So Irritated I Could Spit

[bebe127]

Just another rant from yours truly,

I apologize in advance for offending anyone working in the medical field, medical offices or with insurance companies or anyone having to deal with ****** patients like me.

AM I SURROUNDED BY COMPLETE IDIOTS?!?! (And no, I'm not in a mirrored room LOL )

I have been seeing my current GP for a bit over 2 years now. He is the only dr. that even knows about POTS, albeit not much, but at least he is the only one that I have received any bit of help from in terms of treatment. He is a very nice dr. that really seems to care and want to help. His office staff on the other hand is a totally different story. My husband and I both see this dr. I see him twice a year, once for medication renewal and once for a physical. My husband only sees him once a year for a physical. Every time I see this dr. something goes wrong in terms of the office staff.

For instance, last year for our physicals, I made the appt. for us both. Since I don't drive and my husband has to take off work to drive me anyway, we figure why not kill two birds with one stone. Well, last year I called to make the appt.s. I informed them that we were coming in for our yearly physicals that would most certainly require bloodwork. I was assured that the bloodwork could be done in office and to make sure that we fasted from the night before. I made the earliest appt. as we would be fasting...makes sense, right? We go in for our appt. at 8:30am after fasting hoping to get our physicals and our bloodwork done. We waited in the office for 2 hours before being seen. Let me remind everyone that one with POTS doesn't do too well: 1) sitting upright for hours 2) not drinking for many hours. Anywho, we go in for our physicals and we didn't even see the dr., we saw one of his many PA's. Ok, I thought, at this point I didn't care if a dog were seeing me, as long as he could fill out the bloodwork paper. So, with our physicals done (two hours later than our original appt.) we anticipated our bloodwork, which again, we had been assured over the phone that this could be done in office. The lab lady then gave us a paper for a lab company downstairs and said, take this downstairs for your bloodwork. Now, I don't know about any of you all, but in order for us to go through our appointed by insurance lab company, we should really make an appt. first or we'll find ourselves waiting, and waiting and waiting if we were to go in as "walk-ins". Mind you, we are still fasting at this point (it's now about 11:30am) and the dr.s office wants us to go downstairs as a walk-in that could take goodness knows how long to get our blood drawn and I can't reiterate enough that the dr.s office had assured us that we could have our bloodwork done in office. REALLY!!!!!!

At this point I must say that I was about to keel over from fasting and there was no way that we were going to go downstairs and wait any longer. So, I took (rather grabbed) the paperwork after explaining that we had been assured by the office staff that the bloodwork could be done in office and left huffing. We then had to make a beeline for the nearest fast-food establishment so that I could eat and drink before passing out, and then had to go home to make the necessary appt. with the lab. Yes, my husband had to take yet another day off work. Needless, to say that when we finally went in for the bloodwork, the phlebotomist was apparently a newbie and since I was dehydrated from fasting, she couldn't get the blood at first and had to stick me mutiple times in both arms leaving me to look like a complete heroin addict days later.

Now this year rolls around. My husband and I (I never leave home without him) went in to the dr. to get a renewal on my meds. The dr. informed me that our physicals were coming up. I said, yes, we come in during the spring. The dr. then told me that he was going to fill out the paperwork for the labs and to go ahead and get my bloodwork done before coming in for the physical so we could go over the results then. Sounds efficient, right? I told him at the time, with my husband standing next to me that we come in together so my husband would need his paperwork as well. He informed me that all that needed to be done was to call the office and let them know.

Fast forward to today, actually yesterday. I called the office, explained the whole deal to the office girl and she said that she would let the lab girl know and my husband should be able to come by the office to pick up the paperwork so that we can get our bloodwork done before our physicals. I called today to see if they were ready to be picked up and the girl tells me, "we have yours ready, but we don't have one for your husband in his records." I expained the whole excruciating story to her, letting her know what the dr. had said the last time we were in. Her response...I don't know what to tell you, your husband is going to have to make an appt. since the dr. hasn't seen him since last year. I again went over the entire senario and conversation that we had with the dr. last year. To which her response was the same...I don't know what to tell you. By this point, I can feel my blood pressure rising as I (rather rudely, now that I think of it) told her, "You mean to tell me that my husband has to make an appt., pay a co-payment (which we don't owe anyway since the last time they overcharged us because they can't seem to get their **** together with the insurance company, but that is a different story), just to come in to see the dr. face to face so that the dr. can hand over a sheet of freaking paper with the bloodwork orders on them!!??" Again, her reply...I don't know what to tell you. If I'd have been face to face with her, I would've ***** slapped her!

