Bad news, the biopsy had complications and now you’re wheelchair bound for the rest of your life.

how often does this actually occur? I assume if they're doing biopsies of brain material there's a risk but seems like it's a low probability if they're biopsi-ing your liver...

Also, when physicians find something wacky or unusual, is there any desire to do more imagine to see if that's the only oddness? for example, I had a retrocecal appendix (discovered during my appendectomy) - is that the only thing going on that's funky / unusual, or should I check / have imagine for other stuff? My docs didn't have a consistent answer - one said yeah, one said nah, one said it's nbd but if it was their appendix they might ask for other tests. :|

Fortunately my insurance is about as likely to pay for extra stuff as it is to cut my copay to zero, so it's not an issue I can address, but it does hang around in the back of my head.

Thanks for your insights!

That advice was born from women minorities struggling to get doctors to take their concerns seriously. Look, I get that medicine is a risk/benefit analysis, but patients also need some level of recourse if they aren't being listened to. I can't imagine what it would feel like to be pushing for tests because you know something is off, only to finally be tested and told it's too late, maybe if it was caught sooner. Yet, we know this happens. We also know that women and minorities receive demonstrably different care. That fact alone shows there are plenty of situations where a patient may need to fiercely advocate for themselves and question their doctors' judgment.

I'm not saying completely ignore medical professionals and scream "lawsuit" because google. However, you live in your body and understand your own baseline more than anybody. Sometimes you absolutely can tell if something is truly wrong. Personally, I learned the difference between bad pain and there-is-something-fucking-wrong-you need-to-go-to-the-ER pain in my early 20s when I had ovarian torsion. Thankfully, I was at one of the best hospitals in the country, got a CT scan, and was in surgery lickety split. However, I met someone who had pretty much the exact same symptoms and story and ended up losing an ovary because she was sent home from the ER with them telling her it was normal cramps & anxiety.

Ultimately, imo it should be about informed consent. If you've gotten the same answer from 5 doctors and you still want the biopsy, despite the risks that have been plainly laid out for your, then fine. If you end up paralyzed, then you have to deal with the consequences of your decision.

FYI, finding an incidentaloma and doing another scan 3 months later to see that it's disappeared is also life saving. My mother had a lung problem, got some imaging done, they found a lump in her lung, and instead of going directly to poking it for a biopsy or surgery, they checked 4 months later, and saw that it resolved on it's own. If it was cancer, they would have seen changes in it, and known it was something to be investigated further at the time of the second scan. Doctors need to manage expectations and refer people for therapy if they have anxiety around their health.