Maybe this patient should realize that only office visits gets reimbursed – not telephone calls – explaining the need to come in. Blame the system, not the doctor:
For those of you who know of my legendary patience, you’ll find the next bit surprising.I ripped that doctor a brand new number two.
I let him know that I hate how I was left wondering if there was something critically wrong that I was asked to come in long before the two weeks was up, and then he just tells me something this simple. At some point, two F-missiles roared out of the launcher; he got mad, and wanted to start yelling at me.
I let him know in no uncertain terms that he’s not going to yell at me. He said he didn’t have to take it, and was going to leave the room. “Fine, then leave. I don’t really care,” was my response to him.
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{ 7 comments }
Doesn’t like his doctor. Feels his co-pay is a ripoff. Thinks his doctor’s time is his to command even when he isn’t paying for any of it. Likes to express himself with his doctor using profanity, and thinks that his doctor just has to take that from him.
I would terminate him forthwith and with no looking back. Out of the office. No more appointments. Period.
This is the kind of guy that deserves to hunt for a physician willing to take verbal abuse and at a discount. He could hunt forever for all I could care.
If a lab or radiographic test is normal, I’m happy to have my nurse call the patient and let him know it’s “Normal.” In my office we inform patients of their results whether normal or abnormal.
If a patient then wishes to pursue a line of questioning with regard to the test or the condition with which he presented and prompted the investigation, he must come in to discuss this face to face.
I’ve found that this is the most expeditious solution, and avoids a lot of misunderstanding and miscommunication.
reviewing test results (normal OR abnormal) & making a decision on a proper course of action is work, and requires real time & judgment. This is why doctors train for so many years, and the product we sell is our knowledge & judgment.
If medicare & other insurers feel that they don’t want to pay for such work (ie. telephone care), then requiring an office visit for follow-up is not unreasonable (as far as the copay issue, not collecting one is tantamount to insurance fraud in the eyes of medicare).
After all, if a decision is made hastily & without proper discussion of risks/benefits, liability could be huge. But somehow people feel doctors are worth so little when things come out fine, but so much when there’s a bad outcome.
It would really suck to have her as a patient.
When this guy started yelling he’d find I yell too, fire abusive patients on the spot, and frequently throw them out so hard they bounce.
I make it VERY clear to abusive patients (who for the most part are indeed not paying a dime towards their care) that MD does NOT stand for “Masochistic Doormat”.
My goal is to be able to get up every morning and to be happy to see every patient on my schedule. Dumping idiots like this one would get me one step closer to realizing that goal.
Generally, I’ll consider it a win if he does me two favors – he goes somewhere else, and picks someone I don’t like.
Thanks for a great blog, Kevin,
Vincent Meyer, MD
Hi. I’m the OP of the quote this blogger has pointed out.
I’d like to offer you some context that was not placed in the initial post. Tell me, with context, whether I am wrong for being annoyed, if you will.
A comment, left to an observer, by me.
A small quote from the comment I left: “You know, my issue with the doctor wasn’t that I didn’t like his answer. I didn’t like how he downplayed the information, making what he said seem unimportant and non-threatening. During my talk with him on the same day I lost my temper with him, I let him know just that: I hate having information downplayed to me. Just like I’m telling you straight forward what my issue is with the doctor, I expect the same from my doctor to me, regarding my health.”
I don’t think that this is too much to ask, yes?
I generally don’t flip out like this at doctors, really. And to address anon #1, I think that paying a copay to be told what seems like “Nothing’s wrong with you” would feel wrong.
Anon #2, I’d have loved a phone call that just says, “Hey, guy, things are normal. Nothing to worry about.” One of the things that the doctor, the nurse, and I discussed is the way that she phrased things. It induces a state of panic when you’re hoping all is well. I would really enjoy your suggestion of a contact style, because you are right: It’d have cut out some of the miscommunication and misunderstanding that led to this event.
And Dr. Meyer, I’m glad I don’t have you as a doctor. My doctor did at least stop and realize that there was some miscommunication that had occurred, and did actually want to fix this with me. That’s why he asked a nurse to come into the room. We sat there for 18 minutes, talking about what happened, and discussed how not to have this occur again.
While I respect those of you who are here as doctors, and what you have to go through to get there, All I really want is a straightforward answer with instructions. Just like when people call me for help with their computers each day, and I work straighforward with them to get the issue resolved, I just ask the same for my medical issues.
Geez, didn’t mean to novelize here.
Thanks for your time.
Lately I find doctors are yelling, scaring and manipulating. During 15 years of education you figure someone would tell the doctor to be nice to the patient. Does the doctor making $ 300,000 have to make the $ 30,000 patient feel smaller? It’s time for Doctor GOD to get humble. Let us not forget doctors in other countries make $ 10,000 a year and if it wasn’t for the AMA lobby we could pay our doctors $ 30K a year instead of the average $ 300K surgeons make.
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