She was 48 when she gave birth in June 2006 to a boy with Down syndrome.

In the District Court in Adelaide, the woman, now 56, claimed she consulted her GP Randa El Masri in December 2005 about symptoms including tiredness, emotional outbursts and breathing issues.

The woman says she also told Dr El Masri about irregular vaginal bleeding over some months.

The court heard the doctor gave the woman asthma medication and information about menopause.

Didn't have a clue. Not even qualified to be a First Year nurse.

But ... must give those ethnic medical students certification to practice as GPs otherwise the number of paying students will drop dramatically, and there'll be accusations of 'racism'.

link

Admittedly looking at the evidence provided, my first thought would be menopause, but then I would have taken more. But once again, I doubt this is a foreign GP issue as much as training.

Bring back the oath!!!

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Apr 8^th, 2014 at 3:29pm:

Bring back the oath!!!

Yes because by god bringing back an oath will make up for lack of training. Idiot.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Apr 8^th, 2014 at 3:23pm:

... But once again, I doubt this is a foreign GP issue as much as training.

It looks bad for the university if medical students are failed in their final year.

The question begs: Why was the incompetence not picked up years earlier during the interim exams? Why no remedial study sessions to bring her up to scratch?

She's black; she's female; she a minority; her parents belong to an Ethnic Council with a landline to their local federal MP... or have paid a sh!tload as the parents of a 'foreign student' (a great many 'foreign students' manage to wangle 'residency' during their university years here).

And lastly, my niece who has a doctorate in one of the sciences told me she was refused permission to fail one of her university students. And that pissed her off no end. She was being made an unwilling party to fraud and deceit.

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Apr 8^th, 2014 at 3:29pm:

Bring back the oath!!!

Bring back the cane!!!  :P

Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 8^th, 2014 at 4:38pm:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Apr 8th, 2014 at 3:23pm: ... But once again, I doubt this is a foreign GP issue as much as training. It looks bad for the university if medical students are failed in their final year. The question begs: Why was the incompetence not picked up years earlier during the interim exams? Why no remedial study sessions to bring her up to scratch? She's black; she's female; she a minority; her parents belong to an Ethnic Council with a landline to their local federal MP... or have paid a sh!tload as the parents of a 'foreign student' (a great many 'foreign students' manage to wangle 'residency' during their university years here). And lastly, my niece who has a doctorate in one of the sciences told me she was refused permission to fail one of her university students. And that pissed her off no end. She was being made an unwilling party to fraud and deceit.

Who knows, maybe this was the first time she was negligent.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Apr 8^th, 2014 at 5:02pm:

Who knows, maybe this was the first time she was negligent.

It's a matter of inexcusable ignorance putting patients' lives at risk.

We're not talking about a vet here.

Why is the woman in court?

Because the pregnancy was misdiagnosed?

or because the child was born with Downs?

Seems to me this could have happened to any GP with a woman her age .....

maybe she should have done a preg test herself as she was sexually active & probably not using birth control.

Did she think she was too old to get pregnant?

That aside there is also a high risk that a child born to a woman of her age could have Downs Syndrome.

It took fourteen years for a doc to diagnose the ex with arrythmia of the heart - she would near collapse and had an erratic heartbeat and not one doc spotted it.

I did one night when she had a 'turn' and felt her pulse.... so did the ambos when they arrived.

She then had cardiac inversion - heart stopped and re-started to correct bad rhythm.

I was treated for gastric reflux for ages and fell over with a heart attack, then had ongoing pain in chest due to an infection undiagnosed - until I semi-corrected it with the ex's asthma medication - works wonders.

Thet thar book larnin' ain't doin' them boys much good there - theys oughta be trainin' camels an' sech - get a good trade goin' fer the future 'stead o' wastin' daddy's money on medicine man school.

What is absurd is that a doctor coming here has to have equivalent qualification to practice here - yet students can come here and do medicine by paying fees without an equivalent education to get into med school, but with the help of a heap of daddy's money in hand.

I've cited medicine graduates and students before - they terrify me, and I lecture them face-to-face on the simple fact that they are just beginning their learning....

Must be terribly deflating for them to be told that by some grunt medic.

Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 8^th, 2014 at 4:38pm:

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Apr 8th, 2014 at 3:23pm: ... But once again, I doubt this is a foreign GP issue as much as training. It looks bad for the university if medical students are failed in their final year. The question begs: Why was the incompetence not picked up years earlier during the interim exams? Why no remedial study sessions to bring her up to scratch? She's black; she's female; she a minority; her parents belong to an Ethnic Council with a landline to their local federal MP... or have paid a sh!tload as the parents of a 'foreign student' (a great many 'foreign students' manage to wangle 'residency' during their university years here). And lastly, my niece who has a doctorate in one of the sciences told me she was refused permission to fail one of her university students. And that pissed her off no end. She was being made an unwilling party to fraud and deceit.

