I am sick and tired of being let down by our systems. This time it is my doctors office; I do not single out the doctors as the receptionist is a constant in the office, regardless of who is the doctor.
Please allow me to share:
Last summer, my job was showing signs of taking a toll on my health. I consulted my family doctor and decided a day away per week from work would do me well for six weeks. During those six weeks, the disability coordinator in Human Resources at work left for a new job and the doctor left the province to move closer to home. The new doctor started near the beginning of September. It took me several days over two weeks and several phone calls each day to get an appointment at the end of the first week of November. I was there for my afternoon appointment ahead of time with a list. Rather than the usual kind of family doctor appointment, I had to go pick-up my son from daycare before they closed and go back to the office with my son for my appointment, which ended up being super short, distracted, and dismissive. I did get a note for accommodations at work that she did not seem to really understand. She didn’t want to prescribe my medication either, so off went a referral. Despite previous notes on file with Human Resources, work required further documentation from my doctor than the note. Earliest available appointment was March 27th. I finally got fed up enough of being mistreated at work and my health failing from the toxicity that I gave notice in December to leave work at the end of March. A whole series of stressful events ensured at work thereafter. Workplace stress became so overwhelming that in my second last week of work that I called my doctors office in a bad state and, as usual, they had no appointments available. Thankfully the doctor on call was one of the rare breeds willing to handle an employment oriented case for a patient not their own. The on-call doctor put me off work for the rest of my tenure and for the next three months as the toll on my health was quite evident. Darn good thing too because I was supposed to see my doctor the following week to the on-call doctor as scheduled, but the appointment time written down the card was wrong by the receptionist. So, the appointment was moved to the next month at which time I requested a not for EI in case they needed it so my doctor wrote a note to express that I left my place of employment due to workplace stress exacerbated my health symptoms. Good thing because EI did need it. Of course, when you unemployed, all of the sudden you cannot work, you engage whatever insurances you have available as soon as you remember they exist. I had pre-booked an appointment with my doctor for the last week of June where I also left insurance paperwork to be filled out. At that appointment, she also finally believed me that I have health issues and said she would send a referral for my severe fibromyalgia. That said that is only after I gave her the date of my last specialist note according to my notebook records and she retrieved my file to look at it. I called the doctor a month later and followed up with the insurance company to keep them in the loop when I also learned that policy is that after 150 days I am responsible to pay the doctor directly myself. I tried to follow up again a couple weeks later with the doctor. I followed-up with my doctors office to get the name of the specialist to whom they referred my case for two reasons: due diligence to ensure they did actually sent it and to call the other office to ensure receipt. The receptionist said she would call me back with the name of the specialist and when she called me back she said it was sent and then put me on hold to look up the name of the doctor when I asked again because I was not leaving the phone call without that information. I am now on a cancellation list with the specialist. Last week my file was closed with the insurance. Today I received a call saying that the form is ready for pickup at the office. I relayed that my file had been closed by the insurance company as it had been inactive for too long and that I am presently unable to cover the fee. The receptionist retorted that the doctor had spent a lot of time on my file and that next time she will have to ask for the money upfront. She also argued that the doctor has not had my file that long. After the call, I counted that it will be 11 weeks tomorrow, so yea. I am sorry that I was off by a week and I realize that summer vacation was probably during that time. Now, the doctors report is ready, the file with the insurance is closed, I am unemployed but thankfully on EI and I am so tired of fighting for par today. Oh, so tired.
I hope the doctor did spent a lot of time with my file as claimed by the reception because ever time that I have seen her, I have requested to view my file. Maybe, just maybe she will finally let me see my file; she even questioned why I want to see my file. For those who don’t know, I have one good eye, one good ear, and a whole world of pain from musculoskeletal and nerve issues. Information is healing; the more I understand about my health, the better I adapt to life. I have learned a lot from the hospital records that I acquired from both the Moncton Hospital and the IWK while I await my doctors decision let me see my primary file with all my records from all my appointments that she hold in her custody. Understanding my childhood health records has helped me heal a lot and even has assisted in my return to living my my life well through good humour.
I do not know where to turn. I know that I should be seen by specialists. All of the doctors and specialists that I have had have left the region over the years and what referrals I can get require annual renewals that require a whole other level of appointment-making skill. The only reason I have the diagnosis I have is because I went in with a two sided bullet list of symptoms and was sent to a specialist ten years ago. I hold on to what little hope I have that I can access proper care, or at least surveillance, in this broken system of ours.
I do not know really what to expect with saying all of this here, but I guess that is also why I am posting here. Support, encouragement, active legal or social actions… I appreciate any and all kind words. And to anyone experiencing similar situations: you are not alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment