Complaint against a doctor?

[NobodySpecific]

I recently dislocated my knee, and the first orthopedic office I called told me it would be a 3 week wait to get an appointment, so I went to see my primary care doctor on Monday. He tugged and pulled and twisted and said I would be fine and to basically just walk it off (he said that as it started to feel better I could use it more and to come back in a few weeks). Based on the pain/discomfort I had, this didn't seem right to me so I asked for a referral or at least some scans and he told me no. I think he told me that because he was 35 minutes late for our appointment and likely was in a rush to his next patient/obligation. I recognized this, but there was nothing I could do.

Because he wouldn't do anything for me, I kept calling until I got an appointment with an ortho. They did xrays and immediately were able to see that my patella tendon had torn, leaving my knee cap partially floating. This requires your leg to be straight and immobilized for 4 weeks, or else the knee cap will heal "loosely" and cause knee problems in the future.

I'm mad at my primary care doctor for a few reasons
1) Being that late, but whatever, I let it go
2) Rushing through the exam without offering any sort of rehab exercises or any other recommendations on ANYTHING relating to the injury.
3) Refusing to refer me to a specialist (I was hoping his office would have some pull to get me in earlier than the 3 weeks I was told) or schedule any scans (I specifically asked at the end of the exam if I could get a referral and he said no)
4) Giving me the absolute wrong advice, which set my recovery back at least a week but hopefully didn't cause any long term problems.

Am I justified in being kinda pissed about the whole situation? What can I do about it? He pulled a similar thing with me when I hurt my shoulder. I waited a long time for the pain to go away (a year) and his only advice was to give it more time. That was the first sign I should have stopped going, but I gave him a second chance. I don't like the idea of a lot of people getting patently wrong advice from their doctor and at least want to make some sort of official complaint (if it is justified) to help other people try to prevent something bad.

[TheIglu]

Very easy to file a complaint. Call them to change your PCP and explain why you are doing so. Done.

[ThisBitch]

No, you are not wrong for feeling the way you do.

I went into the emergency room with a life threatening hernia in my stomach that my intestines were pinched in and had started to atrophy. I was told that because, and I quote "You're 23, female and sexually active. Its probably an STD or some other type of infection. We'll put you on anti-biotics and see if that clears it up." I had to fight tooth and nail not to be discharged and to get more tests. The surgeon that ended up operating on me told me that if I'd gone home, I'd have died.


Anyway, the route you go depends on what type of doctor you have. If you go to a clinic, you would probably want to find out what their complaint process is.

If its an individual practitioner, you should go through your insurance company.

[Wanderer]

File a complaint! After a crash a few years ago, I had wrist pain and got Xrayed at Lowell General. Sprain they said, will go away in a month or two.

Three years later - still 'sprained' and now apparently not repairable. Maybe 30% reduction in right hand strength - if I get some asshole with a fierce handshake its agony.

[NobodySpecific]

File a complaint! After a crash a few years ago, I had wrist pain and got Xrayed at Lowell General. Sprain they said, will go away in a month or two.

Three years later - still 'sprained' and now apparently not repairable. Maybe 30% reduction in right hand strength - if I get some asshole with a fierce handshake its agony.

I also have had persistent shoulder and wrist pain for a long time that he refused to actually look at. I plan on bringing it up in my follow-up ortho appointment.

Thanks guys (and Jackie), I just didn't want to go in sounding like an overly entitled asshole that has expectations that are too high.

[The Snowman]

It's your health. If the primary got it wrong, complain and get a new one. Plain and simple.

[gadget]

yep, and never go back to that quack again.

Get a Doctor that you feel is actually paying attention to you.

[ThisBitch]

They don't call it practice for nothin!

[nhbubba]

Fire his ass.. find another doctor.

[gadget]

Patient: Doctor, Doctor!! It hurts when I do this!

Doctor: So don't do that.


Patient: Doctor, Doctor!! Everytime I drink coffee, I get a stabbing pain in my eye.

Doctor: Take the spoon out of the cup.

