How To Fire A Doctor

[Captain Deb]

Soundy,
The doc I see who is a pain management specialist is with an anesthesiologist group.  He's the one who gives me the nerve blocks which has given me the most immediate and drastic relief in the 5 1/2 years that I've been having these headaches. They are expensive and a high deductible kept me from seeing him before. That and his office didn't take my insurance at all.  The reason I can see him now is because I got Medicare with my disability benefits which covers 90%. That and I didn't know about him because my neurologist never referred me to him before now! He works through my local hospital's pain clinic.

I used to drive 3 each way hours to see my headache neurologist. It was a brutal trip--windey mountain roads and my husband had to miss an entire day of work. After a year and a half I quit making the trip.  I had found the right meds and didn't feel I was making much more progress.  It was worth the trip to get me on the right track.

Best of luck!

Capt Deb

[Soundy]

I got a weird letter in the mail from my surgeon... he is and I quote

" As of August 31 2008 , I am retiring from active practice. I will be  moving on to a teaching position and will also
continue to pursue songwriting on a more serious level . It is the main reason I chose to practice in Nashville."

He included a list of doctors to provide continuing care for his patients...I am still sticking with the appointments
I have lined up and will also contact the list he provided... one is the surgeon who assisted him and on is the
BAHA man...

why when I fell did he not tell me this and send me on to another doctor if he was not going to be
continuing???... he said to keep the December appointment with him ... the letter was mailed Monday but date on
letter is August 14th ...

OH well ... done fired him anyway ,  but still strange that he didn't say anything when I talked to him

[Sue]

Songwriting?   Oh wow, that's funny.  The Singing Surgeon.  Well, his mind wasn't on the game, now was it?   Well, when he's on the CMA Awards, you can say, I Knew Him When.  If he gets that far! 

What a hoot.

Sue in Vancouver, USA

[Kaybo]

Soundy~
That is really kind of funny...Songwriting?? Is he going to write songs about his experiences cracking open people's skulls???   

K

[lori67]

Hey, maybe I'll run into him around town.  I should be able to spot him with his scrubs, surgical mask and cowboy hat.     If I see him playing his guitar on a street corner downtown, I'll throw a little spare change his way.

Soundy, on a serious note, it's possible that your doctor wasn't sure of his move when you saw him last, so he didn't want to say anything yet.  Or it's possible he hadn't told his co-workers yet.  When my doctor was leaving Nashville for a new position (I guess he wasn't an aspiring songwriter), I heard about it through the doctor grapevine before his office staff knew about it (the benefits of being a nurse and having your child attend the same preschool as the doctor!).  Sometimes these transfers happen fast because if they don't accept the position, chances are there are 50 more doctors who will jump at it.  It is strange, but I don't think I'd worry too much about it or read too much into it.

Lori

[okiesandy]

They have doctors like this in every field. My first neurotolgist ask my why I didn't want surgery. I said the 3 D's. He said he never heard of it. I said Death, Disfigurement and Disability. He said "Well you have lead a full life haven't you" Zap he was gone. That man was not touching my brain.

Yesterday it was my cardiolgoist. First the pulled up the wrong patient. My last name is not Leah and I am not 74 years old. Then they couldn't find my med record. Then the doctor came in and when I said I had a couple of questions he said he was on a tight schedule. Dang, I pay $396 dollars a visit. Last time he spent 1 minute 21 seconds with me and the time before it was 1 minute 42 seconds. Yes, I time him. I wanted a different blood pressure med. I said I had researched and found a certain pb med. seems to control aneurysms. He said Oh, I wouldn't give you that any way I would give you something else. I said no, I don't want the thing to grow, I want to try that med if it isn't going to harm me. He said what makes you think you haven an aneurysm? I said you said I did and an ascending aorta that measures 4.24 cm is an aneurysm. He said where did you get that idea. I said Cleveland Clinic online information. He said stay off the internet, it isn't good for you. This man did not look at my chart one time. He scheduled me for a March appointment. I said save your self the trouble, obviously you don't have time for your patients, give my less than 2 minutes to someone else. there are plenty of cardiologist in this town I am sure I can find on who can take 10 minutes out of a busy day to listen to me once every 6 months.

