Doctor's misdiagnosis led to 'preventable' death of Indigenous man
Doctor's misdiagnosis led to 'preventable' death of Indigenous man
Dougie Hampson died less than 24 hours after he was misdiagnosed with a cannabis-related syndrome and discharged from Dubbo hospital in August 2021.
Pretty scuffed. Cliff notes:
- patient presents to hospital reporting agony in tummy
- doctor finds out he uses cannabis
- diagnoses with cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (some people after heavy use suddenly develop persistent nausea, recently identified, rare and is a diagnosis of exclusion)
- patient is sent home
- patient dies due to severe stomach ulcers
Seems pretty concerning to me.
When I had an ulcer, I called an ambulance at 3am because the pain was so bad I could hardly breath
The ambo driver didn't want to take me to the hospital and said it was probably just heartburn, but after I insisted they took me... He even made a joke that I must have been fine because I brought a battery pack and people who are having "true emergencies" don't think of those things
At emergency, they kept insisting it was heartburn despite me telling them I know what heartburn feels like
They gave me medicine for heartburn that made the pain so much worse... It was only at that point when I was literally screaming in agony that they decided they better actually investigate
Half hour later I was on a helicopter to Sydney for surgery
They wasted well over an hour telling me I just had heartburn before they even decided to start investigating it.
I can only imagine the pain this poor man went through at home after the drs Palmed him off
Holy shit mate that's awful. I haven't had anything that bad but have had problems with spine arthritis constricting nerves.
Spent 2 years begging doctors to take me seriously, idk why but everyone seemed to assume I was exaggerating or hanging out for drugs. It sucked hard, I pretty much lost 2 years of my life to crying on a sofa and drinking through the worst pain.
Idk why this idea of people faking shit is so prevalent.
That checks out. I’ve had some really bad experiences seeking help.
Denial of care and misdiagnosis seems really common in an underfunded and overstretched public healthcare system and compassion fatigue seems rife.
Australia is also a systemically racist country where indigenous people are denied access or receive substandard healthcare - which can be due to such assumptions.