Misdiagnosis in Bangkok

[KunMatt]

Just wondering what to do, if anything. I know I will get the usual TIT replies and nobody should be accountable for anything they do wrong here but basically my partner was recently badly misdiagnosed at a decent hospital in Bangkok. I was not here at the time but she had stroke-like symptoms, weak left side from her face to her foot, blurred vision in left eye and immediately went to the hospital where she was given a CAT scan which came back completely clear. The doctor then told her that she was suffering from a migraine probably caused by (unknown) "psychiatric issues" and told her to come back to hospital again if she has an episode like this 3 times within 1 week. She came away really upset and scared, worried that she was going crazy. He gave her virtigo medicine and a benzodiazapine to relax her.

I got here 2 days later and took her Bumrungrad where they did a full body MRI and found a thrombosis at the back of her brain. She spent a week in hospital on blood thinners and anti-coagulants and needs to take Warfarin for 6 months and have frequent check-ups.

Now if I was as bad at my job as the first doctor then I would be fired and people's lives do not depend on what I do. The potential and severity of this doctor's incompetence and actions could have caused very serious problems and is likely the reason that she may not make a 100% recovery because of the 5 day delay between diagnosis's. Surely if a CAT scan does not reveal the cause of stroke-like symptoms then he shouldn't have just stopped tests and gambled on some ludicrous guess without any substance which turned out to be completely wrong.

So being Thailand, what can she do?

[besth]

Do, as in claim for something, forget it. Not because TIT, in any country doctors would cover

their ineptitude with excuses of why they diagnosed wrongly (never accepting that the diagnose

was wrong).

Consider yourself and more importantly your friend, lucky that she got examined and properly

diagnosed at Bumrungrad. Hope she recovers completely soon.

[KunMatt]

No, I'm not interested in any financial claim but I'm astonished that this type of incompetence is allowed at an expensive private hospital with no ramifications for any scary nonsense that a doctor can tell a sick patience and jeopardise their life.

I'm going to go to the hospital to make a formal complaint but I was wondering if there is any better way to go about it. They should be informed that this doctor was totally wrong and my partner may not make a full recovery because of it.

[Tywais]

Take a look here, some legal firms included.

http://www.thailand-lawyer.com/medical-malpractice.html

http://www.siam-legal.com/litigation/medical-malpractice-in-thailand.php

http://www.sgalegal.com/guide/medical-malpractice.html

http://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=19239

http://encounter-thailand.com/law-of-the-land-medical-malpractice-in-thailand/

[Sheryl]

No, I'm not interested in any financial claim but I'm astonished that this type of incompetence is allowed at an expensive private hospital with no ramifications for any scary nonsense that a doctor can tell a sick patience and jeopardise their life.

I'm going to go to the hospital to make a formal complaint but I was wondering if there is any better way to go about it. They should be informed that this doctor was totally wrong and my partner may not make a full recovery because of it.

That is exactly what you should do, both so that the hospital administration is aware of the error but perhaps more importantly so that the doctor(s) is aware and hopefully learns from his/her mistake. (It is possible that not only the treating doctor but also the radiologist who read the CT scan were in error). Doctors do make mistakes, even the best of them, and it is important that they learn from them.

BTW the migraine diagnosis was not unlikely under the circumstances (negative CT, presumably a comparatively young patient etc). However it would have been more prudent to keep her under observation; at a minimum, she should have been clearly instructed to return to the hospital if symptoms did not fully resolve within 12-24 hours, as they would have if it had been migraine.

In terms of compensation, that is more difficult. It will be possible only if there is lasting damage as a result of the error, which I hope will not prove top be the case. But if it is, and if the lasting damage is significant, you can pursue compensation but would need a lawyer and it would take some time and entail legal costs.