Misdiagnosed privately

textbook

Twenty months ago Feb 2023
I saw a private urologist (SW England)about a lump in my testicles.  He shone a light on it and was and was very confident it was a hydrocele.  I always record all my doctor appointments and he wrote it all down.  No ultra sound recommended ro check his diagnosis.  After an ultra sound last May in Turkey they said it was fat and were laughing at the old fashioned light diagnosis that was done back in England.  In September this year 2024 at Guy's hospital London in urology they confirmed an inguinal hernia by ultrasound  I feel I've wasted 18 months when I should have been waiting for surgery with general surgeon on the NHS and it's very sore down there.  I paid £220 at my local clinic to the urologist .  Can I get it back?  I feel this is incompetence.  I also found out this urologist killed a lady in surgery in 2009. I called the private hospital and secretary said to go online and write it when I asked for my money back.  Local papers?  I gave my name to secretary etc Also concerning is no patient reviews of doctors online inv the UK.  Common abroad.

Emmia

So you saw a private doctor in the UK, a private doctor in Turkey, and then finally got an NHS diagnosis... 

I think if I wasn't sure about the first doctor's diagnosis I'd have gone to see my GP rather than flying off to Turkey.

DullGreyGuy

textbook said:
 Also concerning is no patient reviews of doctors online inv the UK.  Common abroad.

You didnt check https://www.doctify.com/uk/find/urology/united-kingdom/specialists#location=United%20Kingdom? Not all doctors have reviews and those that do tend to be in the low double digits but there are plenty of reviews of UK doctors and it's not the only site. 

textbook said:

Twenty months ago Feb 2023
I saw a private urologist (SW England)about a lump in my testicles.  He shone a light on it and was and was very confident it was a hydrocele.  I always record all my doctor appointments and he wrote it all down.  No ultra sound recommended ro check his diagnosis.  After an ultra sound last May in Turkey they said it was fat and were laughing at the old fashioned light diagnosis.   In September this year 2024 at Guy's hospital London in urology they confirmed an inguinal hernia by ultrasound  I feel I've wasted 18 months when I should have been waiting for surgery with general surgeon on the NHS and it's very sore down there.  I paid £220 at my local clinic to the urologist .  Can I get it back?  I feel this is incompetence.  I also found out this urologist killed a lady in surgery in 2009. I called the private hospital and secretary said to go online and write it when I asked for my money back.  Local papers. 

Given you are also saying the Turkish doctor got it wrong, despite them laughing at the other's diagnosis, why arent you critical of them and demanding the money back?

Ultimately you put a complaint in about the doctor and take it from there. No one here knows exactly what was discussed at the time and I doubt many are urologists. The fact the other doctor misdiagnosed it with the benefit of imaging suggests it wasnt a straightforward diagnosis and the fact we are also 18 months on can mean the condition has developed and hence now is easier to diagnose.

I'd back off accusing them of killing someone though... some of the best surgeons in the world have the highest death rates whilst doing surgery because they take on the most complex surgeries that others arent willing to touch and patients go in knowing its high risk surgery. 

textbook

Emmia said:

So you saw a private doctor in the UK, a private doctor in Turkey, and then finally got an NHS diagnosis... 

I think if I wasn't sure about the first doctor's diagnosis I'd have gone to see my GP rather than flying off to Turkey.

The GPs did nothing.. in Turkey for prostate which included an ultrasound.  We weren't specifically focusing on lump but i asked him while there

textbook

DullGreyGuy said:

textbook said:
 Also concerning is no patient reviews of doctors online inv the UK.  Common abroad.

You didnt check https://www.doctify.com/uk/find/urology/united-kingdom/specialists#location=United%20Kingdom? Not all doctors have reviews and those that do tend to be in the low double digits but there are plenty of reviews of UK doctors and it's not the only site. 

textbook said:

Twenty months ago Feb 2023
I saw a private urologist (SW England)about a lump in my testicles.  He shone a light on it and was and was very confident it was a hydrocele.  I always record all my doctor appointments and he wrote it all down.  No ultra sound recommended ro check his diagnosis.  After an ultra sound last May in Turkey they said it was fat and were laughing at the old fashioned light diagnosis.   In September this year 2024 at Guy's hospital London in urology they confirmed an inguinal hernia by ultrasound  I feel I've wasted 18 months when I should have been waiting for surgery with general surgeon on the NHS and it's very sore down there.  I paid £220 at my local clinic to the urologist .  Can I get it back?  I feel this is incompetence.  I also found out this urologist killed a lady in surgery in 2009. I called the private hospital and secretary said to go online and write it when I asked for my money back.  Local papers. 

Given you are also saying the Turkish doctor got it wrong, despite them laughing at the other's diagnosis, why arent you critical of them and demanding the money back?

Ultimately you put a complaint in about the doctor and take it from there. No one here knows exactly what was discussed at the time and I doubt many are urologists. The fact the other doctor misdiagnosed it with the benefit of imaging suggests it wasnt a straightforward diagnosis and the fact we are also 18 months on can mean the condition has developed and hence now is easier to diagnose.

I'd back off accusing them of killing someone though... some of the best surgeons in the world have the highest death rates whilst doing surgery because they take on the most complex surgeries that others arent willing to touch and patients go in knowing its high risk surgery. 

Maybe I didn't communicate clearly in first post, no Turkish urologist said it definitely wasn't a hydrocele and was fat which was correct.  An inguinal hernia is fat.  His diagnosis was correct.  A bit more detail e.g. that It was a hernia and whatvto do would've been good but nevertheless he was right.  Then the definitive diagnosis later at Guy's that it was a fat filled hernia requiring surgery.  Hope that's clear

Emmia

textbook said:

Emmia said:

So you saw a private doctor in the UK, a private doctor in Turkey, and then finally got an NHS diagnosis... 

I think if I wasn't sure about the first doctor's diagnosis I'd have gone to see my GP rather than flying off to Turkey.

The GPs did nothing.. in Turkey for prostate which included an ultrasound.  We weren't specifically focusing on lump but i asked him while there

So you also saw your GP before going to Turkey? 

I find the whole "going to Turkey" for medical treatment a bit odd. It's a long way, you've limited options if it goes wrong whilst you're there...

Cressida100

No you won't get the money back. Doctors are not infalliable. 

saajan_12

If it got to legal, I imagine the test wouldn't be based on whether the diagnosis was ultimately correct but whether based on what the private doctor could see / know, whether their assessment was reasonable. If not, then arguably they didn't act with 'due skill, care and attention'
To prove that, you might need further evidence from an expert beyond just a different diagnosis, which might be expensive to obtain. 

I would start with a complaint, but always find its worth knowing what the ultimate legal position is to know how much to push. 

Also even if they didn't do their job well, the entire 18 months may not have been on them.. you could have gotten a second opinion or revisited the same doctor sooner, if their suggested remedy didn't help. 

Billxx

Cressida100 said:

No you won't get the money back. Doctors are not infalliable. 

Nor is medicine an exact science.

Flugelhorn

perhaps the diagnosis was correct at the time

teaselMay

It's entirely possible that you had a hydroceole 2 years ago and now have a hernia, they share a common cause. If the former isn't treated it can become the latter.

There are plenty of online doctor rating lists in the UK, most are populated by reviews of people who didn't get what they wanted, rather than needed, I wouldn't place any value in a review on such sites.