Is it ethical for an optometrist to show you other patients' scans - that have dry md

When i had my eyes tested, the optometrist showed me two other patients' scans. He said one of the patients with dry md had said she would give anything not to have her loss of sight and then he showed me another scan. I felt very upset when I left there. I worry constantly about my condition without an optometrist showing me how bad it can get from others' scans. The insensitivity and lack of understanding of so many optometrists is makes me dread having my eyes tested.

[Rosalyn-helpline Partner]

Dear candiedate,

Unfortunately individuals can vary quite dramatically in terms of their perception of the degree of impact that their actions can make on an individual.

Just to make you aware, the impact of the diagnosis of any eye condition and indeed any stage in the process is generally compared to experiencing bereavement. Individuals frequently go through very similar feelings and responses and in no set order. We do have a free telephone counselling service. Please contact us for further details if this is of interest. We need the individual’s verbal consent in order to be able to refer them. It takes a counsellor a maximum of a week to make the initial call. Our counsellors are fully trained and the majority have sight loss themselves. Sessions consist of approximately 6 of around 45-50 minutes each. I am copying a link to our booklet Emotional impact which references the counselling service:

macularsociety.org/sites/de...

We are currently offering free 6 month membership. This is a good way to keep up with current developments. Please ring us if you would like to benefit from this, or join via the following link:

macularsociety.org/6months

Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further help. The Macular Society helpline is open 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday on 0300 3030 111.

Alternately, you can contact us via:

[e-mail]

Kind regards,

[RandyM]

Your optometrist probably meant well, but yes, that was a little overly done. I would have been scared as well. You were upset to begin with but maybe she was trying to show you the serious nature in order for you to understand getting proper treatment, monitoring you vision and taking vitamins? You might want to change doctors.

I am not sure if it was unethical as long as you didn't see the names of the other patients.

But I am sure it worried you even more!

Last year I had weekly telephone counseling from the Macular Society and was quite pleased with the counselor, Suzzanne, and her caring, compassionate and understanding nature. She telephoned me weekly to the US, and I gained a lot of hope, confidence, and very good suggestions to help me with my personal anger issues. I was given a mis-diagnosis from an incompetent optomologist who never ran the proper tests. My loss of vision was preventable, if only I had the earlier treatment! Because of this, I was very angry and needed to talk to someone who would help. I highly recommend the counselling offered by the Macular Society.

[arwmd]

Did the optometrist show you or tell you their names? If either , that would be unethical for “breech of confidentiality,” an ethical violation, at least to me. On the other hand it does seem a little strange. Why would he/she do that? I don’t have a clue. Do you?

[Hidden in reply to arwmd]

No arwmd, the optometrist did not show me to tell me their names, just showed me their scans. One of them had dry md and the optometrist said she was very upset about her condition and would give anything not t have her sight loss. I asked him her age and she was a lot older than me so I don't know whether he had decided to show me how much worst it will get when I am older. The other scan was someone with diabetes and I am not diabetic so I didn't know why he was showing me that scan either. A consultant at Moorfields Eye Hospital told me that some some optometrists see so very few people with serious eye diseases that they alarm and upset people and at Moorfields they see patients with serious eye diseases all the time.

[StokeySue in reply to Hidden]

That makes sense, I think it was insensitive, but if shown as anonymous scans then really it seems to me not much different to showing you the illustrations in a text book. The problem is the insensitive way it was done and in particular the reference to other people's feelings, which does seem a bit close to the wind and clearly not helpful to you. If he had shown you scans and said; there, you see yours is not so bad after all; would you have felt better than you do?

[arwmd in reply to Hidden]

Somehow what the consultant told you has a ring of truth to it at least yo me. One of my friends also recently diagnosed with md was thoroughly frightened by the optometrist she saw. From the sound of her story to me, she misinterpreted something he said but at the time she was too shocked to ask him for clarification. Now that she is over the shock, she would ask him in a minute but the good news she doesn’t have to go back as her consultant helped her understand. Meanwhile I hope you are ok and dealing with it the best you can as I’m sure you are!! Best of luck yo you too!

[Hidden]

Hi StokeySue,

If he had shown you scans and said; there, you see yours is not so bad after all; would you have felt better than you do?

I did ask him how old the woman who had MD was. She was a lot older than I am, so I did feel it was very inappropriate to show me her scan and tell me how upset the woman was with her sight loss, when I have the same condition that is not treatable and worsens with age. As for the other scan of a diabetic, why show me that when I am not a diabetic? I really do think some of these optometrists need to be better educated on how to interact with people who have serious eye disease that are not treatable.