He was competent as they taught him. They teach the doctors to treat the symptoms not the cause. Seriously the hospitals are just the same.

SOB

Grappler Truth Teller Feller wrote on Apr 9^th, 2014 at 12:20am:

It took fourteen years for a doc to diagnose the ex with arrythmia of the heart - she would near collapse and had an erratic heartbeat and not one doc spotted it.

It's been many years now since I lost my virginity with regard to believing GPs are an all-knowing, god-like species of human being. It came as a culture-shock when I began to spot the bullsh*t behind the professional pose.

My own doctor is quite literally a Comedy of Errors. A bumbling incompetent, but because he's a Greek immigrant I took pity on him and have been his patron ever since.

He's the GP who caused my cardiac specialist to drop his jaw in disbelief when I told him he hadn't picked up my heart murmur when he used his stethoscope at my request only a few days before because I was feeling breathless.

Gordon Ramsay. Can you imagine how many GPs would be booted out of their surgeries if Gordon Ramsay was a medical professor doing a reality show with these people? He'd have reason to swear even more than he does on his cooking shows.

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Apr 9^th, 2014 at 5:17am:

He was competent as they taught him. They teach the doctors to treat the symptoms not the cause. Seriously the hospitals are just the same.

There's also the problem of professional arrogance with most doctors. They become petulant if you should point out to them something they've missed.

I've told the story before. A specialist urologist told me I had no kidney stones showing on the radiology plates that weren't shattered and in the process of being washed out. Chinese guy.

I said there were two stones left in my kidneys that needed lithotripsy. We argued back and forth.

So I made an appointment with a professor of urology ~ who confirmed I was quite correct, and in need of an urgent appointment at a hospital to have them shattered before they would start travelling agonisingly down the ducts to my bladder.

I am not sure that GPs can diagnose Downs Syndrome. It's picked up in ultrasounds when they measure a section on the back of the baby's (foetus's) neck. They also pick up probabilities of Downs Syndrome in blood tests.

Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on Apr 9^th, 2014 at 11:10am:

I am not sure that GPs can diagnose Downs Syndrome. It's picked up in ultrasounds when they measure a section on the back of the baby's (foetus's) neck. They also pick up probabilities of Downs Syndrome in blood tests.

Its only probable in the ultrasounds. The amniocentesis DNA test picks it up definitively. Downs is a trisomy 21, which means the baby has three copies of the chromosome 21, not two.

Its true GPs wont be able to pick it up, but if the GP had known the women was pregnant, given her age theres an increased likelihood of Downs.

just because someone has the title Dr. in front of their name, it doesn't mean they know what they are doing

when my wife first got pregnant to our first child, she has suspicions and went to see the doc. Doc ordered ultrasound and when the gp got the results, she told my wife that everything looked clear and she wasn't pregnant ... my wife has to point out the foetus on the ultrasound to HER and ask her if she wasn't pregnant, then what was that spot on the ultrasound ... the reply óh, so it looks like you are pregnant'

then my wife asked about what she could and couldn't eat ... the docs reply 'lets google it' ... and for this privillege we paid over $80 for the 15 mintutes it took her .. needless to say, that was the last time we saw that doc.

Well, to be honest.  It is fairly unlikely for a 48 year old to be pregnant, especially if the history is months of menstrual irregularity.  Unless of the course, the patient misinterprete pregnancy related spotting as mentrual bleeding.   Given that, plus the tiredness, emotional outbursts and breathing issues, actually makes the diagnosis of menopause quiet reasonable.   If you take say 100 of 48 year old with similar symptoms, chances are probably 99% of them are due to menopause, or other issues rather than pregnancy. 

I believe the doctor could have followed up the patient a bit better.  E.g. ask her to come back if symptoms persist.  And as a baseline, order some blood tests and perhaps an pelvic US to rule out any evidence of gynaecological issues. 

The other issue is that Universities are not "GP sausage factories".  After a medical student graduate from university, they had to go through supervised placements in the hospital for 2 to 3 years.  And then take an exam to enter RACGP.  And then after another 3 to 4 years of supervised training, they then had to sit through 3 exams to pass.  And the standards are very high. 

