Case Study: Debbie
Debbie, 29, has a mobility disability resulting from a spinal cord injury. When catheterizing herself, she detected blood in her urine and consulted a health care provider. The provider said she needed a Pap smear to determine the cause of the bleeding. However, the provider did not have the proper equipment to perform that diagnostic test.
Click the headings to learn more about Debbie’s case.
- Debbie contacted several providers who could not perform the exam because of equipment limitations. They dismissed her symptoms, attributing the cause to frequent catheterization.
- One doctor finally agreed to complete the exam if Debbie brought someone to help hold her legs up on the table. With no other options, she had the Pap smear done this way.
- Equipment limitations and provider bias delayed the diagnostic test significantly.
- Results from the Pap smear revealed Stage 4 cervical cancer too advanced for effective treatment. Debbie died a few months later.
- Without accessible equipment for diagnosis, doctors could not properly evaluate Debbie’s condition and relied on assumptions rather than diagnostic data.
- Debbie thought providers dismissed her symptoms as related to her disability and suggested she would just have to live with the discomfort.
- If 1 of the providers Debbie called had an accessible examination table and training to use it, it could have led to an earlier examination and diagnosis.
- Although a more timely Pap smear may not have prevented Debbie’s death, statistics show that earlier diagnosis of cervical cancer generally increases survival rates.