Why would a doctor do this for pneumonia?

Question

My dad has pneumonia. The Dr. gave him an antibiotic and sent him home and had him come back the next day for a chest CT scan. The following day the Dr. called and sent him to the hospital. At the hospital they did tests, told my dad his lungs looked horrible. They did not admit him, but they are having him follow up with a pulmonologist.

If his lungs looked horrible, why would they not treat him at the hospital? If it wasn't serious enough for him to be hospitalized why would they tell him his lungs looked bad and refer him to a specialist? If it wasn't serious why not just have him finish the antibiotics and follow up with his normal doctor?

Do you think they found something else on the ct scan and haven't told him yet? My dad had a 3 pack a day habit until 5 years ago. He started smoking at 10, stopped at 27 and started again at 37 and smoked until 60.

I'm kind of concerned.

Answer 1

Sounds like he has walking pneumonia and they do send you home with antibiotics with follow up. The tests were probably done to see if he has COPD or something else and the expert will determine what he needs to do to control and manage it. I was hospitalized when I had viral pneumonia and lots of test taken. Then had to see a pulmonary specialist later. He diagnosed the COPD and asthma and set up a long term treatment. That was 3 years ago and I do just fine. Good Luck and I hope your Dad is OK.

Answer 2

If a patient can take oral medications rather than I.V. and does not require continual monitoring of heart , respiratory and blood pressure parameters, why expose him to a sick population of folks with infectious diseases in an unfamiliar environment where he will not have his normal daily patterns of rest and waking? The smoking history you described will most likely as stated by others have produced moderate to severe lung disease which can not be cleared up. An infection can be treated, but the basic tissue and cell damage done to the lungs and body by smoking is permanent and progressive. No amount or variety of breathing treatments will reverse this, just make symptoms better. If there is more on the CT perhaps it is best that a pulmonologist discuss this and treatment: best to have a chest specialist.

Answer 3

It is difficult to say, but it sounds like the condition of his lungs is not immediately life-threatening, but still very bad. Hospitals generally treat people for things that have to be taken care of right then and there. Specialists are often better at diagnosing specific problems like what you describe, and that can be a better course of action. My father once went to a hospital for pleurisy (an type of inflammation) and the doctor thought he saw a blood clot. However, when he went to the pulmonologist, he looked at the scans and said that the hospital was just being over-zealous and that it was nothing.

Answer 4

first of all it was not professional of them to tell your father that his lungs looked horrible. the best place to go is the pulmonoligist, the lung experts! if your father was not in an acute state, such as shortness of breath or any other problems there would be no reason to admit him to the hospital, however pneumonia is very serious and should be cleared up quickly with antibiotics. i would bet that your father has COPD, a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, he will need to be put on inhalers such as Spiriva and maybe even steroids. the pulmonoligist will help him don't worry.

Answer 5

From being in the emergency room for a bleeding ulcer, I would say they don't admit a person unless their vitals are at a dangerous level. With my ulcer, they were going to send me home, it wasn't until my vitals dropped that they decided to keep me in intensive care overnight. Can you believe that, a bleeding ulcer, but when they put a scope down my stomach, all they found was what they call coffee grounds (dry blood) as if it had stopped bleeding. It was still bleeding, so the drop in vitals. He probably has walking pneumonia and can have bedrest unless of course there is a drop in his vitals, a hosbital visit would cost him far more.

Answer 6

Clearly, his doctors felt while his lungs looked horrible (probably a reference to his chronic lung disease due to smoking) they felt he was doing well enough to be managed as an outpatient. A referral to a pulmonologist would not necessarily mean that his doctors are worried about lung cancer (although that is a possibility). They may just want him to get an expert opinion or management of severe chronic lung disease.