Another sufferer under the National Health lottery (From Watford Observer)

Another sufferer under the National Health lottery

1:30pm Thursday 18th March 2010

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MY mother-in-law died almost 18 months ago but the family decided to let her second husband live on in the house she left to her two daughters. It seemed only fair.

Ellie’s step-father, Bernie, is a lovely character, full of good humour but, some three months after his wife died, he went to the doctor with a pain high on his neck and a ringing in his ear. The doctor intimated that Bernie was grieving and gave him paracetamol.

The pain did not go away and so, on the second visit, he came away with a prescription for ibuprofren. “You are still in shock from losing your wife,” he was informed.

He continued to suffer the inconvenience of suspected tinnitus and a very discomforting pain, so,after talking to a friend, he decided to visit a chiropractor thinking perhaps a back problem might be at the root of his pain.

He paid for this service and the visit proved even more costly. He was advised to invest in new dentures as this was the probable root of his problem.

Some £1,500 later, he had his new teeth but the pain did not go away. Not surprisingly, it was getting him down and nine months down the line he was diagnosed as suffering from mastoiditis – inflammation of bone cells near the ear. He had a lump under the ear.

Last November he suffered an attack of bronchitis and my sister-in-law, upon visiting him, escorted him to the local doctor. This time he saw a locum, not his usual doctor, who sent him off to hospital.

I suppose you can guess what is coming next, for there are many similar stories of national health incompetence. Bernie underwent several tests and was finally diagnosed with inoperable cancer of the thyroid. He has a particularly aggressive cancer, one which would not have been established so extensively nine months earlier.

However, it seemes the paracetamol, prescribed back then, was not strong enough to arrest it. Surprise, surprise.

In short, had the problem been tackled properly, it might not have been inoperable and certainly the treatment may have arrested the progress of the cancer and given Bernie a few years of remission.

This Spring, we have taken it in turns to pop over to England and spend some time with Bernie at his home. On one occasion, when his daughter and step-daughter (my wife, Ellie) were there, his doctor visited and remarked: “Bernie and I go back a long way.”

Men are slightly different, I fancy, because I would have said something then and there. The doctor would have been left in no doubt that he was staring at a mistaken diagnosis reaching fulfillment. However, the two females looked at each other and made vomit signs.

Bernie remains in good humour but the final accounting accelerates.

As it happens, a couple of Geordies who live in the next village in France, went to Switzerland to visit their daughter for Christmas. The wife, who had been suffering from dizzy spells, was not feeling well and fancied she could hear the sound of blood coursing through her neck. She had the carotid artery cleared on the other side in an operation some ten years back.

So she was taken to the local Swiss hospital where she was given investigative tests and a body scan and told that her other carotid artery was furring up. The diagnosis and the cd of the body scan, which ruled out alternative diagnosis, was also given to her along with the angiogram results. Clearly she needed an operation.

Now the lady in question has never settled that well in France. She loves it, but prefers life back in the north-east. Perhaps understandably, she used this as the reason to high-tail it back to Blighty and plug into the National Health system.

This, to the local ex-pats, seemed a foolish move. Had she returned to France she would have seen her doctor one day, a consultant within the week and probably been operated upon within ten days.

Back in England, she has seen a consultant, had some tests and they cannot agree as to the cause of her problem. So, three months down the line, she is awaiting her appointment with another consultant.

I’m not saying they don’t make the wrong diagnosis over here but in my experience the bottom line is that if you want to be cynical, at the very least you can obtain the wrong diagnosis very quickly.

For instance, I had a nagging cough, without actually suffering from a cough or cold.

My wife reasoned something was triggering it. After returning from seeing Bernie at Christmas and with his experience in mind, I felt a visit to the doctor was in order. Within five days I had a chest x-ray and a camera passed down my throat. It transpires I have an ulcer. Not one in the stomach but one caused by the acid in my stomach coming up the pipe (oesophogus) because I also have a hiatus hernia. Basically, it has burnt a hole in my pipe.

I have a photo of it, the consultant’s report and I have to watch my diet. In order to reduce the acidity in my stomach I have medication that is working.

I don’t think it’s paracetamal.