Bah, hum bug and a pox on bad uncaring doctors. There would be a lot less of them if we would take a stand and let them know you are going to spread the word.

[Soundy]

I think I pushed him over the edge and he quit 

my doctor had talked to him on the 12th and then I talked to his nurse and him on the 14th or 15th
and not a word of retirement just told me to keep the December appointment...but since letter was
typed up on the 14th he had to know...

he trained at House and has been doing this for about 25 years ... guess he got tired of poking around
inside heads... gonna just do it on the side and teach now... burn out maybe ...

He did say it was an agonizing decision and apologized for inconvenience to all his patience

[leapyrtwins]

I think I pushed him over the edge and he quit 

Well, if you did Soundy, his next song might be about you 

Like a few others here, I find the surgeon/songwriter connection very strange, but you never know.  Maybe some of my doctors have aspirations to write songs also 

Okiesandy -

this is strictly my opinion, but I think you need to start thinking about firing the doctor you mentioned in your post.  A number of things about your post appalled me - no time for questions, no recollection of a diagnosis he gave you, extremely short visits, etc.  While I certainly appreciate docs being pressed for time and having to deal with lots of different patients, IMO the treatment you are receiving "just ain't right".

Hey, perhaps I could write a song about that 

I have to add one more thing here - if nothing else for the newbies among us.  The 3 D's that you mention aren't givens for surgery.  I chose surgery and am neither dead, disfigured, or disabled - at least not the last time I looked.  Yeah, I supposed technically I could be called disabled because I'm SSD, but IMO that's not a disability - just a life-alterating event.

Jan

[Soundy]

I agree with Jan... if he doesn't have time for you you need to find someone that does... up until after
surgery and my doctors OK you're fixed now attitude the shortest time an appointment lasted with
him was probably about 15 minutes... he got to know me and what I did in my life (Scouts ,subbing at
school , farm life etc ) , listened to fears as far as how surgery would change my life , he went over on
numerous visits the different approaches and advantages of each and disadvantages... it was nothing to
talk with him for 30 minutes...wish he didn't change so much ...

I am not dead or disfigured and I wouldn't say really disabled... I have debilitating headaches at times but
the deafness is more of an inconvenience than diabilty...

[Soundy]

Do you ever just get so disgusted with things til you want to crawl in a hole and hide??? I am looking for a hole to crawl into...

I got a call Friday ...the new doctor I was suppose to see has taken himself of the BCBS of Tennessee part S because it is slow paying ... when you have S you gotta pay a butt-load of money out before it starts picking up and I imagine it was slow paying patients instead of slow paying insurance

Got several new recommendations  ...one for a doctor that has clinic hours in Huntsville and Decatur Alabama  ...
37 and 33 miles respectively away from me ...but BCBS will not pay them because they are out of Tennessee
even though they except BCBS part S ... then they (BCBS) gave me the name of a doctor in Atlanta Georgia (223
miles away) that also practices in Chattanooga Tennessee (138 miles away) ...

I have been going through the directory of doctors that BCBS gave us and looking up any and all possibilities by
googling their names in the city listed ... the directory just gives name and specialties ...no phone numbers ... I have
a list of doctors in a 100 mile radius of me that are  in Tennessee and will start dialing numbers Tuesday and narrow
it down and give a list to my regular doctor on Thursday for him to go over and find someone new

I can go out of network to anyone but only half of what I pay them will be deducted from the high deductible and
out of pocket we have to pay out instead of the 100% coming of for in network ...

