14 Times People Ignored Their Doctors And Barrrrrely Lived To Tell The Tale
by Fabiana Buontempo · BuzzFeedWhile many of us might follow rules to a T, others might disregard them, especially regarding their health. Members of the BuzzFeed Community recently shared stories of themselves, patients, or family members who outright ignored doctor's orders and what the repercussions were. Here is what some revealed:
Note: Some responses might be edited for length and/or clarity.
1. "My sister-in-law is 47 and has a shocking family history when it comes to cardiac stuff (dad died from a massive heart attack, mum had a huge heart attack and bypass surgery, younger sister had a heart attack at 30 years old, very bad). She collapsed on the way to her doctor's surgery a few weeks ago — a massive heart attack. Thankfully, she survived, but she was on her way there to be checked over, as she’d been having chest pains on and off for at least two years. Two. Damn. Years. She never told a single soul, which is exactly what her dad did too just before he died at work. Don’t leave these things. Better to get seen and sorted early, innit."
2. "My grandmother was a lifelong smoker. In the last year of her life, she was on oxygen and having constant mini-strokes. My parents paid someone to go by her apartment a couple of times a day, remove her oxygen, and take her to a place where she could safely smoke. People questioned this, and they just would say, 'She is dying, and smoking is the last thing in this world she enjoys.' Did it speed along her death? Was it the right thing to do? I’m sure people would have very strong opinions against it, but when I visited, and she was smoking, she was happiest. She didn’t know who I was most of the time but knew she loved to smoke."
3. "My mom and I aren’t in the medical field, but her friend hurt her foot. We both told her she clearly broke her foot and needed to go to the ER. She declined and went to her primary care doctor, and he inaccurately said she only broke her toes. We told her to go to the ER again. She finally saw a surgeon, and her foot had already been repaired incorrectly, so now she can’t even get it fixed. She thinks PT will help, but it clearly won’t since her foot isn’t healing properly and will be misshaped. Some people are just so hard-headed. Now her foot is going to heal incorrectly."
4. "My grandmother refused to get medical attention when something was clearly very wrong. Instead, she decided to try and treat what turned out to be advanced breast cancer with aloe vera and lavender; unsurprisingly, it did not work. Breast cancer is no joke and can honestly happen to anyone of any age (yes, men, you have breast tissue too!). Please check yourselves, get to know your normal, and go to a doctor if you notice something odd."
5. "Nurse of 34 years here, and my husband is a urologist. I can't tell you how many people come to doctors with a problem and then refuse all tests and all medications, and not because of no insurance or the costs. 'I don't want to take a pill' (but will take unregulated/unproven supplements). They're told they need a biopsy or cystoscopy but refuse. We explain, we plead, but still 'no.'"
'We left our magic wands home today, so we can't help you. And you will now get a certified letter explaining the risks of refusing treatment so you or your family can't sue when your condition becomes worse or fatal."
6. "When I was about 18 back in the '90s, I was hospitalized for three days with some gnarly stomach problems. They thought I had ulcerative colitis (thankfully, I don’t!), but when I was discharged, I was put on a low-no-fat diet because grease and fat would trigger an episode. That evening, my dad made greasy hamburgers in a pan on the stove — not even the grill, but a pan where the grease had nowhere to go. I told him I couldn’t eat it, and he said I was a big baby, probably faked it (idk how you could’ve faked what happened), and to eat my hamburger because that was all I was getting to eat. I ended up back in the ER. Thanks, dad."
7. "I had recently moved back to Michigan after a ten-year stay in Louisiana. I had moved in with my daughter and her family. They had a rat terrier. I had a fox terrier and a small Aussie shepherd. One day, the family had to leave for about 8 hours, so I put all three dogs on leashes to take them out for a 'business meeting.' Stepping down two steps, all three dogs took off in different directions, which caused me to fall and break my wrist on both sides. Never having broken bones before, I figured it might be broken and made a cardboard brace for it just in case. Five weeks later, with no cast on, my doctor took x-rays of my arm to check on my arthritis. He sees the x-rays and says, 'Why didn't you tell me you broke your wrist?' 'Did I?' I asked. He yelled at me and insisted I go buy a proper cast."
8. "My mother-in-law found a lump in her breast and kept it a secret for years. If she had been able to overcome her anxiety and started treatment as soon as they found it, she would most likely still be alive today. My own mom had died of breast cancer years before, and it was like losing her all over again. There's a REASON we are told not to ignore early warning signs of illness or disease."
9. "I have a friend who had a torn ACL repaired. He was supposed to go to physical therapy afterward but stopped after one session because he said, 'I'm not paying someone to have me do a bunch of basic easy exercises.' He didn't know that their job was to get his quadricep muscle firing again. Because he skipped therapy, he never did learn how to work it again. It completely atrophied. Now he can't run right, and it's too late to fix it."
10. "Years ago, I was hurriedly running down the stairs to our basement to grab the laundry out of the dryer when my food landed on a scooter that was facing up. The top of my right foot actually rolled forward and was upside down. I also twisted my knee pretty badly. My husband had just started a new job and had to wait 90 days for coverage. He convinced me that my injury wasn’t bad enough to need medical intervention because I could walk on it. He refused to pay for Cobra. Finally, after six weeks, I couldn’t take the pain anymore and knew my knee was really messed up. I made an appointment and went to my primary care doctor to order ex-rays. Sure enough, I had a broken foot."
"The doctor said that if it had been the bone next to it, they’d have had to re-break it and reset it. If that wasn’t bad enough, I waited a few years to see an orthopedic surgeon for my knee. When I finally met with the orthodoctor, he ordered a knee scope. I had torn my meniscus and had a lot of arthritis."
11. "I worked in OB/GYN for ten years, and the doctor I worked for was always very clear and spoke in layman's terms without being condescending and spent so much time with patients. After basically telling them, 'If you ignore this, you will end up with cancer,' some would ignore her anyway. Reasons included, 'My body knows what to do,' 'Surgery is barbaric,' 'I'll see a naturalist,' and other wild things. It was so frustrating."
12. "My dad recently led a group of over 200 high school students on a trip through Europe and one kid apparently had surgery shortly before the trip and forgot to bring his meds with him and didn’t tell anyone until he had an infection and had to go to the emergency room."
13. "Pet owners not following instructions are the worst. If the pet is supposed to fast before surgery but is fed a full meal, you’ll have to pay an extra $60 for additional antinausea meds, and he’s going last, so pick-up is at closing. 'You’re just money hungry, and I need to pick him up sooner; I have things to do.' Don’t wear the cone collar after surgery, and if the dog tears open the incision, you have to redo the surgery to remove infected tissue and send home extra pain meds and antibiotics. But they shouldn’t have to pay for the second procedure or any meds because this wasn’t their fault. It’s mine for doing a 'botched' surgery."
14. "Many years ago, my dad had a patient who was diagnosed with breast cancer but refused surgery and radiation, claiming that prayer and tea would cure her. He tried speaking to her family. They claimed their grandmother had been cured by drinking these herbal teas that got over 100,000 positive reviews on the internet from people claiming it cured them. He couldn’t convince them otherwise. She was a mother of five who chose to believe her god and tea would save her. Long story short, it didn’t."
"The positive to come out of the story is that years later, my dad was visited by one of her sons. He had just graduated medical school and wanted to thank my dad. He said something that day when my dad tried to convince them of the benefits of surgery, etc., really struck a chord with him. He said he never forgot my dad’s kind words, even when the family refused."