Poor standards of care

I am glad to report that the lass is out of hospital and OK. When they operated they found that the ectopic had ruptured about a week ago, but, as luck would have it, had formed a clot. They told her that if she had dislodged that clot (and with little children to lift up or climbing all over her that could easily have happened) she would have been at risk of bleeding to death. Thank goodness this story has a happy ending.

Do most other countries have an NHS?

Soon, the NHS in its current form is not expensive; it is just underfunded compared with most other countries.

It would seem that the doctors simply agreed with the initial decision without really thinking things through for themselves. At best lazy, at worst negligent.

I'm not sure if scans are being rationed. When DH suddenly became ill last year he had x-rays, a ct scan and an mri all within the space of a few weeks plus various examinations and blood tests.

The same happened when I suddenly had slight blood loss. Within a few weeks I'd had ultrasounds and tests on my bladder, womb etc. and had surgery to deal with the problem.

This from a hospital that is judged to be failing.

I do agree with that Teetime - I posted this saga as, firstly it is so weird for an identical misadventure to occur in this way, and secondly because many of us have DDs or DILs who are of child-bearing age and this might serve as advice not to accept the idea of "pregnancy pains."

As my ex-GP OH always says, they were taught that all women of child-bearing age are pregnant until proven otherwise, even if they deny sexual activity!

It was negligent of all the GPs involved to decide not to pursue the pain these women were in - just too risky.

I am really sorry to hear about these near misses and in some cases tragic outcomes but at the same time I bear in mind that the NHS is successfully operating and dealing with thousands and thousands of people every day and saving lives. We only hear the bad news stories sadly.

This sort of things has been gong on for years - Oh had a tumour shown on an chest X-ray in France and UK said all OK but then decided on a scan which showed a large tumour and the subsequent operation showed it was almost inoperable which is why a few years before they could not get the endoscopy camera down but did not investigate why! Roll on about 8 years and a hernia operation had caused a hydrocele problem (fluid in the scrotum) and after about 5 years of hospital visits was operated on - total failure and the problem solved in France by another totally different operation.
Now living in France we pay for a top up medical insurance which costs €150 a month (£105) and they pay the 30% that the French health service do not cover. Hospital bed and food costs are not covered either. Some things such as scans which need to be done at a clinic rather than the hospital or seeing a specialist we pay for initially but the money is credited to our bank account within a short time. We do pay €23 each time we visit the GP but again are reimbursed. The pharmacy is done in such a way she is paid automatically and no money changes hands. The French health service mechanism has the Insurance details and all is done automatically. There is no previous or current health conditions asked about when you take out the insurance - not allowed - (same with travel insurance!). We get detailed statements from the health board and insurance people and so see all the costs - medication can be very high.
I have told you this as it may be interesting for you if theUK govt do go down the Insurance route as I see there was debate on it last week in the Lords.

I very much agree with whitewave.
At the very least get a second opinion if you think it necessary.

Things shouldnt have to get to a 4th opinion stage before the right diagnosis is made by NHS staff, with whatever facilities they have available at their disposal. No blame to them necessarily, but the system is partly crumbling.

Agree with Luckygirl about pursuing health matters.

I am starting to be concerned that we in the UK are defending an NHS in it's current form, that is no longer up to standard. And whether some sort of insurance system would in fact be a better option.

It's a different health issue but the same underlying problem, in that it seems scans are used less often than they ought to be. A friend was in our local hospital with a pulmonary embolism several months ago, for 8 days. She finished the warfarin treatment and recently drove to France on holiday. Soon after arriving she felt ill and ended up in the A&E equivalent. She was admitted for 5 days during which various scans confirmed a dvt in her leg to be the cause of the embolism she'd suffered months earlier.

Another friend had a similar experience with treatment in a different northern european country, where scans identified the cause of a longstanding health issue that had previously been treated in the UK. It seems the nhs isn't in a position to fund scans and they only take place in exceptional circumstances.

At least, that's my conclusion. How much did the private scan cost Luckygirl.

I do think that we need sometimes to take our health into our own hands. The same thing happened to me over breast cancer. If you feel something is wrong there probably is so don't worry about pursuing it.

It happened to a friend of mine. She was turned away three times by medics until she reached a life or death situation.
It's worrying.

It's just so weird that the exact same thing could happen several years apart in the same area. Very worrying.

Oh Lucky , that is so scary !