When doctors fail to meet professional standards

LAST year, I injured my back after doing some heavy lifting despite knowing that as an elderly person, I shouldn’t be doing it. I felt some pain, but I ignored it and continued with my daily activities.

When the pain became worse, I went to see an orthopaedic specialist at a private hospital. An X-ray of my spine was done and I also had a Dexa scan to measure my bone mineral density.

After reading the results of the diagnostic tests, the specialist told me I was suffering from T12 compression fracture, osteopenia (low bone density) and osteoporosis. My risk of fracture was classified as increased for osteopenia and high for osteoporosis.

When I asked about the treatment, the specialist said there were two options: bone cement treatment or the conservative treatment, which focuses on preventing fractures and slowing bone loss. He advised me to take the second option and I agreed after listening to his explanation.

I was given a prescription injection, some pain killers, supplements and medications designed to promote the growth of new bone and cartilage tissue.

I left the hospital with high hopes that the healing process would be smooth, but much to my dismay, my back pain hadn’t subsided by the time I went for a review a month later.

And all I got from that visit was a prescription for analgesic patches to ease the pain!

The back pain persisted for a few more months before I finally decided to consult a neurosurgeon. I realised I was also losing height and humpbacked as well.

While waiting outside the neurosurgeon’s clinic, I struck up a conversation with another patient, a man in his 70s. He said he suffered severe back problems six months ago that was diagnosed as vertebrae compression fracture and osteoporosis.

He had the bone cement treatment, suffered pain for the first few weeks and his condition has been stable ever since. Unlike me, he maintained his height and does not have a noticeable hump.

I couldn’t wait to see the neurosurgeon, but my bubble was burst when he said that after the lapse of so many months, the bone had already hardened and the effectiveness of bone cement treatment would be greatly reduced. Moreover, there was nothing he could do about my humpback.

When I told the neurosurgeon I was still having pain although it was not as bad as before, he advised me to get more sunlight and take painkillers when necessary. I was thankful for his sincerity and truthfulness.

Subsequently, I did a Google search and read that bone cement treatment is frequently used to treat patients, particularly the elderly, who have already lost significant bone density (osteoporotic) and need immediate stabilisation of a fracture.

For reasons best known to himself, my orthopaedic specialist had misled me into believing that bone cement treatment wasn’t suitable for my case.

As a result, I not only suffered prolonged and severe back pain but also irreversible loss of height and humpback.

When people are sick, they put all their hope and trust in their doctors, strongly believing that they would be treated with care and compassion. But when patients realise that they can’t trust their own doctors, who else can they turn to?

STEVEN CHAI

Penang