Totally frustrated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[leapyrtwins]

When I asked why this wasn't done before now......she couldn't answer that. All she could say was I have to do what the surgeon tells me to do and she wants me to cancel your surgery. 

Angie -

tuning in late here - haven't been on the forum much this past week, my "regular" life got in the way 

Anyway, while I'm sorry for what happened to you, I'm looking at this from another perspective.  I think you really need to talk to the doctor about this problem; her staff member was just relaying the doctor's message.  In other words, don't shoot the messenger.

Communication between a doctor and a patient is crucial and if you aren't getting the communication you need - and are certainly entitled to - you should take that up directly with the doctor.  I'm not at all defending the doctor here, but you need to fully understand why the surgery was cancelled with such short notice.  And, in all fairness, the doctor is entited to hear your frustrations directly from you.

Most doctors although busy, aren't idiots - perhaps there are some very good reasons that she had to cancel with such short notice.  Before you rush out and find a new doctor, I'd get the whole picture.

As for the hotel room, I'd contact Hotwire, explain the circumstances, and see if they'll work with you.  You definitely have a good reason for having to cancel the reservation, and as oHIo said, I'm sure the doctor's office could write you a letter supporting your cause if you needed one.

Jim & Lori -

my age might be showing, but I absolutely remember 'Alice' and loved Flo.  Thanks for the blast from the past.

Jan

[moe]

I feel your frustration I cried and wanted to SCREAM after I drove up to San Antonio from Corpus Christi, TX to get my tarssorphy reversed. i.e. get my eye opened! I got a call on my cell phone as I was leaving the hotel saying they had to cancel the surgery because they ran out of gold weights #$&!!.
I being a nurse tried my darndest to get the surgery going again, just to open the #@$! eye.
No luck.
Went to IHOP and binged on buttermilk pancakes (yumm),went  shopping, spent lots of money, felt a little better, but not much.
Man if these people could be in our shoes for just a minute.....
maureen

[Jim Scott]

Hi, Angie ~

Me again.  Jan's post motivated me to echo her suggestion that you try to talk to the doctor before making an irrevocable decision.

When I relayed a synopsis of your experience to my wife, who has dealt with a wide variety of doctors as well as undergoing many surgeries over the past 15 years, her immediate response was "I would have told the clerk (or whatever her title was) to have the doctor call me, as soon as possible"  The goal being, just as Jan stated, to gain some clarity on the reason for the sudden cancellation - and to allow you to express your frustration (politely, of course) at the huge inconvenience of the last-minute cancellation. 

Incidentally, this is why my wife usually gets results when she deals with doctors offices and any business that she finds not servicing either one of us, fairly.  Me?  I just yell at some hapless phone clerk (sort of like 'Mel' in 'Alice') or give up on dealing with the cause of my frustration as I smolder with resentment at my shabby treatment.  This is why my very capable wife handles most of our telephone transactions that have even the possibility of involving complications and why she has had a very good rapport with her doctors.  It's a gift. 

Jim

[CROOKEDSMILE]

Hey Guys,
Asking to talk directly to the doctor sounds good although everytime I asked why it was cancelled last minute she would say......."I'm only doing what I'm told to do and I have to do what the surgeon tells me to do and that's that." She kept telling me "I don't think you get it. You may have lost your hotel money and that's all you're worried about. You ought to be glad that you've got a doctor that is thorough".
My response.......I've been a registered nurse for 13 years and understand being thorough and very glad that she is but why wasn't she thorough 2 weeks ago.....during my initial consulation......have me sign a medical release form then......get the records even if it took 3-4-6 weeks to get them, review them then call and we would schedule the surgery then. Instead....no medical release form was signed, no records were requested, surgery was scheduled. hotel paid for. Then OOPS! We need to cancel because we realized we need you to sign this form....... as you're walking out the door to come here for surgery...... so that we can obtain records.
Putting the cart before the horse........Done a little backwards! It is OKAY to make a mistake. I've made plenty. BUT own up to them. Say. Oh darn. We missed a step. We forgot to have you sign this paper so that we could obtain your records for review and I would have been A-okay. No big deal. Do what ya gotta do then give me call when you are ready. Instead I got "attitude" when it was THEIR fault. I do believe that this doctor is VERY good at what she does and it isn't her fault for how her messenger behaved and relayed the information-VERY rude. It is the doctor's fault that she forgot to have me sign the medical record release form 2 weeks ago and she should not have scheduled surgery immediately until her research was done. BUT I will still allow this doctor to do the surgery because I know in my heart that she means well and that she is good at what she does. What really aggravated me was the manner in which I was dealt with by the surgery scheduler! No compassion, no apology. NOTHING but rudeness. I'm over it. Will trust that God postponed this for a reason and that eventually all will work out fine. The scheduler will NOT be doing my surgery so who cares if she's rude.....right? The surgeon will be Reviewed and Researched on my case and all will work out GREAT! I'm thinking positive thoughts and trying to remember that everything happens for a reason. Dr. Klippenstein is an amazing doctor (so I've heard and do believe) but a mistake was made and surgery was scheduled when it should not have been but this isn't a first. A mistake made in the medical field. Naw. Never. No how, no way! OKay...........back to being positive, Angie.
No one is perfect but "I'm sorry, goes a LONG way"
Angie

[sgerrard]

Some time ago a friend of mine told me to stop getting mad when people cut in front of me while driving. As he explained it, you don't know what may be going on in that person's life at that time. Maybe they really need to get somewhere in a hurry for a really good reason; maybe some day I will too.

It is not possible to believe that all the people that cut in front of me while driving have something really important to do; I know very well that most of them are just being selfish and rude. But I don't know which ones. The lesson is therefore to learn to give all of them a break in your mind; today it might be the one that has a good reason. It actually works, by the way; your stress while driving will go down.

My point being that there might be some good reason why the record issue got overlooked in the first place, or why the person you spoke with was not able to be more gracious. Even if you are pretty sure that is not the case, and that they were just being rude, you don't know that. So take the high road and let it go. Your eventual surgery and outcome are more important than this incident.

Steve

[CROOKEDSMILE]

Very good advice Steve,
Hence me letting it go and thinking positive!
Angie

[moe]

Angie,
Here's to letting go! It sure is good to vent though, isn't it? And you're a nurse too! Me too. So in our profession we are caring and empathetic and then meet these bozos who shouldn't be in the health profession because they don't care about people.
Ultimately the doctor's responsibility. I'm sure it is not high on her (?) priority list to can the receptionist and hire someone who CARES.
Oh and one more story of mine please of inconsiderate receptionists.
 
I mentioned this on another topic---
I made an appt with my ENT doc who did the MRI because I had not heard back from them.
Assuming all was OK, got in there. He slaps on the MRI, about had a coronary I'm sure, and mentioned that I had a huge AN and would require brain surgery. NO ONE had alerted him of this abnormal MRI. It was just filed.....
He called in his receptionists and gently scolded them. He mentioned he didn't want to be too rough on them, because he had been scolding them a lot recently.
They stood there like deaf mutes, maybe mumbled an "I'm sorry.". When I left they said "Have a nice day." Not "I'm sorry" or "We're sorry".
UNBELIEVABLE.
So I feel your frustration, AGAIN
Maureen

[MAlegant]

I had a thought:  a similar thing happened to me, had to cancel a reservation made online but lost the money.  I called my credit card company and asked them to intercede and in the end the hotel chain gave me my money back.  Worth a try.  Sorry for all the stuff though!
M