Even with overseas graduated doctors.  They first had to sit through AMC exams - similar to exit University exams here. And then go to hospital for 2 to 3 years, and then able to enter RACGP with another exam like everyone else. 

John Smith wrote on Apr 9^th, 2014 at 11:31am:

then my wife asked about what she could and couldn't eat ... the docs reply 'lets google it' ... and for this privillege we paid over $80 for the 15 mintutes it took her .. needless to say, that was the last time we saw that doc.

Ethnic doctors are a Health Hazard.

I hope you found a real doctor called Dr Smith or Dr Jones who wasn't shoved through the system just to meet an Ethnic Quota Score for the year.

Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 9^th, 2014 at 1:33pm:

John Smith wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 11:31am: then my wife asked about what she could and couldn't eat ... the docs reply 'lets google it' ... and for this privillege we paid over $80 for the 15 mintutes it took her .. needless to say, that was the last time we saw that doc. Ethnic doctors are a Health Hazard. I hope you found a real doctor called Dr Smith or Dr Jones who wasn't shoved through the system just to meet an Ethnic Quota Score for the year.

I've seen a few shoved through to get the Rural doctor quota up.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Apr 9^th, 2014 at 1:34pm:

I've seen a few shoved through to get the Rural doctor quota up.

Disgraceful.

It makes a mockery of exams that are designed to ensure that the public can have confidence in their doctor.

More than once I've had my GP tell me to stop referring to Google for details on what might be ailing me. He was a bit pissed off that I was ahead of him with some of the diagnosis on a few occasions. ...  ;D ;D ;D

Gone are the days when the doctor was a God-like figure in the village or the local town.

Google has put them in the shade. Any pimply kid can now become an instant expert on what the problem is.

Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 9^th, 2014 at 1:33pm:

John Smith wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 11:31am: then my wife asked about what she could and couldn't eat ... the docs reply 'lets google it' ... and for this privillege we paid over $80 for the 15 mintutes it took her .. needless to say, that was the last time we saw that doc. Ethnic doctors are a Health Hazard. I hope you found a real doctor called Dr Smith or Dr Jones who wasn't shoved through the system just to meet an Ethnic Quota Score for the year.

New doctor is brilliant, and easy on the eyes .. South African.

John Smith wrote on Apr 9^th, 2014 at 2:07pm:

Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 1:33pm: John Smith wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 11:31am: then my wife asked about what she could and couldn't eat ... the docs reply 'lets google it' ... and for this privillege we paid over $80 for the 15 mintutes it took her .. needless to say, that was the last time we saw that doc. Ethnic doctors are a Health Hazard. I hope you found a real doctor called Dr Smith or Dr Jones who wasn't shoved through the system just to meet an Ethnic Quota Score for the year. New doctor is brilliant, and easy on the eyes .. South African.

'South African' what?

It's like saying 'Australian'.

South African Indian, Kwa-Zulu, Afrikaans, Anglo, Chinese, Xhosa, and the rest?

 

Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 9^th, 2014 at 2:47pm:

John Smith wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 2:07pm: Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 1:33pm: John Smith wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 11:31am: then my wife asked about what she could and couldn't eat ... the docs reply 'lets google it' ... and for this privillege we paid over $80 for the 15 mintutes it took her .. needless to say, that was the last time we saw that doc. Ethnic doctors are a Health Hazard. I hope you found a real doctor called Dr Smith or Dr Jones who wasn't shoved through the system just to meet an Ethnic Quota Score for the year. New doctor is brilliant, and easy on the eyes .. South African. 'South African' what? It's like saying 'Australian'. South African Indian, Kwa-Zulu, Afrikaans, Anglo, Chinese, Xhosa, and the rest?

South African ... do you need a map?

John Smith wrote on Apr 9^th, 2014 at 3:36pm:

Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 2:47pm: John Smith wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 2:07pm: Lord Herbert wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 1:33pm: John Smith wrote on Apr 9th, 2014 at 11:31am: then my wife asked about what she could and couldn't eat ... the docs reply 'lets google it' ... and for this privillege we paid over $80 for the 15 mintutes it took her .. needless to say, that was the last time we saw that doc. Ethnic doctors are a Health Hazard. I hope you found a real doctor called Dr Smith or Dr Jones who wasn't shoved through the system just to meet an Ethnic Quota Score for the year. New doctor is brilliant, and easy on the eyes .. South African. 'South African' what? It's like saying 'Australian'. South African Indian, Kwa-Zulu, Afrikaans, Anglo, Chinese, Xhosa, and the rest?   South African ... do you need a map?

Do you need Reading Glasses?