"Uncaring, dismissive manner of the doctor"

I am an older gentleman on the wrong side of 70 with no medical training.

In November 2009 I was admitted, by ambulance, to Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline where I passed a kidney stone. I attended a follow-up appointment and the doctor advised that I required, what was explained to me as, a straightforward 10min. operation to remove a further stone.

The operation was performed in May 2010 and in the course of the procedure, my enlarged prostate gland was perforated. I bled for three weeks.

Afterwards I attended six monthly monitoring appointments for scans and flow tests and took Finasteride as prescribed. I was advised to have another operation to remove remaining stones although I was not in any pain.

I had this operation in July 2015 which again was not successful and I had to have a urinary catheter fitted for 3 weeks. Up until this point, I felt that the doctors had my best interests at heart and spent time explaining what was required, why it was required and I was unlucky in the resulting failures of both procedures.

Naturally, I am extremely reluctant to go through this procedure again as it took me many months to fully recover from each of the previous ones and they, I understand, were unsuccessful. I continued to attend appointments for flow tests and scans.

Earlier this month I attended my appointment at Queen Margaret Hospital Dunfermline and left feeling extremely unhappy, undervalued and distressed by the doctor's whole approach to my care and my concerns. They were most unhelpful and abrupt and stated that as I am very reluctant to allow them to operate for a third time, with no guarantees, that I would be wasting their time and so did not wish to offer me any further appointments.

I was told I was on the maximum amount of medication they could offer and no attempt was made to investigate or explain if there were any other options available to me. I was offered no further assistance in managing this condition and whilst I understand that it could become acute in the future I feel that a little more empathy and understanding of my fears and worries, combined with taking my whole medical history into consideration would have helped me greatly.

I feel that even yearly appointments would be reassuring. I do not like to feel that I am a waste of anybody’s time and would like this doctor to be aware of how they left me feeling.