A Virginia man inadvertently left his phone recording while he was under anesthesia for a colonoscopy, which captured audio of the doctors: mocking him, instructing a medical assistant to lie to him, and discussing giving him a false diagnosis of hemorrhoids. In 2015, a jury awarded him $500,000.

[u/tyrion2024]

[u/Quovadisdomi]

Mid 30s checking in here. I'm healthy, never smoke or drank and got randomly checked for a colon cancer screening and after a colonoscopy, I got diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. I had zero symptoms. As much as treatment sucked, I feel like the luckiest person in the world since it was still very treatable. Get screened. It could save your life.

[u/tinyrevolutions45 → u/Quovadisdomi]

Was that covered by insurance? I feel like that’s the big barrier for folks under 40-45, especially if you don’t have a family history.

[u/triviahostrob → u/tinyrevolutions45]

Here's the thing: you can just say you do have a family history.

[u/drumallday → u/triviahostrob]

Friend of a friend has a family history and unusual symptoms in her 30s and tried to get a colonoscopy. The doctor refused to order one. By the time she found a new doctor and got insurance to cover it (which was another challenge), she had stage 4 and died before she was 40.

[u/Megneous → u/drumallday]

God damn I love living in a country with universal healthcare and getting a colonoscopy for like 30 bucks. Could go to the hospital like next week and get another if I wanted to.

[u/bxzidff → u/Megneous]

Imagine how much money the health insurance companies would make if they could spread their model to more countries. They'd absolutely love to have more people suffer and die for their profit. Be vigilant about the politicians and donors who try to subtly privatize more and more healthcare. It would be political suicide to go against universal healthcare now, but the forces who are against it are rich and powerful. Don't take it for granted.

[u/drumallday → u/Megneous]

my partner was dealing with some serious nausea and stomach pain. After several emergency room visits, he finally got an appointment with his primary doctor who decided he needed to see a specialist. Because this next appointment was six weeks out and his symptoms pointed to an ulcer, we asked the primary doctor to order an H. Pylori test as that is the primary cause for an ulcer and the treatment would be antibiotics. The doctor refused. At this point, my partner had lost 40 pounds because he was unable to eat. His condition was grave and the doctor refused a simple inexpensive test. We went to an online medical provider, described his symptoms and paid $120 out of pocket so that he could go into the specialist appointment with more data to help get to a diagnosis. It has been so frustrating. He started the year at 200 pounds and currently weighs 135. Every time he gets a referral to someone new, it's another 2 month wait. One of the doctors requested an MRI 3 months ago but insurance won't approve it and that test he can't afford to pay out if pocket

[u/ms_calculated → u/Megneous]

Where do you live?