What is the worst medical diagnosis you've received over the phone?

“Your cardio ultrasound demonstrates the need for a further study to determine the small blood vessel damage in your heart. Can you come in this week?”

I got a physical as my fiftieth was approaching and the EKG was wonky. On my fiftieth birthday I went in for a stress test/ultrasound, and got the above phone call from the Doctor later in the day. It sounded like I could drop at any minute.

The followup two days later had me get radioactive die injected in the blood vessels around my heart, while I was on a tread mill and then pictures taken. The doctor told me, “about 4% of the tests show a false report. Yours was in the 4%, you have nothing to worry about.”

Absolutely ruined my birthday.

Never never never have I received medical news over the phone about myself. Worse one was when my sister said, ‘You need to come home’ when my mother was sick.

About 13 years ago, when I first found out I had lumps in my neck, by the endocrinologist, she sent me for a biopsy. The doctor called me at work on a Friday afternoon and said “You probably have cancer. Go to a surgeon and he’ll remove your thyroid.” I left work without telling anyone. I went to a local park and was very upset, crying. I called my boss (an older female woman, very understanding and very cool) and I told her. She said “why are you going to a surgeon? He’s going to want to do surgery. You need a second opinion. Go with someone else because they’ll hear things that you may not hear, and think of questions you may not think of.” That was great advice.

On that Monday, I went to the surgeon that the doctor referred me to. He talked about what the surgery would entail (taking out my thyroid). I then went to a second endocrinologist and he sent the results to another pathologist. The first pathology report had three words on it: “Some suspicious cells.” The second endocrinologist (who was what’s called a “boutique doctor” because he didn’t take insurance and he was very expensive but so worth it) sent the biopsy to his pathologist, who came back with a three page report and every page said “NO MALIGNANT CELLS IDENTIFIED” in capital letters.

I was so happy. Friends told me I should have told the first endocrinologist about her incorrect diagnosis. I never did. I said “fuck that stupid bitch. If I listened to her, I wouldn’t have a thyroid.”

I have been diagnosed with chronic illness twice in my life. Neither diagnosis came over the phone. The treatment for both seemed worst than the illness so I just soldiered on. Both were between 10 and 20 years ago, and I’d be miserable to this day if I’d stayed the course of treatment.

Medical people can be such dicks sometimes @jca.

I received a diagnosis of terminal destitution from my children’s quack dentist at his insistence that they both required braces. Fortunately, a second dentist (a wise and honest man) thought the quack’s eagerness to impoverish me “a bit premature”.

I can’t recall ever receiving serious medical advice over the phone. My doctors have always, even if it’s not serious, asked me to come in to receive results or if they’re completely fine, I’ve got a letter in most cases I remember.

With the skin cancer result, I guess it depends on what type of skin cancer it is and where it is. They’re not all the same. Some, like melanoma, you’d want dealt with very, very quickly, others need to be removed but as long as you go and get them burned off or cut out, aren’t going to elicit a ‘this is very serious’ response from medical staff. Most Australians will have skin cancers burned off and cut out on a regular basis and while it’s not pleasant, in most cases as long as you deal with them, they’re not life threatening.

I guess she didn’t want you to go away thinking it was something you could brush off. She perhaps wanted you to understand you do need to get it removed. Although depending on the type of skin cancer, unless it was a highly invasive type of skin cancer, her response sounds dramatic.

I was very sick with a horrible cough and shortness of breath in 2013. I was sent for an X-ray. The X-ray showed a suspicious spot on my lung. I was then sent for a CT scan. The scan showed signs of possible malignancy so the next step was a PET scan.

My doctor called me in the afternoon with the results. She told me she waited until the afternoon to call in hopes of someone being home with me for support. She told me the scan was positive for malignancy and possible matastisis in the lymph nodes. She referred me to an oncologist. After two lung biopsies and two weeks of thinking I had lung cancer I found out it was benign, but I had to have follow up scans multiple times for a year.

So, basically the doctor would have let the cancer grow. You had to ask for it to be removed. I hope it wasn’t a dermatologist, then I can feel better about it.

I have a small mark on my face that I need to get looked at, and your Q pushes me to make the appointment.

Skin cancer is so common I’m not surprised he told you over the phone. I’m not surprised you didn’t expect it. I wouldn’t expect it either, especially if the doctor hadn’t thought it was cancer.

I’m not going to say some of the worst things I’ve been told over the phone, but I’m glad I didn’t have to go to the doctor’s office to get the results. One thing I did have to go back to the doctor for treatment, but I’m still glad I knew before getting to the office.

@jca I have had similar experiences to your thyroid story. I would have parts of my body missing if I had listened to some doctors.

“Go see the Urologist, your PSA is high.” Luckyguy will understand.

But it was not a big deal, once i saw the Urologist.

@JLeslie No, it wasn’t a dermatologist. I went in because it annoyed me. He had no reason to think it was cancerous. He removed it because I asked him to, for cosmetic reasons. They just biopsied it as a matter of course….

@Dutchess_III Except that cancer usually has some tell take signs that even hopefully a GP would recognize. I had a doctor in the past who during regular check ups checked my back for moles. He figured patients weren’t likely to notice a mole on their back. I think that was a good practice. Very few people go to the derm every year.

Thank goodness it’s standard practice to test anything removed.

Thank goodness for my vanity!