Here's my predicament: I could call the office manager, which happens to be the dr.s wife! Complain to her, only to have her possibly say that because I'm such a biotch they don't want to treat me anymore, thus rendering me in the need of the nearest padded cell, or call and try to get the dr. to call me and waste his time explaining to him what an inept group of people he has working for him. Such a quandry...

Okay, I think I'm done now. I'm going to enjoy a beer with my husband out on our back porch on this beautiful sunny South Florida day and listen to my Tibetan Monks on my Pandora station.

UGH...

[americaneagle32]

I hear you, I also live in FL and I'm having the same issues. The doctors I try and see either don't know anything about my neurocardio or they pretend I do and send me on wild goose chases with medicine and testing.

[Joann]

Bebe, a beer sounds sooo good. Wish I could have one with you.

I totally understand your frustration. I have dealt with similar issues. Currently battling, with doctor's office and insurance. One is a bill from last July. I saw a physical therapist for my neck (this was back when they still didn't know I had POTS, and was told once my neck was better I would be fine?). The physical therapist was in network and one day, she was not in - sick or on vacation-. So someone came to the office to cover her spot, and I guess that woman usually works at another office that is out of network. Sooo, even though I am in the in network office and had no idea who was going to be working on me from day to day, they are saying its not covered. I told them I would not pay that, I was an in network office, so insurance says, that either the doctor's office can cover the bill, or try and resubmit it.

It is soo stupid. I also have to battle my November tilt table test, because they say it was not medically needed. ??? Why? Because I do not have any record of fainting and that is their reason for ordering it. I tried to tell them that I do not faint, but get extremely high bp, but the insurance woman said, have your doctor resubmit request. My Cleveland Clinic visit wants me to have a ttt again, and I have had them request a pre request for coverage, I really don't think it will be approved.

Ughhh... So, I understand your frustration and so wish I could still drink alcohol, but this stupid illness prevents yet another enjoyment of mine.

[bebe127]

I feel for you americaneagle! Doctor's offices seem to be the bain of my existence!! That's part of the reason I only go in to see him twice a year, because I get so stressed with his office staff and wait time.

Joann,

I know what you mean. If I'm not on the phone trying to communicate what the doctor told me, then I'm on the phone to the insurance company trying to fix something the office staff messed up. Seriously, there is no communication in that office! What's worse is, the wife of the doctor is the office manager!! I've tried in the past to call and discuss issues with her and I can never get in touch with her despite the messages I leave with the office staff. She is never available and then doesn't return calls. I'm at my wits end. Thing is though, is that I really like this doctor. He is seriously the only dr. in my area (and I've lived here 20+years) that seems to really care, have a terrific bedside manner, really spends time with patients and listens. I really don't want to lose him as a dr. just because his office staff is a bunch of blithering idiots!! There has never been a time that I've gone to that office without some sort of problem arising later. When I told my husband about it, he just about hit the roof. Everytime he has to take time off work to take me or us for our visits, we lose out on hundreds of dollars. I consider doctors to be my employees, they work for me. I pay them money for a service that they are supposed to provide. I guess if they don't provide a service that is satisfactory to me, then I need to consider going elsewhere. That in and of itself is enough to make me go into a flare as I have really found such a nice fit with this doctor; I just don't fit with the office staff. My husband said, "I guess it's time to look for a new dr." I would love to find a different office staff. It took me 20 years to find a doctor like this one. UGH...

I just don't even know what to do anymore...

