HAPPENSTANCE

Had a doctor's appointment yesterday. The specialist shares an office and is part of the practice of my referring doctor. Since I had just seen the referring doctor last week, he had me leave my MRI films and X-rays in the office to be reviewed by the specialist for my upcoming appointment.

The day started off bad and went downhill from there. Hit a detour on my way to the appointment, as well as construction with flagmen directing two-way traffic into one lane on another roadway and still managed to get there 15 minutes early as requested to fill out paperwork. I was the only one in the office for a lunchtime appointment at 12:30 p.m.

The office began to fill up because there are about eight doctors with different areas of expertise in the practice, and, although I was first on the sign-up list for mine, people arriving after me were being taking in to the examining rooms. After about 45 minutes, I questioned why I wasn't being called in, and another 20 minutes later, I was finally taken in to see the doctor. After answering 10 minutes of questions by the nurse, she realized that I was taken into the wrong physician's room, because the new-girl-in-training put my folder in the wrong bin.

Thus I was escorted back into the general waiting room for another half hour. Finally called back into an examining room where I waited another 15 minutes for 'my' doctor. When he finally arrived, he asked a few questions and then wanted to see my films. I explained the films should be somewhere in his office, so he left to check and after lots of discussion and scurrying about, he returned and says no one could find then, but let's wait until the original doctor finishes up with a patient to trace their whereabouts, since they were left with him. With that he left the room. Another 20 minutes later both doctors enter the room and my original doctor says he doesn't remember what he did with the films, but believes he sent them back to the radiology file room at the hospital.

Without the films the specialist didn't do anything except take my co-pay and tell me to come back in a month (guess it gives him time to find the missing films). Thus nothing got accomplished, except I was charged for an office visit, spent three wasted hours there and an hour in traveling and detour time back and forth to the office.

Today, I called the hospital radiology department and there was no trace of my films, but I explained the situation and the file room attended contacted the doctors office, and spoke to someone who, evidentially made a concerted effort -- and in a few hours time, found the missing films.

When I received the message that the films were located, I called to thank the people involved, and somehow in our conversation, found out my next appointment had been scheduled with the wrong doctor again. It seems the office staffer not only put my chart in the wrong bin, but also assigned me to the wrong doctor in the computer. Luckily I was able to change the appointment, so in a month I will again try to see the right doctor to get an opinion.

What a rigmarole, topsy-turvy experience. It reminded me of an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" where Larry David visited his doctor's office and had conflicting experiences with the sign-up sheet versus actual appointment time -- and, as with my encounter, it turned into a lose-lose situation. As Mr. David so creatively demonstrates in his story lines -- humor is based on happenstance to which we all can relate.
- posted by rosemary @ 11:42 AM