BYU Doctors: "Best of the Best"

I'm going to put this as mildly as I can: I hate going to see the doctor.  The only reason that I even consider going is if there is nothing else that I can do, or that I'm too sick to do anything else.  I still maintain that my least favorite of all places to go is the BYU Student Health Center.  I've been there many times for a number of different things, and I consistently come away with the same feeling, "Well that was a waste of time."  The  incompetence in that place is potent.

In November 2009, during a flag football game, I was reaching out to grab someone's flag as he was running by me with the ball.  As I reached out, he made a cut towards me and, almost literally, ran straight through my  right arm.  I felt my wrist snap.  As I jogged off the field, I could see it start to swell and stiffen.  It hurt!  I was even afraid to tell Eric, my bass teacher, about it because I was sure that he would have pulled out a gun and shot me in the face!  So I let it sit.

A few months later, I was out playing frisbee on a slick field with my friends from freshman year.  At one point, I jumped up to catch the disc, but my feet slid out from under me as I came down.  I tried to catch myself but landed on the same wrist that I hurt during football.  The pain that I felt was almost exactly the same.  I decided not to throw another frisbee for the rest of the game.

After this incident, I went to the aforementioned BYU Student Health Center.  I told them what had happened and how my wrist felt.  They recommended getting an X-ray.  I got it right then and there.

The results, as they told me, showed no structural damage.  So there was obviously "nothing wrong with it", which is what I had heard for just about everything else that I had been there for up to that point and everything that I have been there for since then (shoulder pain, IBS, and depression, just to name a few). I was told that it was probably just a sprain, so they gave me a brace and sent me off.

That was over a year ago.  I still experience that same chronic pain that I did before.  So, as much as I didn't want to, I went to see another doctor.  A hand specialist.  They started the same way: X-ray.  But let me explain the difference in treatment here.

1) Dr Frazier actually LOOKED at my wrist, rather than just glancing at the X-rays.
2) He gave me a guess as to what might be wrong with it.
3) He looked at the X-rays with me and pointed out some very key things.

Now, one of these very key things is that there is, in fact, a bone sticking up out of my wrist.  What did Dr Frazier say that means?  "Well it looks like you actually broke your wrist when you hurt it the first time.  That break probably caused a cyst to develop on the top of the wrist, which would explain where the pain is coming from."

................. I sat in silence for a minute.

Really, BYU?  Really?  You told me that there was nothing wrong or broken.  This guy showed me, in less time than it took you to guess, that there was indeed a broken bone. If it had been caught and had healed properly, there would not be any problems with it.  It's like you didn't even TRY.

At the time, I was on the *mandatory* BYU health plan (for students who are not on private insurance; it is required to have some sort of medical coverage in case of "an accident, unexpected illness, or hospitalization," which "can result in a significant financial burden to you, your family, and the community" (BYU Student Health Plan statement).  So please explain to me why it was required to be on this health plan when I could have come to the same conclusion as you did for myself for $500 cheaper?


I had a representative from the BYU Student Health Center tell me TO MY FACE that the doctors in the student health center are "the best of the best".  Tell me, how is it that the "best of the best" can miss such an obvious bone break, when a supposedly less-than-the-best doctor pointed that out as the FIRST thing that was wrong?


Dr Frazier had me do an MRI, which revealed that I have a ganglion cyst in my right wrist.  Because no one told me that I had a broken bone in my wrist, this cyst has been sitting there for a long time.  I have been reduced to getting it surgically removed.  I hope that my insurance will cover it.  If they don't cover it, and even if they do, I think that I have the right to file a malpractice suit against the BYU Student Health Center.


Best of the best?  Yeah.  Not even close.