Ok, seems like a “Negative Nelly” kinda day,
perhaps a “Complaining Carla", if you will. I’ve spent the last few days calling
doctors’ offices in an attempt to explain to them how to do their jobs.
Apparently, they skimmed over that part of their contract/employment
application. So, here goes in no particular order…
Top
Ten annoyances when dealing with Doctors’ offices/appointments:
1. Calling to make an appointment with the doctor
and having the receptionist say…”The next appointment we have is October 2026.”
Ok, maybe it’s not that bad, but having to wait for an appointment just adds to
my already over-the-top anxiety. I’m the same as any other completely selfish,
narcissistic person; I want my appointment now, possibly yesterday!
2. When I finally make it into my appointment
(and yes, I am ALWAYS on
time) to have them tell me that I need to pay $100 (in cash mind you, they
don’t take checks or credit cards and don’t bother telling you this ahead of
time, as if people just walk around with $100 cash in their wallet) even though
my deductible has been met, they just haven’t done their job in finding this
information out prior to my appointment, and of course don’t believe me when I
tell them it’s already been met. In which case they always end up owing us
money! P.S. Unfortunately, I’m not very assertive. I know, I’m working on this,
but it is slow going.
3. As stated above, I’m ALWAYS on time (if not early), yet the doctor incessantly
seems to be running three hours late. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that the
person he went to go see at the hospital next door with heart attack symptoms
is probably a priority over me, but really, they can’t just take a moment to
get on the horn and tell me the dr. is running late, could you possible
reschedule or come in a bit later? Seriously, one time we had an appt. for 3:30
pm and weren’t seen until 7pm. I asked the doctor when he finally came in if
they served dinner along with the exam (and yes, I try to be sympathetic; after
all, the dr. is there late too). I’ve taken to calling the office ahead of my
appointment time to see if the doctor is running late and inevitably they tell
me, yes, could you come in in an hour? I reply with, of course, see you in an
hour. We make it to the office an hour after the original appointment time and
there is still a looooong wait. Fortunately, I explain to the receptionist that
I cannot sit upright for hours waiting, so I give her my cell phone number and
ask if she could please call me when it’s my turn; I’ll be reclining in Big
Handsome’s truck until the doctor is ready for me/us (this is quite possibly
the only thing they do for me as a courtesy).
4. Gotta love it when we go in for our yearly
physicals. When I call to make the appt. they always ask, “What are being seen
for?” My response is, “We are coming in for our Yearly Free Physicals,
and I assume there will be blood work involved, do you do the blood work in
office?” To which she replies, “Yes, we do blood work in office, so make sure
you fast from midnight the night before.” I make the earliest appointment so
I’m sure we won’t pass out from lack of food or drink. We get to our
appointment at 8:30am. We wait…and wait, and wait. Finally at 10:30 they bring
us in. At this point our stomachs feel as though our throats have been cut, but
we soldier on. We don’t even see the dr. for a mere physical (that’s not
important enough to warrant a doctor), we see the PA. Fine, no problem. Get the
physical completed only for the PA to escort us to the “Lab Lady” who then
proceeds to give us a paper with our necessary lab work and tell us to go on
down stairs to have our blood taken. By now it is 11:30 and we’re about to pass
out from lack of food and water. BTW, not a good feeling when one has POTS and
is supposed to keep hydrated. I explain to “Lab Lady” that we were told to fast
from midnight because we were to have our blood work done in office; we’re
going on 12 hours of no food or drink and were told by the receptionist that
we’d be getting our blood work done in office. “Lab Lady” tells me, no, you
have to go downstairs to the lab of your insurance to do the blood work. Let me
remind those that might not know what it’s like to walk into a lab in
mid-afternoon for blood work…It is now 11:30 am; the lab downstairs is slam-full
of people that have made appointments. I’m now supposed to drag my dehydrated,
hungry-as-all-get-out-self downstairs to wait, God knows how long, as a walk-in
to get blood taken that could’ve easily been drawn in the doctor’s office. It’s
a conspiracy, I tell ya’!! I swear, if I didn’t have high blood pressure and
anxiety before going in…I definitely do now! Needless to say, we didn’t go
downstairs; we simply made a beeline for the nearest McDonalds. I know, not the
healthiest of choices, but if I didn’t get some food and drink soon I was
liable to start eating my left arm (as I need my right arm to write).
