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This is a story about a friend of mine, S. Her husband told me and my husband about it over dinner last night.
S and her husband want to have children. Unfortunately, S has had rheumatoid arthritis since she was about 6 months old. She takes a variety of medicines every day as treatment, which leave her unable to have children. And if she were to stop taking the medicine, she would be crippled and unable to walk.
So, they have turned to adoption. To make a long story short and to avoid Fratching territory, I'll just say that the adoption process has been a long and difficult one for them so far. They are now at a point where they are filling out page after page of paperwork.
One of the things they need to get are forms filled out and signed by their primary care providers indicating that they don't have any serious, life-threatening health conditions and that they are physically able to care for a child. S has (or had...keep reading) a primary care provider, who she sees once or twice a year, but she also has a rheumatologist who she sees much more often, every 2-3 months. So she asked the adoption agency if she could have her rheumatologist fill the forms out instead of her PCP.
The adoption agency himmed and hawed about this and finally said, "Well, it probably would be good if you got your rheumatologist to fill the form out, since he knows your condition best. But we still need it from a PCP too, so you need to get the form filled out twice, once by your rheumatologist, and once by your PCP."
This wasn't exactly the response she was looking for...but whatever. She got her rheumatologist to fill out the form without any problems. Then made an appointment with her PCP to get it filled out again.
Her appointment was earlier this week. She got to the clinic, got checked in, was seen back to one of the little exam rooms, and was then told that her usual PCP no longer works there and that she would be seeing someone else instead. Nice way to start the appointment.
So the new dr. comes in while reading S's file. The first thing she does is demand to know why it has been so long since S had been to see them (it's been less than a year.) S was taken aback and asked what the dr. meant. The dr. snapped that with S's condition, she should come in much more often for appointments. S replied that she has a rheumatologist who she goes to every couple of months, who knows her condition very well. The new dr. went off the handle and started yelling and berating S, telling her she was irresponsible for not coming in for appointments often enough and that seeing the rheumatologist alone wasn't good enough.
S finally managed to explain that the only reason she was in at all was because she needed to get a form filled out for an adoption agency. She tried to show it to the dr. but the dr. wouldn't even take it or look at it, kept berating S, then told her that she needed to come back in 2 weeks and she would maybe consider filling out the form then. Then she walked out of the room, leaving S stunned.
Needless to say, S is not going back to that doctor or that clinic. Now she has to scramble to find a new PCP who will fill out this form for her before the deadline. I'm not entirely sure when the deadline is but they only had a month from the time they got it to get it turned in, and I know they've had it at least a week or two now.
The whole thing is just ridiculous! Without even getting into why the adoption agency needs the same form filled out by two different doctors -- why the hell would the new PCP S saw tell her to come back in 2 weeks? She did not tell S to do anything different, change any medication, or anything. What would change in 2 weeks that she would consider signing it then and not right away?
It's ridiculous! And it makes me really angry for S and her husband.
S and her husband want to have children. Unfortunately, S has had rheumatoid arthritis since she was about 6 months old. She takes a variety of medicines every day as treatment, which leave her unable to have children. And if she were to stop taking the medicine, she would be crippled and unable to walk.
So, they have turned to adoption. To make a long story short and to avoid Fratching territory, I'll just say that the adoption process has been a long and difficult one for them so far. They are now at a point where they are filling out page after page of paperwork.
One of the things they need to get are forms filled out and signed by their primary care providers indicating that they don't have any serious, life-threatening health conditions and that they are physically able to care for a child. S has (or had...keep reading) a primary care provider, who she sees once or twice a year, but she also has a rheumatologist who she sees much more often, every 2-3 months. So she asked the adoption agency if she could have her rheumatologist fill the forms out instead of her PCP.
The adoption agency himmed and hawed about this and finally said, "Well, it probably would be good if you got your rheumatologist to fill the form out, since he knows your condition best. But we still need it from a PCP too, so you need to get the form filled out twice, once by your rheumatologist, and once by your PCP."
This wasn't exactly the response she was looking for...but whatever. She got her rheumatologist to fill out the form without any problems. Then made an appointment with her PCP to get it filled out again.
Her appointment was earlier this week. She got to the clinic, got checked in, was seen back to one of the little exam rooms, and was then told that her usual PCP no longer works there and that she would be seeing someone else instead. Nice way to start the appointment.
So the new dr. comes in while reading S's file. The first thing she does is demand to know why it has been so long since S had been to see them (it's been less than a year.) S was taken aback and asked what the dr. meant. The dr. snapped that with S's condition, she should come in much more often for appointments. S replied that she has a rheumatologist who she goes to every couple of months, who knows her condition very well. The new dr. went off the handle and started yelling and berating S, telling her she was irresponsible for not coming in for appointments often enough and that seeing the rheumatologist alone wasn't good enough.
S finally managed to explain that the only reason she was in at all was because she needed to get a form filled out for an adoption agency. She tried to show it to the dr. but the dr. wouldn't even take it or look at it, kept berating S, then told her that she needed to come back in 2 weeks and she would maybe consider filling out the form then. Then she walked out of the room, leaving S stunned.
Needless to say, S is not going back to that doctor or that clinic. Now she has to scramble to find a new PCP who will fill out this form for her before the deadline. I'm not entirely sure when the deadline is but they only had a month from the time they got it to get it turned in, and I know they've had it at least a week or two now.
The whole thing is just ridiculous! Without even getting into why the adoption agency needs the same form filled out by two different doctors -- why the hell would the new PCP S saw tell her to come back in 2 weeks? She did not tell S to do anything different, change any medication, or anything. What would change in 2 weeks that she would consider signing it then and not right away?
It's ridiculous! And it makes me really angry for S and her husband.
. She's hoping that in two weeks it will no longer be an issue, most likely. Or it's her version of a "time out" to get S to come back sooner. I'd report her, that is NOT acceptable. One year isn't too long to see your GP if everything else is taken care of, I think. Just enough for yearly checkups. People Suck.
and a R. doctor is better than a general practitioner with R. stuff, yeah? Power. Trip.
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