I am going back to insurance rep at work and start an appeal... one of the BCBS people I spoke to who was nice and
said that part S had many complaints ...she told me I can file an appeal if I can prove that going to one of the out of state
doctors would benefit me more than driving all the way to Timbuktu to see someone and have them covered as in network ...
she told me to make sure and put in the appeal that I would travel 4 lane state highways and rural routes to get to
Huntsville and to get to the others would spend a longer time driving and much of it on interstates with higher speeds
and higher numbers of vehicles traveling with higher rate of accidents and more semi-truck traffic... she said to make sure
that it was written up that the excess driving in worse conditions brought on a worsening in my symptoms
(headaches , nausea ,dizziness etc) ...so now to get seen closer to home and be covered I have to compile traffic information
and make my own  diagnosis of stress induced headaches ...

also in report will be that dealing with searching for an in-network  doctor and speaking to more idiots from BCBS than helpful
people also brings on symptoms ... but I have to find a nicer way to word that 

I am so unbelievably tired of this mess ...

[Omaschwannoma]

WOW Soundy, I just read your posts and I sure am sorry you are having to deal with ALL of this and headaches!  I cannot offer any advice and I wish I could help with your pain and a proper doctor.  ....waking up to you and putting my arms around you lovingly."All I can do is pray you find that caring doctor who will take away your pain. 

[okiesandy]

Jan,

Consider the cardio fired. He is one of the owners of a heart hospital here. Came with a great referral from another doctor.

 I fired the psudo neurotologist several years ago.  My husbands cousin had surgery by him the year before and we thought he had a stroke. 6 or 7 surgeries, could not get CFS leaks stopped. Gold weights in his eye. Continual cheek biting, inabality to even count or do any kind of math. He had to give up his business and to this day walks with a cane. I did not find out for seveal months what was wrong with him or I would not have gone to this doctor. The same doctor told me the guy was just gold bricking. Many, many other things I will not go into here. Before my AN was confirmed this same doctor told me he had done 25 to 35 AN surgeries and another doctor in his pracitce had done the most about 135. This is over a 10 and 15 year span. I think from checking the number of AN surgeries per year at the only hospital they do surgery at. When the AN was diagnosed the number grew to Dr. God doing about 200 and the other doctor doing thousands. No way!!! Or we may have had an epidemic in those two weeks.

We begged our insurance company to allow us to go out of state. No deal. House Clinic allowed us a great cash deal. We would have had to mortgage our house to do that. I was always very uneasy about the surgery. However, I had never considered radiation. At the last minute one of the posters on this site told me about Dr. Medbery and I thought might as well at least talk to him. I did and still didn't make up my mind. It wasn't until I talked with a neursurgeon that I chose CK and have never looked back. I seldom post on here anymore because I just don't have any problems and the AN just seems like something in a past life. I have never missed a day of work because of the treatment. All has been a plus for me. No more facial numbness, tinnitus much reduced,  improved balance. I didn't have hearing before treatment and didn't get it back. I can live with that.

Is very, very important to be sure of your doctor and do your research. I would have believed Dr. God if he had not told me on the very first visit that he had done only 25 to 35 because they were very rare.  weeks we had an  We may be a number to the doctors, we are number 1 to us and our family. We always need to think for ourselves and do the research. Mine came with with other patients that I dug out of the woodwork, not the one's referred to me by the doctors. This was the finial decision for me. Quality of life and a great out come. I know there is no guaranty with any treatment. I just saw way too much bad surgery in this city. There are really no experts here when it comes to surgery. It is like a shark feed to get to the AN patient and get'er out. I am surprised my Vet didn't want to do it. Just because a doctor says it does not mean it's true. Maybe that would be a good song title? There are good doctors out there, it is finding them that is sometimes hard to do. I never intend to be treated like this by another doctor.

Sandy

[leapyrtwins]

I never intend to be treated like this by another doctor.

Amen to that!

Jan

[Soundy]

Maybe good news... I had to take my mom to a doctors appointment yesterday and missed the
call but I did get a message from one of the doctors in Nashville that is willing to look me over ,
read my file and take me on if he thinks he can help... have to call Monday and set up an appointment

not celebrating yet but have a good feeling...

[Omaschwannoma]

...on knees, head bowed, fingers and legs crossed  I pray you get the care you so deserve.