Thursday, April 7, 2011

Doctor Doctor, Please, oh the mess I'm in...

      A man walks into a specialists office, the specialist says "I read the file your doctor sent over, it sounds right to me, that will be $535"
      The punch line to the joke is that it's not a joke at all, it's what happened to me. I've been lucky enough to finally have a General Practitioner and Specialist  who actually give a damn, but that's not the case for everybody.
      When I first started dating my wife she became violently ill. She was jaundiced, vomiting constantly, and in so much pain she could not function. Upon going to the doctor he spent five minutes asking her questions and then told her to come back next week offering no suggestions to alleviate her problem other than over the counter stomach cures. This went on for a few weeks, the doctor continued to ask a few questions about her condition and then send her on her way to suffer the worst pain of her life for yet another week. Finally I asked my wife one very simple question and figured out it was a reaction to another medication she was taking. On her next appointment with her doctor she told him of my discovery and he reacted belligerently asking " Is your boyfriend a doctor? NO! well, am don't listen to him and keep taking your pills." Thankfully she listened to me and her problem IMMEDIATELY cleared up. It wasn't until later another doctor verified my diagnosis and was concerned about the damage that was done to her liver by the doctor's incompetence stating that I may have saved her incredible complications or worse. I was a kid in my 20's with no more than a high school diploma and  he was an experienced doctor, to be honest I don't believe his sin was ignorance so much as it was that he didn't really care.
      When my G.P. became concerned enough about my condition that he thought I'd be best served by sending me to a specialist he had already done all of the tests a couple times and always getting back to me in less then five days. When my first specialist decided she wanted to run the same tests to verify she said it would take at least a month, and it did. When I finally got the results she said she would immediately call in my prescription, a week later I had to call back because she still hadn't. This was repeated the following month. On the third month I made sure to call her with enough time to avoid the same problem and sure enough she sent it on time, but forgot to sign it, I ended up going without my medicine for a week yet again. This was after the $535 appointment  that lasted less than five minutes. It actually would have been a lot less then five minutes except for the fact that I had to keep asking her to repeat herself as I couldn't understand past her Hindi accent. My G.P. being upset with her actions found me a new doctor who determined by the same tests, which by the way he called me back for in just TWO days...not a month, that the previous specialist had actually been prescribing the wrong dosage by at least half. Again I believe this was not ignorance but the fact that she didn't care enough to take the time...any time.
      My poor grand father has such a myriad of ailments that listing them would take a whole blog alone and let's just say his doctor is a real treat. First off one of his problems is diabetes yet his doctor rarely ever asks him to take off his shoes which is standard and necessary for diabetic patients. Believe me he has issues with his feet from the diabetes but checking them every time would take too long. This doctor overbooks with a clientele made up almost exclusively of the elderly and the minimum wait is an hour. Elderly people, even my stubborn old grandfather seem hesitant to complain about things like this or even go through the hassle of changing physicians. On one occasion this doctor was so overbooked that my grandfather's wait in the waiting room was more than four hours. Now you'd think this guy must be taking some time with these people but you'd be very wrong its a veritable assembly line with the waiting room being so full that it's standing room only. Again this is not ignorance but greed and a distinct lack of concern for patients.
      I'm obviously not saying that all doctors are bad I now have two great ones for me and my family but them caring enough to be good doctors is who they are. This behavior is actually spreading down the medical chain as well. We now live in a society so medicated that a new pharmacy opens every day, it seems there is one on every corner now, how could they possibly sustain themselves? That's easy because now during every commercial break there is an ad for some pill or another.
      "Are you too tired or too awake?"
      "Are you too sad or too happy?"
      "Are you too fat, too skinny, too sore, not erect enough, have legs that work, dream at night? we have a pill for it, and we know you want it because we just listed a bunch of symptoms obscure enough to make you believe you have everything."
      That's why pharmacy's can keep being built because medicine is profit and sales just like everything else. Remember those of you that are truly sick and suffering, there's no money in curing you, just in treating you. I mean if you get better pharmaceutical companies lose a customer.
       Now remember how I just said the problems with medical personnel is moving down the chain? Well this is where we come to pharmacists. They are still in short supply, and even more so with all the new drug stores opening on a daily basis so it has gotten to the point where drug stores will even put a bounty on pharmacists offering cash rewards if you can bring one into the company and yes its very true that some companies are doing this. They then sign these pharmacists to contracts with nice bonuses for signing...just like pro athletes, still this is not a problem for me, it's not my money. The problem is that a great deal of them have suddenly began to believe their own hype and have become arrogant, megalomaniacs who don't believe they make mistakes. I have seen them mistreating employees, and customers as well as making dangerous mistakes,  and with a little research have heard dozens of horror stories. Companies will do anything to protect these valuable resources as losing one is an expensive prospect so victims of their behavior i.e. lesser employees are punished for complaining or are just swept under the rug. This is not just part of a rant but something I've witnessed with my own eyes, as I have several friends and family who have dealt with it. Mean while Doctors who "Just Don't Care" are not truly breaking any rules and not subject to any kind of punishment until something horrible happens and their malpractice insurance pays it off.
       I want to make it very clear...this is NOT every single doctor and pharmacist, some are fantastic and love their jobs and patients and customers but like they say it only takes a few bad ones...
       Now I am sorry that this weeks blog wasn't humorous and light hearted but this week I needed to get this off my chest and write it for someone I love who has been hurt. Besides it seems since I posted late last week most of you missed the announcement and the blog so you can go back and read that one. But I'll try to be happier next week...stay healthy...

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