Clinic controls

Pearls and Dreams

I have a doctor that I am absolutely thrilled with her quality of care. I couldn't be happier with the way she treats me, how she respects me, how she educates me about my conditions and the time she spends with me.
She has yet to give me any cause for questioning if she's the right doctor for me or not.

So, a friend called and asked if I'd recommend my doctor. I said, "Sure! But there is one thing you need to know, her staff is impossible to work with."

The nurse that checks me in, I have no problem with, except, she's not really a nurse, but a tech. Which doesn't really bother me, except the hospital/clinic doesn't tell you that, they just tell you her name, and you don't know you're not dealing with a nurse unless you ask.

But the one that IS a nurse, oh my goodness, she is impossible. She doesn't care, she's lazy and she is careless. In the last 2 years, there have been 4 times that my doctor has told me that she wants me to see a particular specialist, and the referral has never been made. My husband is still waiting, after 15 months for the referral to physical therapy to for his post polio syndrome.
I was told last July, that she wanted me to see a particular opthamologist ...every month, she has me come in for an appointment ..and every month, I tell her, I never got the referral, and every month, she steps out of the room to go tell the referral nurse to make the appointment. Every month, it never happens.
I see her tomorrow, and we will again, have the same conversation.
Last month, I was wheezing pretty badly, and she ordered a nebulizer for me. The nurse told the home health company that I only had medicaid. Not true, I've got medicare/medicaid with medicare being the primary.
Medicaid would not cover the medication from the home health, medicare would. Not only that, but medicaid gives me a limited amount of prescriptions a month ...6... I'm on 13, you add one more to that list that doesn't HAVE to come off that 6, and it's an unnecessary burden to the patient.

I'd take it personally, but I know it happens to others too. I've talked to others who use this doctor, and they have the same problems.

Last summer, I was trying to get into the new rheumatologist. The only one in town who accepts medicare/medicaid. She told me that the wait was 6 to 10 months. I called the clinic, they never heard from me, so I told my doctor, so SHE personally sent the referral with me standing right there. 2 months later, I have the appointment. I tell this nurse, "Hey! I got into Dr. W already! Two months, not too bad!"
A man standing right there storms out of the office. STORMS out.
Turned out ... it was her husband who'd been trying to get into Dr. W. for a whole year, and she kept telling him that the waiting list was just too long. I guess she's an equal opportunity offender.

What I don't understand is this ...my doctor has no choice in who works in her office, she works in a clinic and her staff is assigned to her ... so why do hospitals and clinics put up with people like this who continually risk not only the doctor's reputations, but the health and wellbeing of the patient? When are the doctor's going to be given the autonomy to be the best doctor's they can be?

So many times I hear friends complaining about their doctors, and I wonder how much of it is the doctor ...and how much of it is the insurance company ...and how much of it is their staff that they did not choose?