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What do you do if your doctor isn't communicating with you?

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  • #1

    What do you do if your doctor isn't communicating with you?

    So I posted this not too long ago: http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=91255 but basically I have severely abnormal hormone levels caused by either PCOS or a tumor in the pituitary gland, but between the three doctors I've been shuffled off to no one can tell me exactly what's going on and despite a year's worth of doctor's visits I haven't gotten any treatment for it either.

    My current doctor, Dr. B, recently ordered a few new tests and has had the results for a week. I know this because I called last Thursday after not hearing anything from her for two weeks and her assistant told me she had the results and would call me back. No call, so on Tuesday I called again and her assistant told me that there were no notes about the results in my file, but that Dr. B would call me back. Still nothing from her.

    What's the best way to handle this now? I'm sorely tempted to change doctors, but I'm going back to school in a few weeks and don't see the point of trying to make an appointment with someone new now. But every time I call her assistant tells me that she'll let Dr. B know to call me back and I never hear from either of them.

    This isn't the first time this has happened either. Do I just tell Dr. B herself that I'm frustrated with the lack of communication, or is there someone else I should talk to about this?
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  • #2
    Honestly, I would just go to the office next Monday if it wasn't far. I'd explain what has been happening and ask to get the results. If it's the MD that has to give you the results, ask to wait.

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    • #3
      Quoth Slayer View Post
      Honestly, I would just go to the office next Monday if it wasn't far. I'd explain what has been happening and ask to get the results. If it's the MD that has to give you the results, ask to wait.
      The problem is that her office is about an hour and a half away, so the last thing I'd want is to drive that far and still run into issues. But if I can't get in touch with her tomorrow, I might have no choice but to try that.

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      • #4
        Quoth Slayer View Post
        Honestly, I would just go to the office next Monday if it wasn't far. I'd explain what has been happening and ask to get the results. If it's the MD that has to give you the results, ask to wait.
        Don't *ask* to wait. Just wait. And every half an hour or so go to the desk and ask politely if the doctor can give you the results you have been *waiting 2 weeks for* and have not yet gotten. Then if after a couple hours there is no result, go up the food chain and point out that they do have to release your medical records to you and the results of the tests are required for you to get treatment that you will be getting at your *new* doctors office, and you will be challenging every charge they have made to your insurance company as obviously they are not managing your account properly and you have issues with how they are handling your tests results.
        EVE Online: 99% of the time you sit around waiting for something to happen, but that 1% of action is what hooks people like crack, you don't get interviewed by the BBC for a WoW raid.

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        • #5
          Call them again. Ask if the MD HAS to the the one to give it to you. If so, tell them you are going to make an appointment (with a short time frame, say 2 or 3 days max) and tell them to book you in as an actual walk-in type client, so you KNOW the MD has a block of time reserved just for you. Then tell them that if the doctor doesn't call you during that time frame (because you're so far away) then you will be pulling ALL your medical records, including the report of the latest, and having them mailed to you (signature required to protect your privacy) because you have lost faith in this doctor's ability to manage your care if they cannot manage their time efficiently enough that they make a patient wait more than TWO WEEKS to get information about tests - which by their very nature would make anyone worry about the results from said tests. If they balk at that, go straight to "send me my records, NOW"- they may make you try to go in person to pick them up. You could ask instead that they be faxed to a more local doctor that you trust, who you can then request to read you the test results or give you a copy of your files.

          I was not told for MONTHS that I had a positive ultrasound for gallstones, and the place I went to was like "oh well I don't know what happened, it's okay anyway" and I was like "no, it's not. I was on unnecessary medication for those months and suffered anyway. It SHOULD be a big deal to you." They did switch me to a more appropriate medication and the situation resolved, but I did place an official letter of complaint in my file after showing it to the office manager of that location. Since then I've had better service.

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          • #6
            Depending on where you had the blood work done, you might be able to get the results yourself without waiting for the doc to get off his/her arse. I found that Quest Diagnostics has a smartphone app that lets you download the results yourself.

            (Although I couldn't use it myself, not having a smartphone. There might be some way to emulate one on a regular computer, I dunno.)

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            • #7
              No advice, as there is already some excellent advice here, just sympathy and hoping that you get things straightened out soon. Your doctor is being a twit; there's no reason you should be left hanging for two weeks over test results.

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              • #8
                Thank you so much for your help and advice everyone! I managed to get in contact with my doctor today; still not sure what's going on health-wise so she wants to do one more test. I told her I'd do the test through her only because I don't have the time to find a new doctor, but that I wasn't happy with how I had been treated and if I was left hanging again I would just find a new doctor for further treatment/tests.

                At this point, though, it's looking like I might not need to deal with her for the treatment itself, which is definitely a good thing!

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                • #9
                  when i don't hear from my doctor i call him like a forlorne lover and tell him i'm lost without him and need him desperatly, that he is breaking my heart with his constant promises to call, and then forgetting me the second he sees a pretty new case. etcetc.
                  usually gets him laughing so hard he remembers to call the next time.
                  Siead

                  Hobby Twitter.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth siead_lietrathua View Post
                    when i don't hear from my doctor i call him like a forlorne lover and tell him i'm lost without him and need him desperatly, that he is breaking my heart with his constant promises to call, and then forgetting me the second he sees a pretty new case. etcetc.
                    usually gets him laughing so hard he remembers to call the next time.
                    Great strategy!!

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