How Neglecting Comprehensive Diabetes Care Can Lead to Serious Health Risks: A Cautionary Tale of an Elderly Couple Who Refused Necessary Tests to Save Money and the Potential Consequences of Ignoring Medical Advice for Proper Disease Management
How naive can patients be?
An elderly couple came to my OPD. The wife is a long-standing diabetic with very poorly controlled blood sugar levels. They have been consulting a doctor near their home who is not qualified to treat diabetes.
I reviewed all their old reports—they brought a big file containing almost five years’ worth of reports and prescriptions. Our conversation went like this:
Patient’s Husband: Doctor, we are here for my wife’s sugar. It’s not controlled at all.
Me (doctor): Yes, I have gone through the reports; her diabetes is very poorly controlled.
Me (doctor): I feel she needs a better assessment of her condition. For all these years, only her fasting blood sugar (FBS) and post-lunch blood sugar (PLBS) have been checked. We do not know the status of her kidneys and heart or whether diabetes is causing any harm there. We need to get a few tests done.
Patient: Okay, madam, please advise. We will get them done.
Patient’s Husband: No, no. We don’t require any tests. Our previous doctor never asked for any tests other than sugars.
Patient: Please listen to the doctor first. Don’t argue with her.
Patient’s Husband: No, no. All this workup will cost us a lot of money, and what if everything is normal? It will be a waste of our money.
Me (doctor): That is precisely the reason we need to check whether everything is normal. If everything is normal, you should be happy that your wife has not started having any complications due to poorly controlled diabetes.
Patient’s Husband: No, we don’t want to waste our money.
He took his wife and left my OPD without looking back.
Recent Case at our Medident Polyclinic:
