One Bad Lung

For some reason I attract bad doctors, but this is the first time I’ve ran into a horrible staff.  After moving from the East Coast back to the Midwest, one of my first tasks was finding new doctors.  Fortunately I used to live in the general area and could reconnect with my old pulmonologist.  I did not like my old PCP, and needed to find a local allergist.  The other thing I was looking for was an ENT or Otolaryngologist.  I found one in the same hospital building as my Pulmonologist and assumed they’d be great.  Boy was I ever so wrong.

I went in for an establishing appointment soon after moving and things seemed ok.  I soon had issues with my insurance not wanting to pay for Dexilant, but I had my old ENT handle this since the new office had no real experience or knowledge of my condition.  Now a few months later I have much better health insurance through my new job, but they are once again questioning my need for Dexilant.  I completely understand why they are asking.  It’s an expensive medicine not needed by everyone.  I’ve done barium swallows and have taken two of the three other medications they want you to try first.  Dexilant seems to be the only medication that works for me.

So I called my insurance company, gathered all of the information I needed, and showed up at my doctor’s office around 7:45am.  They didn’t even open until 8am, but I wanted to speak with someone in person as soon as possible.  I received a surprisingly rude response from the receptionist.  She told me, “…we don’t do that.”  She went on to tell me about it takes so much time and effort.  They actually have to call the insurance company and talk to someone!  I had never been denied help with my condition like this before (with the exception of Dr Ass Face) and continued to speak with the woman to get to the root of the issue.  Even with all of my please, thank you, yes ma’am, and no ma’am Southern politeness – I wasn’t getting far.  Eventually she told me some nurse would call me later in the day.

Nine days later, it took eight for that nurse to actually call me back, and six interactions with four or five of their staff members left me wanting to yell obscenities every time I was trying to communicate with this office.  It didn’t matter if I was face-to-face or on the phone.  Everyone acted like I was asking for a personal loan.  I’ve never had a doctor’s staff audibly sigh at me on the phone, talk at me like I was a little child, or act like I was the biggest asshole in the world.  At first I thought the one staff member just hated life, but after the fourth person behaved in the same manner I finally grasped the big picture.

I should no longer support this practice.  It’s not worth my time or the stress and anger it is causing me.

The next morning I called my primary care physician’s office and left a message for my doctor’s nurse.  Within an hour I had already received a call back and was cheerfully promised this would be taken care of in 24-72hrs with an apology for it possibly taking so long.  They were happy to help me.  They acted like this was no big deal.  They didn’t quiz me with questions on why I just couldn’t take the meds that were already proven not to manage my condition.  This is what I had experienced last fall when my previous doctor took care of the problem.  This is what you pay for when you have a doctor managing your health.

I feel the need to explain to Dr Rogers why I am no longer his patient.  Will he care?  Maybe not.  When I called this morning to cancel my follow-up appointment the woman on the phone (one with whom I hadn’t spoken yet) was so curt and eager to get me off the phone I was barely able to cancel my appointment.  I wasn’t even yelling or mad in doing it.  I’m thinking a hand-written letter might get through – kind of like writing your congress person.  We’ll see what happens.