Legal Advice for GP Complaints

Questioner

My mother (80 years old) is familiar with a form of breast cancer that has spread to her skeleton and skullcap. She recently had a lot of pain in her left ear. Because my mother immediately thought of her illness, she contacted her family doctor. He looked at her left ear and irrigated it, but the pain persisted. My mother then made an appointment with a certified audiologist, partly because she was also becoming deaf in her left ear. After examination, the audiologist concluded that my mother should urgently go to the ENT specialist. She had to arrange this herself, via her family doctor. My mother asks the audiologist what he thinks is wrong. He cannot answer, but the complaints in her left ear could be the result of the cancer in the skull. My mother is shocked by this and immediately contacts her family doctor when she gets home. The doctor says he wants to see the ear himself first. He comes to my mother's home a day later and examines the ear. Nothing wrong, according to the family doctor. The ear only needs to be flushed again and he wants to do that himself. The GP then makes an appointment for him to return the next day to flush my mother's left ear. He returns the next day, with all the equipment needed to flush the ear. But before he starts flushing, he takes a quick look in the ear. Then he says: "I don't dare. You have to go to the ENT specialist." The GP will arrange an appointment with the ENT specialist. That day, my mother receives a message that she can't go for an appointment for another 3 weeks, while she sometimes can't stand the pain anymore. Now I've put pressure on her and now she can go the day after tomorrow. Thank goodness. But what bothers me in this story is the way the GP operates. He gives the impression that he doesn't trust the audiologist, then says that there's nothing wrong, that he can fix it himself, but then again doesn't dare to do that. While the illness and treatment already give my mother a lot of tension, she experienced the GP's behavior as extra stressful. I would actually like to file a complaint with the GP on behalf of my mother; he did not take my mother's complaints and the advice of the hearing care professional seriously and I think he should have done so based on the Medical Treatment Agreement Act. My mother's GP has done this more often, that he does not listen to the advice of specialists and to my mother.

Lawyer

a general practitioner must adhere to the code of conduct of the guidelines for general practitioners. The duty of care for the patient also plays a major role, as does the content of the personal file. I may be able to assist you in recording an objection, if desired.