5. Fast forward to this year’s physical. Well, a
bit of background first. The last time I saw the doctor was for my maintenance
medicine prescription renewal. The last thing he told us was, “Ah, I see the
next time you come in, it will be time for your physicals. I’m going to give
you your papers now so that you can get your labs done and then make an
appointment for your physical and we can go over all the results then.” I thought
to myself, wow how efficient! I then told him that my husband and I come in
together (Big Handsome was right there next to me at the time, he’s like my
American Express card; I don’t leave home without him). The doctor told me, no problem,
just call the office and tell them you need his lab paper and you can come pick
it up ahead of time. Sooooo, I called the office this year, explained what the
doctor told me to do concerning the lab work and that Big Handsome would be in
later in the week to pick up the paperwork. I get a phone call later and the “Lab
Lady” tells me, “I only have the paperwork for you, not your husband.” I told
her again what the doctor had told me at the last visit (see above) and she
says, “Sorry, your husband will have to make an appointment to come in to get
the paper.” Ok, I’m getting irritated now. I asked her rather rudely, now that
I think about it (sometimes I just can’t help myself), “You mean to tell me
that my husband has to make an appointment, pay a co-pay for an office visit so
that he can get a paper that the doctor told me to call about getting?” Her
response, “I don’t know what to tell you.” So basically, my husband has to take
time off work to make an appointment, go in to pick up a piece of paper (that
costs $150 mind you, because they will charge us for an office visit), then
make another appointment to get our blood work done because they refuse to do
it in office while we’re there even though they could if they were so inclined,
then make yet another appointment for the actual physical? I was fit to be
tied! Needless to say, I didn’t make a separate appointment. We go in today for
our physicals, and we haven’t had our blood work completed because they refused
to give me the paper prior to today’s visit. I can’t wait until the doctor opens
our files to go over the results of the lab work that aren’t there. We’ll see
how that goes down. Maybe I’ll get a chance to let him know what a bunch of
inept people he has working for him.
6. Not related to above statements concerning my
husband or me. Love it when I take one of my children in for a physical at the
pediatrician’s and have blood work done (in office might I add, why can’t they
call my doctor and explain how to do this, I’ll never know?) They then tell me
that they will call if there are any issues with the blood work. Ok. No
problem. They call a few days later and tell me to make an appointment to come
in and see the doctor. I ask if there was anything serious and do I really need
to make an appointment (I know, even doctor’s offices are businesses, and truly,
if it is serious, I will gladly make an appointment, after all these are my
gems I’m talking about). They skirt around my question just saying that the
doctor told them to call and make an appointment. Of course my mind goes into
overdrive, thanks to POTS and I’m thinking all kinds of horrid things that
might be the problem. Big Handsome senses my anxiety over the phone and tells
me, “Go ahead and make the appt. for today, I’ll leave work early.” We get to
the doctor’s office and wait over an hour to see the doctor. She walks in and
tells us “Your son has slightly elevated cholesterol.” SERIOUSLY???!!! You
couldn’t have told me this over the phone. Here I thought my son would have to
have his arm removed at the very least, Big Handsome takes off work early to
rush to the doctor to hear this??? I know, I know; yes we are quite thankful
that it was nothing more serious, but really??? And of course, they charged us
for an office visit to boot. Big Handsome lost four times the amount of the
office visit by taking off work only to find out that our son has elevated
cholesterol. UGH!!!
7. Here’s another gem concerning my daughter. She
is on maintenance medication and she needed a renewal. I called the office to
see if the doctor could call in the prescription. The response of course was, “You’ll
have to make an appointment.” I knew from experience that this was going to
happen so I made an appointment. Their next question is “When would you like to
come in?” I say, “When can I get in?” She tells me, “We have an opening
Saturday, is that ok?” I say, “Great, make the appointment, we’ll see you then.”
Saturday comes and goes, we have a successful appointment, and all things are
grand. A bit later we get a bill in the mail. One charge is for the office
visit, no problem, even though I’m a bit chapped that they charge me for an
office visit when all the doctor did was chat us up for a while and renew her
script, but I suppose everyone has to make money somehow. Anywho, I notice on
the bill a charge for $50 labeled, “After Hours Charge”. I’m perplexed. No one
told me at the time of the scheduling that a Saturday appointment is an extra
$50, nor are there any signs visible in the office, nor is there anything on
their website pertaining to this extra charge. Now, I’m irritated once again.
The outcome of this is still pending.
…I’m so exhausted at this point; I don’t even
think I can muster another 3 for the Top Ten. Today, Big Handsome and I go in
for our Yearly Free Physical in which case, I am not going to fast
because I know that they are going to give me the paper to take downstairs for
the blood work. However, since my middle name is Murphy, they will probably
say, “Well, have you been fasting? We were planning on taking your blood in
office.” If this is the case, you might just see my name and picture on the
Nightly News as “Irate Woman Stabs Office Staff in Eyes with Nearest Weapon, a
Stapler”.
And people want to know why I hate going to see a doctor, abhor making doctor’s appointments et al. Can’t wait to see what today’s
appointment brings. God-forbid I mention anything dealing with POTS or any
other symptoms because certainly they will code it so that they can make more
money off me and I’ll have to spend countless hours on the phone with the
insurance company. I can already feel my blood pressure rising…
This really turned into rather a rant than a list…sorry
‘bout that! I do feel a bit better having gotten it off my chest though J
*I do apologize (although not entirely sincerely)
to those that are doctors, work in doctors’ offices or labs or have
associations with the aforementioned people. Seriously, get your shit together!
Tableau I, 1921
