There was a very interesting and sad encounter with a patient we saw at the clinic today. I will call this person PT. PT is a 37 year old female who has an intellectual disability. She is a well established pt that came to us with recurring stomach pain that had been ongoing for several months. During the visit, the patient was very frustrated that she was still in pain and that the doctors did not know what was wrong with her. My preceptor was also frustrated for her but was also frustrated because of the lack of interventions from her original visit to the Emergency Room. At her first ED visit, they did an u/s of her abdomen but did not find anything so they sent her home still in pain. She has had a few other visits at the PCP office that were somewhat helpful but she still had pain. Without the knowledge of her PCP (my preceptor) she went to a private clinic and had a CT scan and a laparoscopic surgery to investigate further. They found a potential intermittent ileus and adhesions from her prior c-section. They also found that her tubes had been severed. When the surgeon disclosed his findings, she was unaware that her tubes were severed and she had never gave consent for that to happen. My preceptor then told me the back story of how when she was 17, she got pregnant and the Greek version of child protective services removed the child from her care as she was “unfit” to care for the child from her economic status, age and disability. When she was in her early 30s, she married an older man and they had a child. Without giving her a chance they, once again, removed the child from her care. They fought for custody of the child and my preceptor even wrote a letter in support of her having the child. Yet they were not granted custody. After this, the patient went through psychiatric struggles. When she found out her tubes were severed without her permission, she did not know what to do. There was no documentation of her tubes being severed in any of the procedures.My preceptor feels that because of her disability, the Greek doctors and services discriminated against her regardless of other physician support. In the US, this would have been a major lawsuit however, in Greece, people do not sue doctors. They could but they usually do not have the money to or they don’t because of how taboo it is. Either way, what happened to this patient was wrong. Not only did they not give her an opportunity to prove she could be a fit caregiver but they also violated her body without her permission. This situation really broke my heart as I have a sister with disabilities and being an advocate for those within the IDD community is a passion of mine. I asked about the treatment and support of those with disabilities in general and they said that Greece, as a whole, is not very supportive of those with disabilities. They do not have the same programs, opportunities, or accessibility as we provide in the states. It reminds me to be grateful for, while not perfect, the better care we can give to these people in the US.
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