Crappy #$#%#% people @ the Doctor's office

Cheryl P. wrote:

I know the rationale behind using specialists for routine primary health
care, but it still seems odd to me, like using an elephant gun to kill a
mosquito.

Sometimes it just works out that way. I went to see a gyn for a routine
exam (PAP, etc). I really liked her a lot, and I wasn't happy with my
then current GP, so I asked the gyn if she also did general practice. She
did, and she became my regular doctor for several years. I only left her
practice because I moved away. I don't remember her fees being particulary
high.

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:54:48 -0700, Joy wrote:

wrote in message
...
Matthew wrote:

Well yet again the idiots at my doctors office screwed up again.
So no
sleep study tonight

I called to make sure what time to be in there tonight if I had to be
there
at 8:30 or before. Now they confirmed everything yesterday afternoon
24
hours in advance. The girl tells me well ummm I forgot to call
the tech
so he won't be here tonight.

Wow, that's some major incompetence. Although I'm stunned that she
admitted
honestly that it was her fault!

I had a sleep study a few weeks ago. At my HMO, they attach all the
equipment to your body on the evening of the test, and then send you
home to sleep. They explained that they started doing it this way
because "people sleep better in their own beds". My foot! They do it
that way because it's cheaper, and for no other reason.

In your particular situation, you would have been better off at the lab.
However, I'm sure they are right that most people sleep better in their
own beds. I know I do.

Joy

Anyway, the procedure is that you sleep with the stuff on you for one
night, and then take it off in the morning and bring it back to them.
The equipment measures changes in the position of your chest and
diaphragm, to see if you stop breathing, and your blood oxygenation via
a clip on your finger.

So I bring it all back the next day, and within a couple of hours I get
a call saying, "The equipment apparently failed, and we were unable to
get any data at all." I do remember that the oxygen clip on my finger
had a glowing red light when I first put it on, but as I got into bed,
I noticed it had gone out. This concerned me, but at that point it was
after midnight,
so there was nothing I could do about it. Whereas, if I had been having
the sleep study *in their lab*, they would have found this problem
immediately and corrected it! The HMO wanted me to reschedule the sleep
study, but since I was leaving them and joining a PPO on August 1, I
dropped the issue.

(PPO = "Preferred Provider..." something... Option?" Anyway it's a type
of insurance plan where you get to choose your own doctors. If you
choose someone within their preferred provider list, you get excellent
coverage. But you can also choose someone "out of network" (ie, not on
their list), and you can get some coverage for that, too, something
like 50% of the bill. So it can cost you more, if you prefer a doctor
who happens not to be in their network, but at least you have the
option of doing so. With an HMO, you are only allowed to see doctors in
their organization. And you're getting health care from people whose
salaries are paid by the very organization that's paying for your
visit! Conflict of interest anyone?)

I now have to find a general practitioner in my new health plan, who I
will ask to recommend a sleep study for me. There's a very good sleep
lab at Stanford University, where I had my 1998 sleep study. I'm hoping
I can go there again.

We can schedule you to go down there tomorrow she tells me. Their
office is
in Fort Lauderdale a 4 hour trip each way with perfect traffic. I
said ok
when can I come buy and pick up the money for the gas. No answer

LOL, good one.

I love my doctor to death but he hires idiots. If they ain't losing
blood
work and paper work. They conveniently forget to do things or have
the wrong file out when you go into see the doctor

This was bad, but I think the worst story of staff incompetence I've
heard,
at least on this ng, had to be when Christina W. was suffering from a
major
hernia, and the staff people had her running up and down several
flights of
stairs because nobody seemed to know where her appointment was supposed
to be!

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

When I was originally diagnosed with sleep apnea, I went through two
formal sleep studies, in a lab (one to diagnose the apnea, the second one
to discover what pressure setting I needed on the CPAP machine). The lab
setup monitored my blood pressure, heart rate, and brain activity as well
as blood oxygen level. Those other criteria would be tricky to do at
home. Since then, I have had a couple of times the doctor simply had me
wear an oxygen sensor clipped to my finger overnight, sleeping in my own
bed.

Incidentally, I now have to wear an elastic chin-strap at night to keep
my mouth shut. Otherwise, it tends to sag partway open, letting much of
the CPAP's air pressure escape.

--
John F. Eldredge --
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

Matthew wrote:
Well yet again the idiots at my doctors office screwed up again. So no
sleep study tonight

I called to make sure what time to be in there tonight if I had to be there
at 8:30 or before. Now they confirmed everything yesterday afternoon 24
hours in advance. The girl tells me well ummm I forgot to call the tech
so he won't be here tonight. He can be here Friday I said no Monday thru
Wednesday nights only the rest of the time I am on call that says it in my
file.

We can schedule you to go down there tomorrow she tells me. Their office is
in Fort Lauderdale a 4 hour trip each way with perfect traffic. I said ok
when can I come buy and pick up the money for the gas. No answer she says
well we can get you in next Monday. So now I got to wait another week again

I love my doctor to death but he hires idiots. If they ain't losing blood
work and paper work. They conveniently forget to do things or have the
wrong file out when you go into see the doctor


You have my sympathies, Matthew. I hope you get your sleep study done
as scheduled, and get it over with!

Ginger-lyn

"Ginger-lyn"
Matthew wrote:
Well yet again the idiots at my doctors office screwed up again. So no
sleep study tonight

I called to make sure what time to be in there tonight if I had to be
there at 8:30 or before. Now they confirmed everything yesterday
afternoon 24 hours in advance. The girl tells me well ummm I forgot
to call the tech so he won't be here tonight. He can be here Friday I
said no Monday thru Wednesday nights only the rest of the time I am on
call that says it in my file.

We can schedule you to go down there tomorrow she tells me. Their office
is in Fort Lauderdale a 4 hour trip each way with perfect traffic. I
said ok when can I come buy and pick up the money for the gas. No answer
she says well we can get you in next Monday. So now I got to wait
another week again

I love my doctor to death but he hires idiots. If they ain't losing
blood work and paper work. They conveniently forget to do things or have
the wrong file out when you go into see the doctor
You have my sympathies, Matthew. I hope you get your sleep study done as
scheduled, and get it over with!

Ginger-lyn

Yes, I agree, and he should get all Vin Diesel on them for being such
idiots.

Kyla