The type of doctors that make my blood boil

Now I'm not trying to generalize and I know there are good and bad people in every profession (including physio) but, it just seems that more and more meeting good doctors is the exception not the rule and it makes me more frustrated since I then have to play the pretend to be the doctor game.

So, my grandfather is older, has a couple a prexisting heart issues and had a stroke a long time ago, but is otherwise generally healthy (lives independently on his own). Now a few weeks ago, we noticed that his eye got red and swollen, he was complaining of a headache and he couldn't sleep at night. Well we went to the family doc, who spent us to emerg, who then got a referral to optho emerg, diagnosis? severe glaucoma, prob acute angle glaucoma. So the emerg optho (really nice) gave some drops, and sent us on our way to the regular clinic opthalmologist. Here is where the trouble began....

So, let me start by saying my grandfather is not the most cooperative person, and is scared when something is shoved in his eye (no reason whatsoever). So when the optho tried to do anything he would close his eye and become scared. Eventually he managed to do an injection in his eye, and then changed a lot of the drops assigned by the previous optho including adding prednisolone.....anybody see any problems?

Now really there shouldn't have been any real problems, now let me say that at this point, the eye was no longer inflamed and there was no blood in the eye. So we dutifully continued using the prednisolone, and the next appointment after a frustrating session the optho manages to penetrate with a laser and miraculously my grandfather starts seeing out of the corner of his eye. This was fairly miraculous given that he hasn't seen anything for 2 years...

Now it's been 3 weeks, and he continues to take all the 5 different drops including prednisolone (4times/day) and atropine to try to reduce the pressure and the inflammation, and we dutifully continue thinking that the doctor is the expert and we obviously don't know anything.

Then yesterday, abruptly he looses his balance, falls, and starts having slurred speech....you're probably thinking the same thing I am, stroke.

So I think fast, check that he hasn't used his nitro patch today, put 2 patches on him, give him 2 sprays from his nitro bottle, and give 2 aspirins. Thankfully within seconds his speech normalizes and he regain his balance and mobility. Now of course according to standard protocol, we should have called 911 but we have enough experience to know, that in cases of mild TIA the medics and hospitals do nothing except a CT scan which is negative, yes tPA could be used but in general its only used in severe strokes since the risk of bleeding is too high.

So we started investigating what could have caused this interesting and terrifying scenario and I realized my grandmother had a similar scenario after a cataract surgery and was using a lot of eye drops....then we realized that the pred and the atropine aren't supposed to used for such a long time especially if the inflammation has gone......

So we decided to stop using the drops since it's been 3 weeks, there is no inflammation and its obviously doing more harm then good. Now of course, following protocol we're supposed to go talk to the doctor before cancelling meds.....yes of course....well luckily we had a appointment the next day.

Now let me say, this is a busy doctor, really busy, the one who has the 5 minute appointments. So the tech measures the pressure it has dropped, then puts in atropine, he remeasures it..and its high again. We try to explain and ask about our concerns regarding the massive amount of drops he's on, and the risks of using them for such a long time, he disregards those concerns, and tells us that he can't help us since his pressure is still 'high'. Then he tells us he is discharging us from his service and refers us to an eye surgeon.....of course not before telling us that we're idiots, our english is bad, and we don't know anything.

Yes ladies and gentleman, this is a real life account of a highly regarded optho. Now thankfully we have given up a long time ago on trusting doctors for good reason, but hoped that for once we'd be proven wrong.....yeah not going to happen.

I can't even begin to say how many errors this so called optho made, from not cancelling pred which is supposed to be used temporarily, to not understanding the simple fact that atropine raises the IOP and that his measurement was indeed wrong. In addition to completely dismissing all of our concerns and dismissing us from his practice because my grandfather is a supposedly difficult patient, and then recommending a dangerous surgery that is not needed and could cause further complication.

I mean, I get that docs are stressed, overworked, tired, and sometimes make mistakes. But to be this negligent and egotistic is unacceptable, if it wasn't for our quick thinking with the nitro my grandfather could have had permanent brain damage and it shouldn't be up to me to research, understand every medication that is prescribed, their contraindications and then have to decide what meds can be cancelled to prevent more side effects.

There are so many conditions and complications in older adults that can be prevented if docs just thought, is this condition worth treating? Do the risks outweigh the benefits? What kind of counteractions can this med have with all the other meds the person is taking? Should the doses and length of treatment be adjusted for the older adult? What kind of things should the family watch out for?

This and previous negative experiences have unfortunately caused me to never truly trust what docs say and give, since misdiagnosis is quite common, and so is overmedication. I have not once received an honest answer from a doc on the question of 'what kind of side effects should I watch out for' and 'what are the serious side effects from this med'.

Now let me reiterate again, I'm not generalizing and I know there are some really good docs out there that really care about patients and try their best to give them the best possible care, but unfortunately I haven't had a lot of good experiences, and have lost count of the number of times something was misdiagnosed.