I Was Wrong To Give My Doctor A 2nd Chance

It was just 2 weeks ago when I wrote about how switching to a new primary care physician closer to home was off to a rough start and how I wanted to try to make things work. Well, turns out I made a horrible mistake. I gave them a 2nd chance and figured as soon as I got my meds, getting the refills wouldn't be a hassle.

I left my 2nd office appointment with a promise from the doctor that she would sort out the mistake that was made with my muscle relaxer. You see, the random person who answers the phone in her office decided all on her own to send in my prescription for a 30 day supply despite me explaining to her that because I get these in the mail it has to be for a 90 day supply. When the 30 day supply of pills arrived and I was being charged for a 90 day supply I called the pharmacy and explained that the office help made a mistake, the pharmacy reached out to the office to allow them a chance to correct the mistake and make things right.

The doctor never followed up on this matter and when the corrected pills didn't arrive I called the pharmacy again and requested that they reach out a second time to the office. I then called the doctor's office and left a very detailed message (because nobody ever picks up the phone) explaining the mistake and what needed to happen to correct the mistake. I even explained that if they didn't follow up on this I would be forced to pay for 2 months worth of pills I never received and asked that someone call me back so we could work this out.

Nobody ever called me back (of course) so I called them after about 4 days. This time I tried calling right away when they opened and I actually did reach a real person. So I explained that I was trying to resolve a mistake with one of my prescriptions. I was told everything was taken care of but when I pressed for more details I realized that they sent in a new prescription and didn't give me any refills. I asked why there were no refills when the doctor told me just the week prior that she would give me 3. I was told it was the office policy not to give any refills (lie!). I tried to explain why that doesn't make any sense and how that conflicts with what my doctor had told me.

This is when she cut me off - put me on hold, where I stayed for 10 minutes before being hung up on. Of course when I called back I got the voice mail again. The land where messages go unanswered indefinitely. I left a very angry message and demanded that I receive a call back. Nobody called back.

Not only do the idiots answering phones have the ability to make decisions about my health care but they also have complete control over me accessing help. Unacceptable and Scary!!!

Obviously, I need to find a new doctor. I am so pissed off by how I've been treated and even more pissed off at the lack of accountability and care.

I spent an entire morning searching online for a new PCP. I stumbled upon an article from a different hospital system in the area about how two of their doctors were branching out into their own private practice. When I called out to their office a perky and polite woman answered right away and was very helpful. Because they are new, I was able to get an appointment scheduled for next week. There is nothing that could happen with this new doctor that could be any worse than shit storm of careless imbeciles I've been dealing with for the past couple months.

I still believe, in general, it's good to try to make things work with a doctor even when things are not ideal. But in hindsight I should have taken the red flags I was seeing at the beginning of the month as evidence that this was a situation beyond reason. Last week, as I was writing the post about how much better my dog's vet is than my doctor, I realized just how bad it was - and just how wrong that is. I know I'll never find a doctor practice as good as the vet practice Gypsy goes to but I demand something better than what I've been dealing with.