England now it is bursting at the seems all taking out of the NHS. My husband works all over the world it is part of his contract he has private health insurance which he pays tax on plus £400.00 per month NI plus every time we use the private health we pay the excess to the policy of £120.00 I pay for all my prescriptions and have paid shed loads of tax and can not claim DLA because labour set up this company ATOS I think this should be showed to every ATOS Dr and this government to show them what it is really like to have COPD
I told my GP that my quality of life was terrible and he laughed at me. When you look normal on the outside no one takes any notice.!! I remember having to psyche myself up to going to the bus stop because my heart would start racing and I would be breathing so weird and i'd have to stop every few minutes to get my breath back , and I'd remember zooming along the road,with my grandson in his pushchair just a couple of years earlier and running with my dogs. What is wrong with me I would think. I couldn't climb steps , I couldn't stroll around a shopping centre and my youngest daughter would yell at me and say for goodness sake your 50 not 90 sort yourself out, your so slow. when my mother died my son flew over from France to stay for a few days and did say I looked thin and gaunt and that my breathing was concerning but felt sure that if it had been anything to worry about the good old GP would have spotted it.It wasn't until I practically had a nervous breakdown in the surgery , weighing less than 6 and a half stone. My pulse jumping out of neck and a beautiful full bottle of bottle green sputum , and me demanding I be taken notice of. I mean I'm always in good spirits, I love gardening, walking miles etc so why would even my family ignore all of this when I lost interest in everything even wanting to get dressed....... Because of my GP that's why. Now i'm not ecstatic to have my diagnosis but at least I know that I was ill and wasn't going quietly crazy but actually I was slowly suffocating according to my consultant and I don't think that GP's should be allowed to get away with it anymore. They must be held accountable. If a person is repeatedly turning up at the surgery with worsening symptoms there is no excuse not to follow it up. My life had become an absolute misery,I had no clue why and no one to listen to me. Enough said..
That`s terrible Hollyhock. I think you are on your own like me. I think we get pushed about because of it. I feel that if I visited my Dr. with a husband if I had one I would be treated more sympathetically.
I wish we had the NHS with the option of private care in the US. If it weren't for Medicare with all my illnesses, severe COPD, heart attack, cardiomyopathy, macular degeneration, cancer, etc., I would be bankrupt or dead. Believe me, there are incompetent and nasty medical professionals in private practice in the US. I've encountered a few. There is also a prejudice against COPD patients. Blame the victim, it's your fault. The same way proponents of privatization are attacking the NHS, proponents of private schools are attacking public education and teachers in the US.
Exactly the same thing happened to me,I'm still angry about it,oh I've not been diagnosed yet,1(0 yrs ago I had a couple of asthma attacks,left for the next 10 yrs with a blue inhaler that did not work,told there wasn't anything else,got worse yearly check up the more I think about it the worse I feel,I can't believe I was treated like that.
Actually it does happen
Hi everyone I have enjoyed reading both the newspapers view and all of your views on the topic. I am one of those who would like to save the NHS, but not because it's perfect by any standard. Things do go wrong and standards vary from place to place as newspaper & TV news shows. But the staff also do very good work too in some areas. I have suffered both good and bad treatment and downright negligent treatment on occasions but I'm still here to tell the tale. The article in the mail is what has happened to myself in respect of COPD/asthma I admire people who are willing to speak up when things go wrong, but it is not what you want to have to do when you are ill and things have gone wrong . The complaints procedure is very protracted with constantly having to go over the same facts again and again over very long periods of time often resulting in insult added to injury and no apologies often leaving both yourself and the medics confused as to what is wrong. As for feeling as if things would be different if you were not alone, I can assure you having a husband with you makes no difference, as I found in the past and my daughter being present did not stop them lying about what happened either more recently. Better close now or all my bitterness will start to show thanks for such a good discussion today everyone
Hi everyone i am sure that most of us would probably not be here if it was not for the NHS. They are in such an impossible situation now. treatments costs are so high our expect ion is high and the life expectancy is high. how on earth do they decide where to spend the money and who is the most deserving its a dilemma I would not want to face on a daily basis.
I know that we do have to try and support ourselves as much as possible to survive in the communities we live in and that is where BLF community and support network are invaluable.
Everyone of you is important and have something to give to this community.
Where possible we need to support our health service otherwise it will not be there in the future.
Thank to every one on here. Irene
Pat is an acquaintance of mine and volunteers a lot of his time promoting COPD through his CCG ,Breathe Easy and various other organisations. Like myself he is very proud of the NHS and the future of our healthcare.
KOTC
We'll I av one to beat that the first gp I saw for the results of a chest X-Ray told me I was ok and not to worry everyone who smoked got emphysema and I'd be fine ! Only 3 yrs later when I had another X-Ray did a different gp send me to see a specialist at the time I did'nt av a clue what emphysema was I sure know now though.
The ability to reply to this post has been turned off.
Not what you're looking for?
You may also like...
The emotional impact of lung disease - written by Jamie who is on work experience with the BLF comms team
Hello everyone,
Jamie has been working with the communications team this week to some work...
Smoking with a lung condition. Watch the webinar!
Last night we held a members webinar on Smoking with a lung condition. The webinar was presented by...
Face masks unlikely to cause over-exposure to CO2, even in patients with lung disease.
New research findings contradict statements linking wearing face masks to carbon dioxide poisoning...
How do i get an appointment with a uk lung specialist?
Hi, wondering when can you see a lung specialist for mild copd in the uk? Having seen a few doctors...
I got a tip today from someone with stage 3 lung disease. He said you won't find it on any website but...
He said to clear mucus and avoid colds buy menthol crystals from Boots. Put 1 (only one because...
Related Posts
Iv'e just had a follow up call and the lung is not an antibody match. :(
Got diagnosed with emphysema last Sept. Recently had a free lung check in town by local copd clinic and said I've got lungs of a 72yr old, 
What do the community think about open fires- burning either wood or coal- for people with lung disease? 
Watched Holby City Tuesday night and was shocked that a man went in with a cough and was diagnosed with COPD and got a Lung Reduction same
Hello there, I've got a dry cough and a crackling sound in my chest. Doc says its viral and gave me an inhaler! How long will it go on?