[NobodySpecific]

Fire his ass.. find another doctor.

I already had made that decision, and called his office today to try switching doctors within that office first. If that doesn't work I will find an entirely new office to go to.

We will see if he calls me to speak with me or see me personally, or if he'll just have his lackeys deal with me. They are going to call me back when they have a chance, but I gave my story to the girl on the phone so we'll see what happens. I want my insurance to get a refund for the last visit, as it wasn't just unhelpful, it was actually detrimental to my health.

[Falko]

they don't care. he has other patients and probably a bit of a waiting list to get seen. It's all about volume, they get the same office visit payment whether they spend 5 minutes with you or 50. you're an easily replaced number. Sad it has come to that, but there's no competition, and they like it that way. The AMA is a big lobby.

[eboos]

I went into the emergency room with a life threatening hernia in my stomach that my intestines were pinched in and had started to atrophy. I was told that because, and I quote "You're 23, female and sexually active. Its probably an STD or some other type of infection. We'll put you on anti-biotics and see if that clears it up." I had to fight tooth and nail not to be discharged and to get more tests. The surgeon that ended up operating on me told me that if I'd gone home, I'd have died.

It must have been all that sexual activity that gave you a hernia.

[doctorbossman]

Wait until capitation takes hold. They tried it in the 1990's and MA is trying again but calling it Global Payments this time.

Currently doctors are under time and volume stresses to keep clinics afloat but in general are compensated for more tests and procedures. Under the proposed system, providers will be incentivised to order fewer tests and referrals.

Your doctor didn't provide the referral possible because of time, skill or knowledge limits. What do you think the chances of getting that referral will be when he will get paid less if he orders it.

Financial incentives have unintended (but often predictable) consequences.

My best advice is to find a doctor you trust, but realize even they will be subject to incentives. They are only human.

Regarding the complaint... doctors hold their reputations as very valuable. They will often respond to patient criticisms, but that won't change your current situation. Changing doctors is the best thing to do for yourself now.

[ThisBitch]

It must have been all that sexual activity that gave you a hernia.

Actually, what really pissed me off is that it had been a bit of a dry spell and i hadn't gotten laid in a few months, so that wasn't even a possibility. Add to that the fact that I had gone to the box doctor the day before and already been tested for everything.

I know this sounds stupid, but it was demoralizing.

[SVRACER01]

sounds kinda like the DR that diagnosed me with a mild hernia when in fact it was a ruptured appendix
i used to always take the DRs word for everything (not that i go much) but after that i question everything.
i hurt my knee a couple years ago, DR said it was a sprain and it would be fine. i asked for an MRI but was told i didnt need one, i said i wanted one and the DR said no. i said yes...ASAP. DR said said fine and sent me. they found nothing, but at least i KNEW for sure and it wasnt just some hot DRs opinion.

[dankatz]

File a complaint and I would switch offices, not just doctors. Medicine is not an exact science and many times physicians are wrong in their diagnosis. What's sometimes is more important is to make sure that they recognize that they can be wrong and not to be afraid to refer to a specialist. At the end of the day, it is also important to let the patient know that if things don't get better there is no better advocate for themselves than they are and they need to speak up. I think it is hard for people in primary care because of the reimbursement. Medicine really should not be a business, but inevitably it is.

[Trouble]

There are online reviews of doctors. http://www.healthcarereviews.com/USA...Healthcare.php
Write a review so others know what's going on.

[Doc]

http://healthvermont.gov/hc/med_board/complaint.aspx


File a complaint.

[joeswamp]

The problem with medicine (at least my experience with it) is that there seems to be wildly differing levels of competence among physicians, much more so than in other fields. I have a shoulder that healed in the wrong place because my initial orthopedic surgeon was unfamiliar with a basic fixation technique -- one that other surgeons ten miles away perform all the time. By the time I found a good guy my shoulder was no longer mobile and it would take risky surgery to correct the situation.

My experience was like hiring an engineering firm and finding out later that they did all their analysis with slide rules and pencil drawings.