DIAGNOSTIC OVERSHADOWING

The responsibility lies with health professional schools, medical societies, and licensing and regulatory bodies to ensure skills are taught to students so the estimated 10 to 16 million people in the US with IDD can count on them to eliminate unnecessary suffering from unmet healthcare needs.

BY CRAIG ESCUDE, MD, FAAFP, FAADM

Mitchell was taken to the ER because his supporter noted that he was becoming noticeably agitated, was refusing to eat and had begun biting his arm intermittently. His supporter, who knew him well, recalled how he had done this a few times in the past, and most of the time, he was eventually found to have some underlying condition that caused him discomfort. Unfortunately, on some of those previous occasions, it took several clinician visits to get to the right diagnosis.