Woman with Serious Knee Pain Almost Dies from Wrong Diagnosis

By Dr. Paul Anderson M.D.
Sports and Pain Medicine Expert

Luckily the women survived but no thanks to the emergency room doctor who's mistake could have killed her. Here's the story... After a long flight, this pleasant 3o year old women developed some mild pain and swelling behind the knee.

Over the next three weeks, the knee pain and swelling would come and go. One day her knee and ankle swelled-up the size of an elephant leg. I suspected a DVT or deep vein thrombosis. I accompanied her to the hospital and let the emergency room doctor handle this obvious knee problem.

After the doctor took her history and exmained her swollen knee , he said, " Well, there is no swelling of your knee or leg." One of her legs was huge comapred to the other. Okay I thought," Maybe he'll still get this knee diagnosis right." Then he says to her, "You have a torn muscle in your calf." Oh no! At this point, I gently suggested a diagnostic ultrasound which he agreed too.

The ultrasound showed a massive blood clot in the back of her knee. At this point the doctor re-entered the room and said, " That blood clot explains all that knee swelling."

Wow! First this doctor said no swelling, then torn muscle and now blood clot causing knee pain and swelling. If the patient had believed this doctor's initial knee pain diagnosis and he sent her home, the chance of her dying in the next 24 hours was 25%. THIS WAS A BIG MISTAKE AND SADLY HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.

So the moral of the story - research your knee pain before going to see a qualified medical professional. Ask questions and get a second opinion maybe a third. There are serious and life-threatening knee problems that require proper diagnosis and urgent treatment.