AMA president says urgent care clinic mistook her patient’s cancer symptoms for asthma
Dr Danielle McMullen says her patient’s experience illustrates the dangers of a healthcare system with increasing numbers of access points.
Dr Danielle McMullen has shared the story of one of her patients whose increasing dyspnoea was dismissed by an urgent care clinic as asthma, but later diagnosed as cancer.
The AMA president said her patient’s experience illustrates the dangers of a healthcare system with increasing numbers of access points, but not enough GPs opening the doors.
Speaking at the National Press Club of Australia on Wednesday, she described how her 50-year-old patient Jane* had attended an urgent care clinic after developing dyspnoea.
With a history of asthma, she was advised to increase her puffer use and later given the same advice by a nearby satellite hospital.
