Treating Patient Unnecessarily

[LindaRacine]

Hi....

I thought of our recent discussions yesterday, when a 13yo patient returned to our clinic with her mom. She had come to us about 6 months ago with an 11 degree curve. The physician told them that no treatment was necessary. However, the mom really hated the idea of watch and wait. This was a normal, well meaning parent, who just wanted to do "something". So, we talked for awhile, and I gave her some ideas in terms of the types of non-invasive therapies we recommend to adult patients who aren't surgical candidates (Pilates, yoga, etc.). So, for the last 6 months, the daughter has been doing some sort of therapy (I didn't actually get to hear what it was). Yesterday, her curve measured 27 degrees (a good example of a curve not performing as we expect). There's still nothing to be done, and the physician thinks that she'll probably never require treatment, but the daughter was really distraught. She was SCREAMING at her mother about having wasted the last 6 months, and openly sobbing. It turns out that the daughter never wanted to do any therapy, and was essentially bullied into doing it by the mother. The daughter clearly feels like she has no power in terms of making decisions about her own body. (She also didn't want to complete a research questionnaire, which is completely optional, but the mother talked her into it. Then, she didn't want to do the ScoliScore test, but again, the mother prevailed.) All in all, it was clear that this issue has had a big negative effect on the relationship of the parent and child.

Even if the right thing to do would be to do "something", as I've mentioned in the past, it can be very detrimental to the parent/child bond.

Regards,
Linda

[jrnyc]

poor kid!
i know the parent has the decision making power, but it would be nice if the teen ager could feel as if
she has some say, and that her feelings are being listened to and respected!
does the mother not realize that eventually her daughter will have the right to make her own decisions,
and she may resent not having been listened to in the past...?

jess

[rohrer01]

That story is so sad. It kind of reminds me of me, only in the reverse. Not being listened to when something really was wrong. Being called a hypochondriac, etc. So I can relate to this young girls frustration. I wouldn't hold my breath in thinking that this curve isn't going to progress, though, if it progressed 16* in six months and she is only 13 years old. I, too, was made to do the most stupid exercises that I KNEW wouldn't help anything and just made me look like a dork (once I was diagnosed). So I would do them in my room so no one would see me. My mom told the doctors at PCH that I wasn't compliant (which wasn't true) and they almost dropped my case. Here's an example of one of the stupid exercises. I had to back up against the wall and completely flatten my back to remove ALL lordosis from my lumbar and cervical spine and actually walk around that way! In hindsight, lack of lordosis in these areas is now a problem with me. Talk about unneccesary and even harmful treatment. I feel like screaming for that little girl! They should definitely give her some say in her treatment. After all, if she progresses to surgery, SHE will be the one having it, not her mom, and likely there's nothing anyone can do to stop it at this point if that's the direction she's headed in.

[Pooka1]

Like I said early, they only have one childhood.

Very sad.