Mini-rant about a stupid doctor

[Lyric]

This morning, ThinkBlue1966 stepped into a hole in the yard and fell down onto her hip, hurting herself pretty badly. I somehow managed to get her up and called a taxi to take us to the Emergency Room. We sat there for 8 hours today while they did 7 or 8 x-rays and gave her Dilaudid and morphine via IV for the pain. The x-rays came back negative for a fracture, thank goodness, but the pain was still there. So the Dr. we originally saw recommended a week of rest, plus some pain medication at home. That sounded like a pretty good idea to us.

10 minutes later, a totally different Dr. came into the room. Apparently this new Dr. is the other Dr.'s supervisor, and he decided that (1) ThinkBlue1966 didn't need any time off from work, and (2) she also didn't need any pain medication. We were both like, WTF? We very politely told him that we disagreed, and he got huffy about it and left the room saying something to the effect of "Well, whatever."

15 minutes later, the nurse came in with ThinkBlue1966's discharge papers. He gave her a few days off of work, but no pain medication. She can barely walk (and has to use a cane when she *does* walk), she's in a lot of terrible pain, she's sick and nauseous from the heavy doses of IV pain medication, and yet they're treating her like this is no big thing.

Both of us felt like the second doctor was rude and inconsiderate, and he made both of us uncomfortable with his combative attitude. I still have no idea *why* he was acting like that. I swear it was like he thought ThinkBlue1966 was faking it or something. I'm thoroughly pissed about the whole thing, and upset that it happened. I'm especially upset that nobody bothered to give her any medicine to help with the nausea, or to help handle the pain she's feeling now that she's home. We had to pull over three times on the way home so she could vomit, and she's still dry-heaving and queasy and hurting really, really bad. She doesn't have insurance, and therefore she can't go see a "regular" Doctor right now, so we feel like we really don't have any recourse at all.

I just had to get it off of my chest. :(

[LaraMN]

1. Well, that SUCKS!

It made me mad just reading about it.
If she has a primary care Dr, can you possibly get him to phone in a prescription to the pharmacy for some pain meds?

[Lyric]

3. No primary care doc for her

I feel terrible for her. She's sleeping at the moment, finally--I managed to get a few sips of flat ginger ale and Pepto Bismol into her, and it stayed down, thank goodness.

I'm just so freaking mad right now. :mad:

[Oeditpus Rex]

2. I'd be willing to bet

that Dr. Assbucket saw her tats and assumed she's a druggie, or at least a "welfare mom."

I say go back and beat the shit out of him.

:grr:

[Lyric]

4. If I didn't have Brendan, I probably would at least

go back and yell at him loudly. But knowing my luck, I'd probably just get myself "detained" by hospital security. I'm so upset that I can hardly think straight. I hope that asshole finds himself in a similar position someday, as unlikely as it might be. :(

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. Find out which car is his

Bash in the hood or smash the windshield, then leave a note on it saying, "It doesn't need any body work."

:evilgrin:

[Lyric]

6. !!!!!

:rofl: :rofl:

Oh, god I wish. :hug:

[redqueen]

7. EGO trip much, doc? UGH!

God what a strutting, self-important peacock of a man-bastard! :grr:

[Lyric]

8. I know. What an asshole.

You know he didn't even examine Debbie. He looked at her chart and the x-ray, and that was it.

@#%!@#$^!$^#$!^#!^@#$%^!!! :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[cuke]

9. Speak to the hospital's patient advocate

[Lyric]

13. I'm not sure who or what that is.

What does a patient advocate actually do?

[cuke]

15. Call the hospital

and ask to speak to the patient's advocate. They'll tell you who to speak to. A patient advocate is there to help patients get the service they need

[Lance_Boyle]

10. I wondered if the decision to withhold painkillers

was due to her reaction - vomiting and dry heaving are not a strong recommendation for further doses of whatever triggered them. But then it seems something non-narcotic might have been offered instead. Odd.

[Lyric]

12. Oh, they offered a non-narcotic.

Naproxen. Honestly we have a bottle of Aleve right here at home--paying for a prescription for the same thing would have been a waste of money we don't really have, so we just told him not to bother. She had already taken the maximum dose of Aleve before she went to the hospital, and it didn't help at all.

As for the reaction--there are medicines that make it go away. Phenergan is the one they used to give *me*.

What I wonder is whether or not the fact that we have no insurance and ThinkBlue1966 has a plethora of large tattoos had anything to do with the decision to withhold pain medication. It's a sickening possibility.

[ThomCat]

11. Damn!

I am very sorry. It is amazing how arrogant many doctors can be. Some of them seem to love being judgemental pricks, and they think they're infallible.
x(

[Pierre.Suave]

14. Here is your reason, most likely.

"She doesn't have insurance"


Unfortunately...