Friday, August 3, 2012

Another one of life's little (actually big) aggravations

My primary care physician recently referred me to the hematology group of Danbury Hospital because of some concerns he had.

I wasn't going to do anything about it because he's always referring me to someone somewhere and if I followed through on all of them, I'd have to bring a sleeping bag to the hospital but they were the ones who actually called me so I figured what the heck.  I'll sit there and listen for a 10 minute consult while the doctor goes over my labs, listen to him/her say there's nothing to worry about and go home.

Yeah, right.  My appointment was at the hospital for 2:15.  After about 20 minutes of waiting in the outer waiting room I was shown into an examining room where I expected the doctor to show up at any minute.

ONE HOUR later I went out and asked a passing nurse how much longer the doctor would be.  She gave me a surprised look and said she'd check on it immediately--which to her credit she did.

When the doctor came in she asked me how I was doing to which I replied very annoyed.  I told her how long I'd been waiting and she said she didn't blame me for being annoyed.  No apology or explanation.

On top of that she had not received the file of lab reports from my PCP so she didn't have much to do except have a nurse draw more blood which she would discuss at our next appointment.

To say I'm aggravated is the under statement of the century.  There's no excuse for such treatment or incompetence.  I'd complain more but I don't know who to go to---yet.  I'm working on it.

I understand that doctors need some wiggle room in their schedules.  Some patients take longer than others and it's impossible to predict that kind of thing but to have to wait over one hour is not acceptable--nor is the level of unpreparedness acceptable.

My doctor will hear about it.

No comments: