Misdiagnoses Are on the Rise
INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed Dr. David Wilcox.
Health Transparency: The Real Truth with Dr. David Wilcox
Here is what you Need to do to Ensure you don’t Pay the Price of a Misdiagnosis
A misdiagnosis occurs when a person is diagnosed with a medical condition that they do not have. A good example of that is if a person is diagnosed with esophageal reflux disease and they are having a heart attack. The danger of misdiagnoses is that the underlying condition is not being treated and can worsen causing an increase in illness and possibly death.
Diagnostic errors are linked to nearly 800,000 deaths or cases of permanent disability a year. About 371,000 people die and 424,000 sustain permanent disabilities – such as brain damage, blindness, loss of limbs or organs, or metastasized (advanced) cancer – each year as a result. To make this estimate, researchers pulled from dozens of earlier studies to assess how often certain conditions were missed and how often that miss led to serious harm.
It’s not surprising that many misdiagnoses occur in the Emergency Department (ED). Having worked in an emergency department I know it’s a very fast-paced environment and often you have to make decisions on limited information. If I haven’t emphasized this enough, you need to proactively educate yourself on the American Healthcare System before ever entering an emergency department.
One of the most frequently misdiagnosed conditions is stroke as it can present in numerous ways. Take the case of someone close to me who recently went through this nightmare. This individual first noticed symptoms about two weeks before the stroke. Their symptoms started by being so dizzy while working out at the gym that they couldn’t get off the exercise mat. Their blood pressure became very high as well. Then about two weeks later they had blurry vision which is a telltale symptom of a stroke. This person had read my book and already knew where the five-star hospital was located in their community. They phoned a recent acquaintance who was a nurse who advised them to call 911 and go immediately to the emergency department and said the patient was having a stroke.
This person had a strong family history of heart disease so the immediate thought was that they were having a heart attack or cardiac issue by the ED physician. They almost discharged the patient but because of her strong family history of cardiac events, they admitted the patient and scheduled a cardiac catheterization for the next day. The catheterization showed no cardiac issues so the hospitalist wanted to discharge the patient with a vertigo (dizziness) diagnosis and have them follow up with an ear nose and throat doctor. This is where the game changed and prevented this individual from becoming a misdiagnosed statistic.
The patient’s daughter, who is a physician assistant (PA) had been with the patient during her hospital stay. She told the hospitalist that she was not comfortable with the hospitalist discharging her with that diagnosis. The hospitalist agreed to do a test called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which is used to record the brain’s activity. The MRI revealed the patient had suffered a mild stroke in the back of their brain. The hospitalist stated that they had to remember that a stroke in the back of the brain presents different symptoms than a stroke in the front of the brain. A great teaching moment but fortunately not at the expense of this patient.
Had the patient been discharged with the misdiagnosis of vertigo this would have delayed getting blood thinners on board which could increase the risk of another stroke. The next stroke may not have been mild but because the patient had a strong advocate in their daughter this misdiagnosis was averted.
While no healthcare provider wants to misdiagnose a patient the pressures placed on them by the payers (insurance companies) to see as many patients as possible certainly factor into the alarming rates of misdiagnoses. Optum a division of United Healthcare has more physicians on staff than any other healthcare entity in the USA. Let that sink in. An insurance company whose main goal is to drive profit for their shareholders owns the most physicians in the country. Physicians are pressured to see more and more patients, which allows them little time to process the patient’s symptoms. This pressure leads to burnout and can affect patient outcomes.
That’s why as a healthcare consumer it’s important for you to play a part in your healthcare. This patient was proactively educated on how to choose a five-star hospital and also chose a five-star cardiologist which they attributed to reading my book “How to Avoid Being a Victim of the American Healthcare System”. The patient also had a strong advocate at their bedside which turned out to be a game changer. You as a partner in your healthcare need to be proactively educated because it’s not a matter of “if” you will need healthcare, it’s a matter of “when”. I hope that you become proactively educated in the nuances of the American Healthcare System and thus avoid becoming a statistic.
You can purchase Dr. David Wilcox’s book How to Avoid Being a Victim of the American Healthcare System: A Patient’s Handbook for Survival on Amazon at the following link https://lnkd.in/diZKYC2
Follow me on social media at:
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You Tube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyYHs6ttrJ5l6-kUc-lEP9Q
According to a statement, “Healthcare is complex and that is not an accident. It is complex by the healthcare entities vying for your healthcare dollars. Covid has exacerbated the American Healthcare System, which was fragile, to begin with. Many clinicians are leaving healthcare due to burnout. How does the average layperson navigate the complexities of the American Healthcare System where a prescription could cost you $5 at one pharmacy and $500 at another? What does the average layperson do when their insurance company rejects their claim? Proactive education of the American Healthcare System prior to accessing it is the key to safely navigating the healthcare system. Until now, little information has been available to provide the layperson with the knowledge they need to be a better partner in their health care. Dr. David Wilcox’s book How to Avoid Being a Victim of the American Healthcare System: A Patient’s Handbook for Survival” is a game-changer and will provide you with the skill set you need to navigate the American Healthcare System.
Website: https://drdavidwilcox.com/
Dr. Wilcox is a Doctorate prepared nurse who also holds a Masters in Health Administration and is Board Certified in Nursing Informatics. Dr. Wilcox has 28 years of healthcare experience in which he worked as a bedside nurse, hospital administrator, and in healthcare information technology which has helped him to develop his unique perspective on the American Healthcare System.
Dr. Wilcox is the author of the book “How to Avoid Being a Victim of the American Healthcare System: A Patient’s Handbook for Survival (2021)” available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578878364
Dr. Wilcox currently resides in North Carolina with his wife and their three dogs.
Dr Wilcox’s website: Dr. David Wilcox – Healthcare, American Healthcare System (drdavidwilcox.com)
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW IN ITS ENTIRETY HERE
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