The Dangers Of Delayed Care And Diagnosis

Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry

So, let’s talk about the deadly effects of delayed care, misdiagnosis, and delayed diagnosis as seen in the story of the late “Compton Bohemian”, Jessica Pettway…

Have you ever brushed off a diagnosis even after experiencing signs and symptoms that aren’t normal to you?

Have you gone through delayed care or a diagnosis from a healthcare provider you thought would help treat you?

Just two weeks ago, famous YouTuber and beauty influencer Jessica Pettway died from stage 3 cervical cancer after having been misdiagnosed. Before her passing, Jessica disclosed that she had been misdiagnosed with fibroids in July 2022, only to be accurately diagnosed with cancer in February 2023.

This speaks a lot about the sad truth of how many people and healthcare providers brush off diagnosis on a day-to-day basis, thinking “I’ll get to it later”, although unfortunately, for many people, the time for “later” does not come.

And that’s exactly why I’m here in the system – to make sure that less people will do or go through that.

Jessica Pettway isn’t the first; won’t be the last. But if you’re listening to or watching this episode, I want to make sure that you’re not the next.

Because again, a delay in care or a delay in a decision for medical diagnosis can have deadly consequences.

How can we make sure that we’re empowering ourselves for better health?

Why you need to check this episode:

• Recognize how bias in our healthcare system causes misdiagnosis, delayed care, and delayed diagnosis, and how these three can cause deadly effects on patients;
• Discover the science behind vaginal bleeding along with some signs and symptoms to look out for; and
• Find out what happened to popular YouTuber Jessica Pettway, and why it’s crucial to understand the “why” a.k.a. do history-taking

“This is where I want alarms to ring for anyone who is watching or listening to this. When you have something that is occurring to you that is different, that is now affecting the way you typically or normally live your life, you need to be ringing some bells and seeking professional help, even if you have a couple of people tell you that it’s normal.” – Dr. Berry Pierre

Notable Quotes:

“As a healthcare provider, I’m going to champion ourselves and understand that we’re not superhumans, we’re not robots, we’re not computers, we’re not machines, and yes, we can miss things. And that’s why as a patient, there’s a decision that the patient needs to make to make sure that you give all the evidence and you give all of whatever that healthcare provider needs to make the right decision for you.” – Dr. Berry Pierre

“A lot of people and healthcare providers are brushing off diagnosis on a day-to-day basis thinking ‘I’ll get to it later.’ But for a lot of people, ‘later’ does not come.” – Dr. Berry Pierre

“When we talk about vaginal bleeding, the first thing and one thing that my attendant used to always tell me – understand the ‘why’; and the ‘why’ always starts in a history taking. There’s plenty of lab and imaging tests that we’ll get into, but if you get a great history, the story tells itself.” – Dr. Berry Pierre

“We got to figure out the ‘why’. The ‘why’ is the most important question in medicine. If you understand the why, medicine is so easy…People who have difficulty in medicine typically don’t understand the ‘why’.” – Dr. Berry Pierre

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