Lone Star Posted November 22, 2006 Posted November 22, 2006 With a sustained B/P of 180/100, I would definately be asking some SERIOUS questions to the regular physician. You didn't mention how often the PA in this case has been seeing you, but there should have been some 'browsing' of the records by the PA to see what the past medical history looks like before seeing you. I would immediately be looking for another physician, and talking to the State Licensing Division that grants the privelidge to practice medicine in your state. (Would the Medical Control Board be a good place to start?) Either way, I'm in agreement that allowing this 'condition' to persist over 7 years should have sent up the red flags LONG before that length of time had passed. If I'm not mistaken, a sustained bp of 200/100 is noted, its called a hypertensive emergency, that requires IMMEDIATE intervention. You weren't that far from those numbers! I'm glad that you've gotten this situation addressed and are taking steps to control your hypertension.
akflightmedic Posted November 22, 2006 Posted November 22, 2006 Ok, the others have said what I would have said but now I am going to flip it around a little bit. Why is this all you physicians responsibility? When are we going to accept responsibility for ourselves? It is OUR own health we are talking about here. Do you just blindly accept everything the doctor tells you when you visit? Do you not ask questions? Why at these visits did you not inquire as to what your vitals were and whether or not that is normal? This is the kind of attitude that has stricken all of America. It is always someone elses fault or someone else must be blamed...and with that blame comes lawsuits, and so on and so on.
aussiephil Posted November 22, 2006 Posted November 22, 2006 AK, I understand your sentiments here completely, but i think in this case you missed the point. I was seen by the physicians assistant and when presented with the recorded trend she looked back through my file and commented that my blood pressure had been that high every visit since 1999, comprised of approx. 20 visits. She asked," why havent you done anything about this yet"? My reply was, "good question"! My question is, is this acceptable? Should they have been more observant and treated this earlier? The sad fact is unless we are aware of what all the numbers mean, or we ask the Doctor & he says its high & we dig more, we are all ignorant. How many patients do we see with hypertension treatment regime of either Beta Blockers or ACE inhibitors that have no idea what their Blood Pressure normally is? Moreso we are taught a 'normal' blood pressure in an adult is 120/80. Lets be real, as a percentage, how many have you taken at that range? I agree that we should take more responsibility for our own health & health problems, however, unless we try & educate the population on what it all means & that their cheap home electronic BP cuffs really are crap, we are left in the same boat. The other side is that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Some will have their BP taken & be consistently 135/85. Is this hypertension that needs treating? In some maybe, in others no way, but if they get together than we r in all sorts of trouble. While personal responsibility needs to be increased, I think that the Doctors still need to be accountable for their decision to treat, or in the case sighted here, not to treat. We have the benefit of knowledge & our friend here has only just aquired it recently.
akflightmedic Posted November 22, 2006 Posted November 22, 2006 AK, I understand your sentiments here completely, but i think in this case you missed the point. The sad fact is unless we are aware of what all the numbers mean, or we ask the Doctor & he says its high & we dig more, we are all ignorant. What point did I miss? This is exactly what I said. Take responsibility and ASK the doctor.
aussiephil Posted November 22, 2006 Posted November 22, 2006 My point is that we, as health professionals probably do, but Joe Average has been conditioned to just accept that the doctor is right. I am not saying this is right, but what is taught, what too many people believe
Lone Star Posted November 25, 2006 Posted November 25, 2006 By no means, am I excusing the patients responsibility to show some effort in getting the treatments for their conditions. But what I gathered from the case in point, the doctor should have made an effort to bring this to the patient's attention, and take steps to correct it. The fact that the patient in this case is asking for opinions, tells Me that they are concerned about this and has mentioned this as well... so they ARE taking an active role in this. Just My two cents worth.....
akflightmedic Posted November 25, 2006 Posted November 25, 2006 My 2 cents worth says taking an active role and being repsonsible would have been directing these questions to your health care provider instead of on an anonymous forum. Dont be scared to hold them accountable, ask questions, make them earn your money.
MeekoBB Posted November 25, 2006 Posted November 25, 2006 If you read the original post more closely, its obvious he wasn't aware of his HTN until the PA just pointed it out to him after looking back at previous visits. Yes, he should have asked them what his BP was each time. I do, and I TRY to get my grandparents to do so and to write it down. But if PA or Doctor never pointed it out to him that he could have a serious problem, what's he to think? Early friday morning, I went to OccMed for a followup and my BP was 130/90 which is high for me, I run around 110/70 normally. Wednesday it had been 114/76. I make sure I keep track of my own hx best I can. I would recommend to get a new doctor in any case...That was a HUGE slip up on a most obvious indicator of something that can be wrong;.
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