I sent out another email to the doctor, after I called his office and spoke with the gal I have left most of my messages with. Not sure if it was my rant or my email, but I got an email back from the doctor.
He told me the delay was "all the patients he has in the hospital" and Dad's case is "too complex" to give out "quick answers".
Apparently, he did not read my email too closely, because he kept harping on why Dad needed to see the neurologist and get a CT Scan. He explained he told his office girl to forward the message to me about "a fall and a brain bleed have the same result; a stroke, but they are brought on differently." -- huh?
He totally ignored the fact, as I had explained in detail in my email, I could NOT GET ANY ANSWERS from the neurologists office. The girl was a complete unsympathetic snot and was rude. Dad's doctor just kept reiterating how" if we had taken Dad to the neurologist, we could have gotten the answers"...
Is it me, or is this doctor, thick in the head?
His last paragraph, sarcastically mentioned "since we felt it was too inconvenient to take Dad to the neurologist, it would be a good time to bring up Hospice for Dad..." Talk about taking what I said out of context!! I explained we had never had to take Dad to an outside doctor appointment. ALL the doctors treating Dad, including the Psychiatrist (Head of Staff, mind you) see Dad in the nursing home. We thought the neurologist would too, for Pete's Sake.
I had explained, in order to take Dad, one of my brothers would have to take off work to go with Mom, because Mom cannot handle him herself, plus she is scared to death riding in her car will trigger Dad to ask to come home. Plus, we have to pay $15 an hour to hire a CNA to go with Mom and my brother due to Dad's incontinence. Plus, we KNOW the doctors want a CT Scan, but we still have reservations and wanted his professional opinion on side effects for Dad since he has dementia. And, I could not get answers from the neurologist or his condescending office girl. I tried to find out IF he planned on doing any manual tests on Dad, and if not, why did Dad even have to go to the consultation. Couldn't Mom and my brother go?
I sent an email to my family and we have some brainstorming and conferencing to do this weekend....
5 comments:
My husband had terminal brain caancer which we were told about 3 days after my mum passed away so you can imagine what I and my children went through, hubby only lasted 2 more months and it took me 7 yrs to come to terms with losing 2 loved ones. One has to insist nowadays to the doctors and care services to get anywhere I hope solutions will be made.
Yvonne.
Grrrr! I am so frustrated after reading this! Your reasoning makes perfect sense, but it sounds like he was mad and threw an e-mail out there without really reading what you said.
And, if he is so busy he takes this long to respond - he is too busy. This is not good patient care!
I'm really thinking Donna it is time to consider a new doctor. I didn't like his excuse of all the patients in the hospital that was taking his time because your concern for your dad is just as valid as the concern for those patients. good luck with the brain storming session!
betty
Oh I am so sorry that this doctor is being this way!! It drives me nuts when someone answers (especially when it is important) an email but doesn't really answer your questions!! I finally had to tell my daughters to please answer my questions in red beside the question. Wish you could do that to the doctor. I really don't have any advice. Hang in there!! Will be praying!
Hey - I am certainly delighted to discover this. Good job!
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