This was my aunt's doctor until about 2 months ago and since she speaks very little English, I felt I really needed to share her experience with Dr. Chan, as he almost cost her her life. Seriously. I go into detail below, but essentially this "doctor" failed to diagnose her, let alone even test her for anything, or treat her with respect, AND SHE HAD STAGE 4 LUNG CANCER. How any respectable doctor misses lungs filled with 2L of fluid is beyond me.
Last year, my aunt went to Dr. Chan (her former primary) late October because she was having difficulty breathing and constantly coughing. It wasn't when exerting herself, it was constant not being able to breathe in completely. He listened to her lungs, said they sounded clear, that she probably had acid reflux and prescribed an antacid.
She sees him again within a few days after taking the antacid because it worsened; she couldn't breathe fully and could barely walk 15 ft. He basically wrote her off, telling her that that was normal, but switched antacids and told her to go to cardiologist. Didn't explain why to her. Listened to her lungs again and didn't offer an xray. She tells him that she's experiencing pain that shifts around her body; he examines her upper torso, tells her nothing's wrong and that she should take anti-anxiety medication. That is absolutely ridiculous, this tells you so much about how he practices medicine; he didn't believe/take her pain seriously and writes it off as anxiety. Terrible.
She goes again for a third time (3 visits in 2 weeks) because it's worsened even more. She literally couldn't walk more than 5ft w/o having to stop and is kept up all night coughing. He listened to her lungs AGAIN and said they were CLEAR. After this, my aunt asks should she get a blood test, to which he responds, "you just had your blood examined 3 months ago, there wasn't anything wrong. I really don't know what's wrong with you/how to fix you" (translated from Cantonese, with attitude). ARE YOU SERIOUS!?! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE DOCTOR. IT'S YOUR JOB TO FIGURE OUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR PATIENTS! My aunt then asks could it be bronchitis or pneumonia? To which Dr. Chan says "no, your lungs sound really clear. But I can't really do anything other than order you an xray."
So, she has an xray taken and lo and behold, there's a shadow in her lungs. He calls her up to tell her about the shadow and instructs her to now go for a blood test to confirm the presence of fluid in her lungs (guess he should've listened to her) and get approval for a CT scan.
That night she can't take it anymore as she can barely breathe just resting and goes to the ER. They immediately take an Xray and see that her lungs are full of fluid. So, they keep her overnight and the next day immediately drain her lungs pulling out 2 liters of fluid. TWO LITERS!!! AND DR. CHAN SAID THEY SOUNDED CLEAR AFTER LISTENING 3 TIMES! The ER sends the fluid to be tested and that, combined with the xray is what gives her the stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis. Her daughter calls Dr. Chan to discuss the diagnosis and kinda calls him out on why he didn't hear the 2l of fluid (politely, just asking why). This leads to him being very short and rude with my aunt on their next phone call. She has since switched primaries and is now very happy with her current doctor who actually cares about her.
There's so much in this experience that is so unacceptable and I can't believe he's still practicing. If you have a patient that's coming to you for help/relief from severe pain and shortness of breath 3 times in 2 weeks after typically only coming in for annual physicals, that should tell you something. To not take her seriously, not make any real effort to properly diagnose her, when she was clearly suffering (from stage 4 lung cancer!) shows me a clear lack of commitment to care. Dr. Chan was absolutely useless as a doctor and did not contribute in any way to her eventual diagnosis. He's lucky she was able to get a diagnosis elsewhere and is currently undergoing treatment. read more