Docs firing patients

[howkim]

This is a link to a NYTimes blog today. The blog has links to the original article and comments to the article. Interesting reading.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2010/02/09/ ... llbusiness

[nobody]

Interesting. I think doctors are highly over-rated in our society anyway. I've never been fired by one, but have fired many in my time

[teitner]

Interesting. I think doctors are highly over-rated in our society anyway. I've never been fired by one, but have fired many in my time

same here

[SleepyBobR]

Interesting. I think doctors are highly over-rated in our society anyway. I've never been fired by one, but have fired many in my time

Agree 100%. My Sleep Doctor has been no help to me at all other than prescribing the CPAP. I hesitate to say this but I really don't think he knows very much about the subject of sleep disorders and sleep apnea. If he does, there's no way of telling.

I had to demand that my cardiologist refer me for a sleep study. His view was that I wasn't an overweight male who snores like an 18 wheeler air horn so I couldn't possibly have sleep apnea (even though I described symptoms which I knew were classic OSA symptoms).

As for General Practioners, if it isn't something obvious like a bacterial infection or a broken bone, the diagnosis and recommended treatment is a complete crap shoot. They push SSRIs, anxiety meds and sleeping pills which only make things worse just to get you out of their office. It's a scandal. And then there's the battery of expensive random tests which all come back negative.

Maybe, to be fair, they are overworked and just don't have the time to do a proper job.

Many things get better on their own and are better left alone to heal.
JMO.

[magicland]

I've found the same thing. Got referred from my GP to an ENT, who then sent me for a sleep study (which of course, my insurance didn't want to pay for. My wife finally badgered them into it). After the sleep study, and waiting a few weeks, and my wife's badgering him, the ENT told me I had moderate sleep apnea, and could either go for CPAP or surgery (to his credit, he didn't push the surgery, even though he's also a plastic surgeon). I decided to try the CPAP, so it was back to the sleep study for titration. Weeks later, after even more badgering from my wife, I finally received a prescription for a CPAP (which of course my insurance didn't want to pay for). Nowhere along this process has anybody bothered to inform me what my sleep study revealed, other than that I had sleep apnea, and that the second study showed that the CPAP successfully treated it. Since then, I've been busily informing myself via the internet, and now probably know more than my ENT does (or wishes to reveal that he does).

[BleepingBeauty]

I've found the same thing. Got referred from my GP to an ENT, who then sent me for a sleep study (which of course, my insurance didn't want to pay for. My wife finally badgered them into it). After the sleep study, and waiting a few weeks, and my wife's badgering him, the ENT told me I had moderate sleep apnea, and could either go for CPAP or surgery (to his credit, he didn't push the surgery, even though he's also a plastic surgeon). I decided to try the CPAP, so it was back to the sleep study for titration. Weeks later, after even more badgering from my wife, I finally received a prescription for a CPAP (which of course my insurance didn't want to pay for). Nowhere along this process has anybody bothered to inform me what my sleep study revealed, other than that I had sleep apnea, and that the second study showed that the CPAP successfully treated it. Since then, I've been busily informing myself via the internet, and now probably know more than my ENT does (or wishes to reveal that he does).

Hi, magicland, and welcome to the forum.

Now that you're learning about your condition, you should call the sleep lab where your studies have been done and get a copy of the reports. (Also get - and keep - a copy of your prescription.) You're entitled to them, as they're part of your medical record. There should be a couple of pages of doctor's summary notes and a few more pages of charts and graphs from each study.

The info in the studies might not make a whole lot of sense to you right now, but there are many fine people here who can help you decipher what the reports say about the quality of your sleep. Plus, it's good to have the information for your own reference. As you learn more here, you can review your study reports and make more sense of them.

Since it sounds like you're on your own right now, without a good sleep doctor, I'm really glad you've found this forum. We can't replace medical advice, but you'll learn a lot and become a much more savvy xPAP consumer. Welcome aboard.

[fidelfs]

I was fired from a Doctor a few years back. I have been searching a solution to my problems (fog memory, sleepiness, pain, weakness, etc), my family doctor sent me to a hormonal specialist.

I set up an appointment for Friday at 8:30 and i showed up 30 minutes early for filling up new patient paper work. The office was empty except for those representatives from pharmaceutical companies. There were about 4 of them.

I heard noises, laughing, happiness in the other side of the office where the nurses are, and the doctor office. At 8:45 the representatives when inside to the other side. At 9:30 no patients, just me. I asked the nurse when the doctor was going to see me or if I have to come back another day. She said no, I have to wait, because the Doctor was busy.

Well, The doctor saw me at 10:00 and when He showed up, I said that If that was a typical day at his office. I also asked if I have to wait almost 2 hours every time I was going to see him. He didn't like my questions and he told me that probably he was not the right doctor for me, and If I wanted I could look for another doctor.
I said, Ok, and left the office. I asked the nurses to give me all the paperwork and remove my name from any doctor file, and I left.

One week later, I got a call from the Doctor apologizing that he acted wrong and If I wanted I could go and see him again. I told him that I was going to think about it. I never went back.

So, yes I was fired from a Doctor.

[Slinky]

I ran into that once w/a specialist. 8:30 AM appointment, not seen until 11:30 for a 5 minute initial office call and pushed to the staff desk where they were to schedule a procedure. I asked if the long wait was SOP for that doctor and office and was told that HE was the BEST specialist of this type in town and he was very busy. I told them I was too busy to be bothered wasting my time sitting in his office and that I would send them a bill for my wasted 2 hours and 55 minutes and left. They never billed me for my office call co-pay.

My family doctor had referred me to this specialist as I made it a point to tell him my experience and what I did and what I thought of the specialist. That jerk was the only "bummer" my family doctor has ever referred me to. The other two specialists he's sent me to are GREAT. I've told them both they are wasted as specialists and should be family doctors.

[nicodan]

We were fired by a Doctor once. Our then 3 yr old son was having hearing problems related to ear infections. I realized that he could not hear normal conversation level voices and took him to the family Dr. DH and I both went in for the "consultaion" about surgery. It became clear that the Dr. had made his decision ahead of time and was going ahead with the presurgery exam. DH was asking questions, especialy after the Dr. said yes, there were more tests that would confirm he had fluid in his ears, and yes, there was a possibility there was something else wrong, but those tests were expensive and we go go that route if the surgery was not successful.
My husband said what? You are going to put our 3 yr under and do surgery first and do tests later?
Dr. fired us on the spot. He slammed the chart shut and almost kicked our son in the head as he stepped over him to get out the door. He sent the nurse back in to tell us the he was done with us. Later DH called to apologize ( altho I don't think in hindsight truly we did anything wrong) and he refused to come to the phone and said we challenged his authority. I have come to realized that once you enter a surgeons office for a consult, you will be scheduled for surgery!



We were referred to an ENT Dr., but he only came to our small town a couple of times a month, and yes, he did those tests and yes our son needed tubes, but at least we were convinced at that point it was the right thing to do.

[Slinky]

You "challenged" his "authority"??? Snort. Who the heck died and gave him that authority? Its doctors such as that that need to be drummed out of the profession or re-trained it what it is to be human.