Patient
Dr. Shoemaker ordered a nuclear stress test for me while in the hospital so I asked him how much radiation do you get from that test. I explained my concern because I have thyroid nodules and I did not want my thyroid exposed. Dr. Shoemaker bluntly and quickly answered "It's innocuous." as if there were no radiation worries at all. My husband standing right there also heard this and we believed him so I agreed to the test, only to later learn in horror that the level of radiation is one of the highest of all the tests and at SMH a patient receives the equivalent of 150 chest X-rays!!! He also did not explain one word about the risks and benefits of the procedure nor give me the choice of whether I wanted the procedure or not. This was by no means informed consent. Also, neither Dr. Shoemaker nor anyone else advised me to drink plenty of fluids after the procedure to try to flush out the ionizing radiation as much as possible. I would have started drinking right away had I known this but I was discharged the same day and went home and basically slept and didn't know about taking 8-10 glasses per day after the procedure. I would have outright refused the nuclear stress test if you told me in quantitative terms that it is the same as receiving 150 chest X-rays or 5 abdominal CT scans. I did not have to have this test. I was already feeling fine. I could have discussed with my own cardiologist the next day as an outpatient. He destroyed my peace of mind now for years to come. I have lost sleep over this and feel extremely anguished and there is nothing I can do about it. You owe me the courtesy of a phone call and explanation. I'm an MD myself. How careless and inconsiderate. Either he did not know about the amount of radiation received by a patient during a nuclear stress test, a test he orders frequently (incompetent) or he did not care if I was exposed to it (callous). This is malpractice. He never listened to my history of severe anxiety, didn't care about my thyroid nodules, didn't talk to me about much of anything or even his reasoning why he thought I needed this test, nor did he come to speak to me after all the negative results were in. We were getting discharged and had to request cardiology to come as they were not planning on it and finally a PA or nurse practitioner showed up just before we left. He did not listen to my history or even prior facts about my health. In retrospect my history fits perfectly with esophageal spasms, but God forbid anyone really listen to the history. All the tests came back negative including the nuclear stress test. They ended up typing "angina" as my discharge diagnosis when I don't even have angina. After being careful for years about shielding my thyroid, even with dental procedures, I'm left with extremely high exposure to ionizing radiation for the rest of my life and increased risk of thyroid cancer and other cancers and I would have refused this test had I known about the high levels of radiation. This is abominable.