[dkd]

Have you tried speaking with the nurse instead of the office staff? I think I'd try that next.

I'm pretty upset with my dr's office right now also. I just had a prescription called in over the weekend that was WRONG and for 2 days, I took a diuretic instead of a beta blocker. I lost 5 lbs of fluid in 2 days!

The nurse blamed it on the pharmacy and the pharmacy blamed it on the nurse. Guess I'll never know the truth, but I'm going to let the dr know about it next time I go in.

[bebe127]

Well...

I called and spoke with the office manager (Dr.s wife), long story short, I got absolutely nowhere! I tell you what, if I didn't have high blood pressure before I called, I do now

She hardly let me get a word in edgewise, every time I tried to explain, she would cut me off. Obviously, the office girl that answered the phone and took my name must've told the wife that "the crazy lady" is on the phone for you. She immediately began with "we can't do that, we don't have the liscence to do that, he'll have to come in", blah, blah, blah. I attempted to tell her, with her interrupting me every chance she got, that I was only doing as the Dr. told me to do which was to call and get the paperwork for the bloodwork and take it to the lab BEFORE scheduling our physicals so that when we went in for our physicals, we could go over the results and have our physicals in one fell swoop. Still, she continued telling me that they cannot do that. I reiterated that my husband would have to take time off work, go into the office and wait to be seen by the dr. even though he is not going in for a dr. visit, just to get a sheet of paper???? Seriously??? This whole thing has got me so tied up in knots. She even began to tell me about deductibles and such and it took all I had to bite my tongue as they STILL OWE us money from last year's physical!!!

This really just stinks because, as I've said, he's the only dr. I've found that even knows about POTS and the only dr. that has even attempted to help me. I really don't know what I'm going to have to do if I have to find a new dr. I have to take my son in to the ped. tomorrow for his physical and I'm going to ask again for a recommendation to a GP. My ped. is the one who referred me to my current GP and I like him a lot, I just can't stand the utter stupidity of his staff. I have to remember that the dr. doesn't have anything to do with how the dr. office is run, however if I ever go back to him, I 'm going to let him know of my dissatisfaction. I'm seriously considering writing him a letter. The only problem with that is that I'm sure his wife goes through his mail and if that is the case, he may never see my letter. I did go on vitals.com and posted a negative review about the staff. You know what too? On vitals.com, every review but one was negative toward the office staff, positive for the dr. Such a shame. If I ever get up the gumption to write a letter to him, I'm going to include a copy of the poor reviews of his staff. Even if he never sees the letter, his wife will and maybe, just maybe she will get an idea that the way she runs the office leaves something to be desired.

All in all, I think I'm just going to have to find a new dr.

[bebe127]

Talked with the hubs this afternoon and our next plan of action is to make a dual appt. for our physicals. When the dr. asks why we didn't get the labwork done ahead of time as he suggested, that will open the door for us to tell him what's been going on in his office. This way too, we can make two appt.s instead of four. My husband is so irritated! I am also going to print out the negative reviews I found online about his staff and hubs says that he has no problem giving them over to the dr. so that he has a glimpse of what people out there really think of his office staff. At this point, I'm so irritated that I don't even care anymore if I have to find a new dr. I have enough meds to carry me through.

[Joann]

Have your husband talk to him. It's not right, but often you get better response when a male complains. When us females complain, they just blow us off, as the crazy, complaining woman. But when a man complains they often get results.

When we have to return something, I have my husband do it. I go to return it and get attitude with a receipt! He goes and no problem.

The current doctor I am seeing is just ok, she really isn't much help, but her office staff is horrible. My previous doctor, I loved all the staff, and actually I loved her, but she didn't believe I was sick. She would not test for anything and would not listen, 6 months of telling me it was anxiety and Gerd. So I switched to my current doctor, she is willing to test, but just doesn't know about POTS, and is with a small local hospital. So I think of her as my temporary keeper of the gate. I go to a cardiologist for those symptoms and am waiting for CC doctors to point me in the right direction.

So I think it is tough to find a good doctor, a good staff and one that will help you. Good luck.