Have you ever been given the wrong test results from your dr's office over the phone?

[browneyes]

My dad had a mole removed last week. One of the nurses called my mom and told her everything was fine, it was non-cancerous. He went to the dr yesterday to have the stitch removed from the mole removal and the dr said that it was cancerous, but he got it all. My mom wanted to know why the nurse said one thing and he said another. I wonder how many miscommunications like that are made?

 

[Serena]

My h's uncle's doctor got the wrong test results from the lab. It said his cancer had spread and it did not look good at all.
Later after more testing, they found out the mistake. His cancer was gone, the test results were for someone else.

I guess mistakes can happen. But it's hard to be understanding when it's your family.
I'm glad your dad's doctor got it all.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

i just had the same thing happened with a mole i had removed..i went to get the stitches removed adn was told not to worry, no cancer by the nurse...
when i went in ,the dr said it was cancer, but they had got it all...

my mom thinks its bc they didnt think they could just tell me without her? but im 19, so i dunno!

 

[KimRaye]

I was told my DS's elbow was NOT broken, only a bad sprain so, I told him to get in the shower, undress, dress, etc. A couple hours later another Dr. called and said it WAS broken. I was sick to my stomach.

 

[Disney Princess 6]

This is just a thought. I had two moles removed last year that came back as pre-cancerous. My doctor told me that they had a 50% chance of turning into cancer if left intact. I was told to be certain I get good skin checks at least twice a year from now on. Maybe that's what happened?

 

[Blueeyes101817]

i know wiht my mole at least, it wasnt precancerous..it was definitely cancer..

 

[disykat]

I was given someone else's test results once - made for a very unhappy few days. It was 11 years ago and I still get angry thinking about it - I can understand that mistakes happen, but no one was very apologetic about it.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

This is kind of gross but the clinic my mom goes to called to give the results from her stool sample. My mom tried to tell the person on the phone that she hadn't left one and the woman actually argued with her for several minutes insisting that she did!

That's a deposit I'm sure you'd remember.

 

[Mermaid02]

Yes, we were told my dd had whooping cough, we would be "quarantined" for about a week blah blah blah- but another doc had called earlier and said she didn't. Turns out the first dr. was right and the tests were negative.

 

[Disney Doll]

It happens. Obviously no one likes it when it happens, but medical people are still human and we do make mistakes.

Of course, when we do make mistakes, apologizing profusely and sincerely is in order, and anyone who doesn't do that is wrong.

 

[Nutsy]

That's not good Shannon. Thankfully nothing like that has ever happend to me...........the only time I've ever had results over the phone was my second pregnancy & it was no suprise to me that it was positive..............I knew from when I was pregnant with DS #1

 

[grinningghost]

I've had conflicting results. After a blood test, my neurologist diagnosed me with mono. I had the test rerun with my primary doctor, who said it was negative for mono. So I never really knew if I had it or not - but I was really fatigued. Was it MS fatigue or mono? I never did find out for sure.

 

[Mermaid02]

Just wanted to add that they showed me the result form the next day and I could TOTALLY see how someone could misread it! They ought to make those things more reader friendly! They were very apologetic too.

 

[Virgo10]

My daughter fell at work several years ago and hurt her back. This is a girl who walked around with a broken knee cap for a week and never complained. I went to pick her up and she was crying the pain was so bad so I headed right for the ER.

The doctor (and I use the word loosely) who saw her said it was only a sprain. I told him, look I know you don't know my daughter but she's got an amazing pain threshold and if she's crying it may be more than that. Don't you think an X-Ray is in order? He did not and told her to rest for a day and she could go back to work on Monday. It was Saturday when we were at the hospital.

Monday morning I called another doctor who had treated me for back problems and brought her in. He took one look at her and sent her for an MRI. Turns out she had a vetebral fracture. She was off her feet for nearly a month.

Because of her age (she was over 18) I couldn't do much to contact the hospital (patient confidenciality) but I did get in touch with the head of that hospital's ER. He was not pleased.

That incident still makes me angry to this day and it happened about 5 years ago.

Roberta

 

[Kitty 34]

My friend who I posted about a couple of weeks ago whose wife was recently diagnosed with breast cancer had this happen. His wife originally was told her lump in her breast was just a cyst and that was two years ago.


I'm glad to hear your Dad is OK though. {{{{HUGS}}}

 

[phillybeth]

My MIL got the wrong mammogram results over the phone and spent an anxious week. Turns out the radiology place had two patients with the same name- NOT a common name either- and mixed-up the results. Until my MIL told the story I had never heard of anyone with the same first name as her. I felt really sorry for that other woman though, first to get the all-clear and then to be told the bad news. They told my MIL that it was pretty advanced, I often wonder if that other woman made it through...

 

[Robinrs]

I was told over the phone on a voice message that NO I wasn't pregnant and they were concerned because my cholesterol was 239...

Turns out I was 4 months pregnant and my cholesterol was 75.

I also got some ladies diagnosis on my voice mail last month telling her to continue her meds because she indeed had a UTI. It was late on a Friday and this poor woman didn't get a message until Monday. I hope she did continue her medication.

 

[Blondie]

It's never happend to me personally, at least not yet!

 

[Blondie]

Someone I know had a DD who had a pap test (through a military hospital, her DH was enlisted at the time) and was never informed of her results. Ever. It wasn't that they moved and were "out of touch" she was never told. When nobody notified her of her results (good or bad) she assumed everything was alright.

So time went by, and she started having some problems, went to have a doctor check it out, turns out she was in an advanced stage of cervical cancer. It had already spread to other organs. She died.

Did they sue?

You bet! When the records were were brought to court, the cancerous test result was right there in black and white. Nobody ever took the time to let her know. Had she been told when it was first found, she may still be alive today.

She left behind two kids under the age of 12 and a loving husband, not to mention her two parents.

 

[DVC-Don]

One of my neighbors was told over the phone she had mellanoma cancer a few years ago. She went into a panic and called back to speak to the Dr. He told her, no, she did not have mellanoma and the tests were fine. But, he said the nurse should not have given her that first info as his policy was good news ONLY was to be given over the phone. Bad news was to given only by him in person. The nurse was fired.