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Last week I had a bladder infection. I thought it would be a simple case of going to a clinic and giving them a urine sample and getting some antibiotics. So I went to the clinic on the corner where I once had a doctor. (I got upset with her when after months of her telling me my symptoms were in my head, even when I showed her a lump in my neck, I was diagnosed to have stage four cancer. I quit going to her.) There were pictures of footprints across the window of the clinic and I took that to mean it was a walk-in clinic. (Podiatrist as well as MD, oops) So I said, "I used to be a patient of Dr. G., I'm in a lot of discomfort and I know it is a bladder infection, it won't take long..."
NO. They don't take patients who haven't been in for five years or more. Brilliant, penalize the patients who remain well enough not to need to see a doctor... "Do you know where I could go?" She told me to walk east a few blocks to a walk-in clinic.
I did, it was really painful. Guess what? NOT A WALK-IN!
She told me, "there might be a walk-in down the road but they have weird hours..." Argh.
I had to use the public washroom where I burst into tears. It was really painful at this point. I waddled back and said, "Could you call a cab? This is the second clinic that would not help me and I am in so much pain..." (I had not brought my phone because it was recharging and I really thought I would be helped by the doctor at the end of the street, but fortunately I had enough money to take a cab to the hospital.)
I went to the hospital E.R. I was seen very quickly by triage, unusual and appreciated, I grabbed an empty sample vile and went to the bathroom and was able to hand it off as soon as the nurse saw me, a short wait and the doctor confirmed it, wrote a prescription for me and BOB'S YOUR UNCLE WHO HAS PROSTRATE PROBLEMS!
But seriously, when was the medical profession so concerned with billing that they would disregard someone in pain so blatantly? When did it become common place for support staff to be so calloused and inept that they would just send a sick person on their way without at least checking to see if where they were sending her even existed?
I didn't write about it until now because I wanted to calm down. In truth, I didn't want to think about it. I get sick a lot. I have had cancer twice. I have found if you get angry people tend to cordon you off and put you where you can be ignored, but sometimes if you cry you get a few crumbs of humanity. I hate crying in public. So I had to add that to what was already a painful situation. But beyond my own ordeal, this must mean that other people who are suffering are being treated poorly too.
Which is something to complain about.
Isn't it?
NO. They don't take patients who haven't been in for five years or more. Brilliant, penalize the patients who remain well enough not to need to see a doctor... "Do you know where I could go?" She told me to walk east a few blocks to a walk-in clinic.
I did, it was really painful. Guess what? NOT A WALK-IN!
She told me, "there might be a walk-in down the road but they have weird hours..." Argh.
I had to use the public washroom where I burst into tears. It was really painful at this point. I waddled back and said, "Could you call a cab? This is the second clinic that would not help me and I am in so much pain..." (I had not brought my phone because it was recharging and I really thought I would be helped by the doctor at the end of the street, but fortunately I had enough money to take a cab to the hospital.)
I went to the hospital E.R. I was seen very quickly by triage, unusual and appreciated, I grabbed an empty sample vile and went to the bathroom and was able to hand it off as soon as the nurse saw me, a short wait and the doctor confirmed it, wrote a prescription for me and BOB'S YOUR UNCLE WHO HAS PROSTRATE PROBLEMS!
But seriously, when was the medical profession so concerned with billing that they would disregard someone in pain so blatantly? When did it become common place for support staff to be so calloused and inept that they would just send a sick person on their way without at least checking to see if where they were sending her even existed?
I didn't write about it until now because I wanted to calm down. In truth, I didn't want to think about it. I get sick a lot. I have had cancer twice. I have found if you get angry people tend to cordon you off and put you where you can be ignored, but sometimes if you cry you get a few crumbs of humanity. I hate crying in public. So I had to add that to what was already a painful situation. But beyond my own ordeal, this must mean that other people who are suffering are being treated poorly too.
Which is something to complain about.
Isn't it?
