Sinus Infection Misdiagnosed

Dr William S. Andereck, in his article, spoke about a misdiagnosed case of sinus infection. Excerpts of the article as follows:

[The phone rang at 3 in the morning. It was the emergency room. A fellow physician was calling.

"I want to tell you that we have found out what is wrong with your patient," Dr. Jones proudly proclaimed. He said she had arrived by ambulance at 10 the previous night after complaints of dizziness at a cocktail party. After determining that her blood alcohol level was low, the emergency room team considered the possibility of a heart attack and ordered a series of electrocardiograms and blood tests that ruled out that diagnosis.

There was no answer to what had caused her dizziness, which had subsided by then. The patient also reported that in the past week she had experienced discomfort in her face, just below the left eye. Additionally, she had had a skin cancer removed from her nose five years earlier. Faced with the possibility that she could be suffering from an extensive tumor, Dr. Jones ordered a CT scan of the head and sinuses. He had found the answer, and now he was calling me to see how I wished to proceed.

The patient was suffering from a sinus infection.

I listened patiently, clearing my head from sleep as Dr. Jones recounted his case. When he finished, I thought to myself that he should apologize to the patient for spending $10,000 to make a diagnosis that could have been made in a doctor's office in 10 minutes. ]

It is indeed appalling to realize the high cost of medical investigations today. What is even worse is the misdiagnosis of something like sinus infection that is not really life-threatening leading to the patient having to fork money that is totally unecessary.

Sometimes, it is better for us to understand more about the ailments that plague us so that there is a lesser chance of the doctors misdiagnosing.

Sinus infection dizziness normally affects older people.

Learn more about sinus infection symptoms and sinus infection treatment at Sinus Infection Help.