What would you do?

Hi I wanted to know what you would do in a situation like this, or what are your thoughts. Thanks

My sister (age: 51) had prolonged bleeding (periods?) and contacted a gynacologist who, after various tests, suggested removal of a fibroid that had grown/developed and said that the fibroid was the issue and it's removal will resolve the problem and that there was nothing to worry about. Upon non-invasive removal of the fibroid and further histopath analysis, she said cancer cells had been detected and Cancer FIGO Grade 3 was diagnosed. This hit our family hard. Then the gynacologist contacted a close relative of ours and told the relative that the patient (i.e - my sister) has cancer and needs to address the issue. Is this allowed? Under what circumstance can a doctor inform a relative of a patient's condition?

Long story short, we sought a second opinion (and third) and eventually my sister had to undergo a further surgery with a surgical oncologist and the entire uterus and ovaries were removed and along with that there was also a pretty large tumour within the uterus area that was also removed.

With the above information, what would you do, if anything?

Thanks in advance.

  • Hi [@JayDeane]‍ 

    Sorry to hear about your sister, I know that shocking news like this is hard and also makes everything so much more tense and sensitive.

    I would be extremely angry if my oncologist had contacted my family and told them I had cancer, especially as I have not told them myself and don't plan too...

    A doctor should never share information about a patient to anyone else, but in saying that there are sometimes conditions that do allow them too, but they have to have very good reasons for doing so.. I do not know the laws and am not legally minded, so I am only going off my experience within being treated with mental health issues. That if the doctor feels that a patient is a danger to themselves or to others they can contact the police or someone else to make sure the patient is kept safe from doing harm.

    Whether this also rolls over to the gyno, would be something to looked into..

    Did the gyno know the said relative personally or get their information from your sisters file?

    Had your sister been refusing treatment?

    I personally had this been done to me, would look into it further to find out what grounds they had for making that contact with a relative.

    I hope your sister is doing well x