Misdiagnoses: Can You Die? A Lucky Child Who Didn’t Because a Dr Loved Him

Doctors. We trust them with our lives. But what happens when the doctor is wrong? Can you die?  Doctors have the power of life or death over us. They spend years going to school learning what conventional medical education teaches them; then they learn more as they work with more experienced doctors during their residencies. And then they begin to practice. But doctors are human beings, they are not God, they are fallible. And all too often, they diagnose what they know, and what they know may not be enough. In today’s world, how much actual time do they see their patients before making a diagnosis? How much time do you spend with your doctor?

Don’t get me wrong. I grew up with a father who was a medical school professor, who loved his profession and his work so much, he talked about it all the time, and I guess he believed in ‘take your child to work day’ before that became a ‘thing.’ So I grew up knowing just how hard medicine is. I respect the time and dedication it takes to become a doctor. Growing up on the inside gave me an advantage that most people don’t have when it came to my own life. I grew up listening to doctors discussing–sometimes passionately arguing–cases. I grew up reading medical journals. I grew up learning how to find the super-specialists on the cutting edge. I grew up knowing just how many times medical science believed one thing and then found they were wrong. That saved my life when the worst that could happen happened to me. And then, they said I was a miracle.

But this isn’t my story. I promised to tell you stories of other miracles. Because LIFE is a miracle. This is the story of a child who changed and the doctor who loved him.

999 out of 1000 doctors would have chosen one of two paths of treatment. As it turned out, either one or both of those paths would have killed this child. This child was lucky. He had a famous doctor who loved him and wouldn’t take no for an answer. That saved his life. Listen to THIS doctor tell you the story– in his own words.

WOW!

That’s pretty incredible, isn’t it? Dr Daniel Amen is a physician, a highly respected psychiatrist and brain disorder specialist. He is a teacher, the founder of Amen Clinics and BrainMD, and a 10-time New York Times bestselling author.

But what could have happened if this were you or your child?  What happens to most people who trust their doctor and the doctor is wrong?  Most of us are taught we should get a second opinion. Yet as Dr Amen said, 999 doctors out of a thousand would have chosen a diagnosis and treatment that, according to the specialist that saved his godson and nephew’s life, would have meant certain death in less time than any of those other doctors wanted to give the situation, to ‘wait and see’ before doing anything else.

When I shared this story with a friend (who went through some horrors of her own before one smart Dr took the time to find what was really wrong with her) she sighed and said, ‘one more fail in the progression of diagnosis.’ What appalls me and the ‘why’ that I write– is how MANY fails in that progression happen and how many people get far worse before they get better. And worse–how many DIE. Imagine how many people don’t have a famous Dr in the family. Imagine how many accept the word of Dr’s they trust, how many don’t know to keep calling until they get the real, meaningful help they need?

I was lucky. When the worst that could happen happened to me, and all the doctors told me I’d never get well again, I knew enough to know that I could and how to keep searching until I found the doctors and other healers that could and would help me. The late Dr Lorraine Hurley, MD, educator, author, and health advocate extraordinaire called my story ‘a promise to others that solutions to difficult health problems do exist and it is within the power of everyone to be healed and whole… it must be shared with all who will listen.’

Please. LISTEN. And BE WELL.

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