Couple weeks ago, the fireplace repairman found and fixed a fault in my thermostat that made turning the thing on a bit of a fix. Took him 30 seconds, and cost me nothing. He explained that often repairman don't realize this problem is a simple fix inside the thermostat itself, and recommend expensive replacement parts or a whole new fireplace itself instead. Thanking him, I added "Well I guess it's better than having a doctor make that kind of mistake! like sorry sir, you need a whole new heart! ... when all you really need is to stop eating a certain food or something"

His eyes widened and he stared at me for a moment, then said "you know I can't believe you just said that .... that's almost EXACTLY what happened to me!"   I could tell the poor guy was just itching to tell his story, so I settled back with a nice hot cuppa and lent
him my ears.

ANd what a story it was. Apparently a few years ago he;d started noticing a 'hole' in his vision, in one eye. Went to the doctor, got sent to various specialist, and underwent a whole litany of neurological tests. Months later, they told him he had Multiple Sclerosis. Devastated, he underwent another couple years of Cat scans, MRI imaging, various tests etc from various specialists, but never really had the diagnosis confirmed. Regardless, the neurologist started putting together a drug treatment program for him to combat the alleged MS, and the poor guy began another ordeal -- deciding whether or not to begin a dangerous and very expensive drug treatment which was not covered by insurance.

He'd told a customer about it, and the customer recommended he go see a simple eye doctor first. Something which had never been done yet!   After a few months of waiting for a referral, he finally got an appt with an optometrist, who did testing and told him, finally, that it was not MS at all but a simple tear in the retina which widened at certain times of the year (in spring, when the light changes) and when he was under a lot of stress. WOW!!!   And here he'd spend years stressed out to the max over being told he had MS, running to various specialists, almost started a drug program that would have costed thousands a year and had many undesirable side effects!! The poor guy was almost in tears by the time he finished, and so was I.

ANd does he have a chance of a snowflake in hell of suing these well lettered well appointed and extremely well-heeled medical specialists for their misdiagnosis and all the pain, suffering, time, travel and energy and money he wasted over it, for years?   

NOtta!

I've watched many many people get sicker and die while undergoing standard Western medical treatment for various illnesses and injuries. Just wanted to point this out, in the interests of maintaining a balanced perspective in this discussion.

daylia