Statistics show the average adhesions sufferer will search 7-10 years for an answer to debilitating pain! Often misdiagnosed, undiagnosed or under-diagnosed, the sufferer of this disorder will wander from one doctor to the next while physician after physician turns the patient away. Desperate, many sufferers (my daughter included) have waited months for an appointment at a renowned medical center, only to be dismissed after a ten-minute interview. This dismissal often comes by way of insult: "you're depressed; I'll write a prescription for an antidepressant". For the person who sits on the exam table, it is the final blow; completely devastating. Who, just WHO will listen? If the "best of the best" turn a deaf ear, then there is no help....you are a lost soul. Lost in illness. Lost in a medical maze, where every door that is opened is just as quickly slammed in your face.
Can "defensive medicine" be the reason behind the 7-10 year search for the adhesions sufferer? After all, adhesions are an all-too-common medical disorder (occurring in 93% of patients who undergo major abdominal or pelvic surgery, with 53% of these people developing problematic symptoms caused by adhesion formation) so why are sufferers of this disorder tossed to and fro like a ship lost at sea each time they make an appointment with a doctor? Tests are performed, and performed....and performed. However, a lame diagnosis is often given. (IBS and depression being the most common).
Can it be that countless doctors have lost the compassion for those who greatly suffer illness? Have physicians lost the ability to "see" the patient because they fear the liability, the risk, the cost, the trouble ahead?
When the physician suspicions adhesions, does it become easier to insult the patient who sits before him as a means to rid himself of a patient, i.e., a liability?
The following article covers information pulled from a survey of 825 doctors Though the article dates back to 2005, its subject matter remains relevant. Click on the link to read more:
