Users who Dugg This
Amit Tripathi
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DeadManDigging
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DiggRocker
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fstopstigmataAug 14, 2010
Dugg for thumbnail.
kanockAug 14, 2010
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/3983750-lg.jpg (NSFW)
clevercommenterAug 14, 2010
I say they sue the hospital for malpractice. Hospital caused a delay in their treatment and now their survival chances are lower.
norman619Aug 14, 2010
Why? You have to accept the fact that doctors are HUMAN and thus will make bad calls every now and then. Attitudes like yours are part of the reason why medical costs are so hi. When it comes to cancer you ALWAYS get a 2nd opinion. You never rely on the diagnosis of one doctor.
Closed AccountAug 14, 2010
Flase positive and false negatives are routine and to be expected in the medical field. But as we learn more about the diseases and refine testing procedures, these errors can slowly be reduced. But the existence of them doesn't suggest malpractice or gross negligence.... just highlights that every procedure and test isn't 100%.
inajeepAug 14, 2010
I get it, your user name is ironic.
joculatorAug 14, 2010
Are they still using film in GB or are the on digital yet? I think most decent hospitals in the US use digital imaging now.
joculatorAug 14, 2010
Wow, interesting that my honest question gets dug down for some reason. I didn't realize it was a controversial topic.
sneschalmersAug 14, 2010
Annnnnd that, test designers, is why false positives are much preferred to false negatives.
mrcacaAug 14, 2010
This account has been closed by the user
Closed AccountAug 14, 2010
An old co-worker of mine was told (twice) he had lung cancer. Missed months of work, then finally got a third opinion and was told there was nothing. Can you imagine
idiggaponyAug 14, 2010
People don't undergo chemotherapy and radiation therapy for breast cancer unless a biopsy has proven the presence of cancer.
ravagedsoulAug 14, 2010
Mistakes are made with biopsies as well. Samples can be mixed up; the sample has to be tested, which is subject to error; and the results have to be interpreted, also subject to error.
sneschalmersAug 14, 2010
As opposed to the people who are told they have a clean bill of health when they really have cancer?
myztryAug 14, 2010
And that is why a doctors surgery is called a practice...
I just wonder what happen after doctors stop practising and become competent. They retire?
scaryukAug 14, 2010
In the same way that you start your plane journey at a terminal and rugby players try
ssomu007Aug 14, 2010
take care of your breast. what you feel is not what you see.
firesphotonsAug 14, 2010
I wonder if they were using R2 scanners to pre-read their mammograms?
coldfire2003Aug 14, 2010
Thank you, diggplug, for keeping me abreast of this most titillating subject.
alistairlpAug 14, 2010
Ah, so that explains this (submitted earlier in the week):
http://digg.com/health/Death_by_Breast_cancer_rates_fall_by_over_a_third
Closed AccountAug 14, 2010
I imagine this happens quite a bit since medicine is an imperfect art.
Not to mention, nobody is ever 'all clear' with cancer. Patients know that remission is the best they can hope for and even then, it can come back pretty quickly, unfortunately.
goddess1019Aug 15, 2010
There is a reason they call medicine a "practice". The part you fail to realize is that these women were simply getting routine mammograms, they had NOT been previously diagnosed with cancer. So these women had no reason to suspect they were not "all clear" as you put it.
durruticolumnAug 14, 2010
This account has been closed by the user
idiggaponyAug 14, 2010
What an odd thing for someone to the Telegraph to write an article about. Eight women had negative mammograms, and then later turned out to have breast cancer? The number is far higher than eight. This happens all the time. Sometimes the cancer wasn't present yet, so the mammogram couldn't detect it. Sometimes the cancer was there, but it still wasn't evident on the mammogram. Sometimes it was evident on the mammogram, but the radiologist reading the mammogram made a mistake and missed it.
In the U.S., at least, there are very complex and detailed procedures in place to make sure that the rate of missed breast cancers is as low as possible, but it will never be zero. And, unfortunately, there's a huge population of scumbag lawyers who get rich by suing doctors and hospitals for missing breast cancer, whether or not they did anything wrong. This is why radiologists who read mammograms have some of the highest malpractice insurance premiums of any doctors. And it's part of the reason why health insurance costs are so high, and why health care costs are out of control in America -- we're all paying to keep the money flowing to those slimy lawyers whose commercials you see on daytime TV.
Closed AccountAug 14, 2010
The interesting thing about "ambulance chaser" is the successful claims or actual monetary damages obtained (with or without trial) hasn't increased much in the last couple of decades. Yet, the perception of malpractice lawsuits greatly exceed the true threat of them. Thus, you have hospitals repeating every single test when a patient is transfer and doctors engaging in unnecessary screening just incase they have that one-in-a-lifetime patient.
Simply put... the extra costs associated with unnecessary tested greatly exceedes malpractice insurance premiums and is a major contributor to healthcare "inflation" that we've been seeing since the 90s.
goddess1019Aug 15, 2010
They did not have negative mammograms, their mammograms were POSITIVE from the get go and this company failed to do their job. It was not until the original films were sent out to be independently read that the cancer was detected. At this time the women were called in for yet another mammogram to confirm malignancy Has the original company done its job this would not be a news story.
s0nicfreakAug 14, 2010
Better this than the chick who got her boobs removed and didn't have cancer...
x2cprincessAug 14, 2010
I don't know if there's a participle dangling or what, in that headline. It's giving me a headache because it keeps reading two ways.
goddess1019Aug 15, 2010
How devastating this must be to these women. More so than your typical diagnosis. These women had routine mammograms, were called back do to a concern with the original. After the second test these women were sent home and told they had nothing to worry about, only to be called back to say they in fact did have breast cancer. This company gave these women what amounts to false hope. I just pray these errors were caught early enough for these women to get the treatment they need to fight and survive.
Feel your boobies!