Serious question - what would you do?

[horza]

My sympathies to scooterscot - I lost my mother to leukaemia some years ago, and I can say only that the pain becomes more distant as time passes.

With regard to the consultant, he sounds like an arse, as was my mother's consultant. There is no real mystery to what I believe he was alluding to, and it's a medical convention rather than cover-up, but an ugly one. If a patient dies as a result of the cancer treatment rather than the cancer itself, the death certificate will give the cause of death as cancer, rather than heart attack/drug reaction/other. Death as a result of chemotherapy or radiotherapy is not common, but can be a serious possibility when aggressive treatment is required.

This is no more than an educated guess of course, but it's something you need to consider. If you want to pursue this, get in touch with the consultant and try and ask for a private, off the record conversation about the cause of your father's death. There could have been an error in doseage that amounted to malpractice, but it is not the only possibility, or necessarily the most likely one.

[eliquant]

Sounds like your father may have been mis-diagnosed and they may have been giving him a completely incorrect treatment that may have been more harmful than had he not received that paticular treatment.

My grandfather was mis-diagnosed for months when he actually had lung cancer in the early 1980s, they gave him the wrong treatment for months on end. Then some exploratry surgeory revealed the cancer and then all those who mis-diagnosed just disappeared and absolved themselves from responsibility.

Some of his words on his death bed were "Incompetant fools", referring to the doctors who had analysed the symptoms completely wrongly.

I would pursue, I regret that my family did not. It almost implies that you were indifferent to the causes of his death or indeed his death itself (harsh but that's how I see how it outwardly seems about what happened to my Grandfather)

[cojak]

Sorry to hear this Scooterscot.

Cancer does work that quickly, particular if the diagnosis was late (through Dad's dislike of Doctors). My Dad was poorly over Christmas and was diagnosed with lung cancer 2 weeks before he died in mid-Feb. (Many thanks for your support, btw - it meant a lot. You know who you are...).

Ivor Biggun had very wise words. I'd take my cue from his advice.

[Ivor Bigun]

..............I would pursue, I regret that my family did not.

...............It almost implies that you were indifferent to the causes of his death or indeed his death itself (harsh but that's how I see how it outwardly seems about what happened to my Grandfather)

Eliquant....

The first was never your responsibility or right. To take a position of judgement on your own family like this says more about you than you realise.

The second is insensitive and just another veiled attack on your own family

Eliquant - be careful about thinking life is like a computer problem......

[scooterscot]

Thanks for all the replies guys and dolls.

An experience shared, somehow, lets the calm return.