Letter to My Primary Care Physician
56Dear Doctor ____________:
Today I received a form letter from your office informing me that I was overdue for my annual checkup. The letter also stated that, as appointments fill up very quickly for some months in advance, I should call immediately to schedule the check-up.
I don't think I will.
Remember your first offices in that little building off ___________ Street? I started seeing you then -- it made perfect sense for me to choose a gynecologist as my primary care-giver (the terminology used in my insurance policy), as I was in my thirties, and a woman (it never did make sense for me to see a male doctor; how could he possibly know what we're talking about, sometimes?). You agreed with my decision, and were happy to continue to prescribe my antidepressants, as they had originally been ordered by a local psychiatrist (who I could not afford to visit). The office was a cheerful little place, with photos on the walls of all the babies you had delivered.
That was back in 1995, I think. I visited that little office quite a few times, and I remember it was there that you explained I would need laser surgery to cut away a portion of my cervix. You explained that there was a real chance I would not be able to carry a baby to term should I get pregnant, and comforted me when I cried at that. The day of the surgery, when I arrived at the OR prep, you hugged me and I knew you would do everything in your power to leave enough of the cervix to be viable, without compromising my safety.
After that, you saw me through the hysterectomy and hugged me again when telling me that the ovaries were fine, and that you had been able to leave them untouched. You said it was fortunate that I had chosen to have the surgery by incision (rather than endoscopically), as you had been able to feel confident about your inspection of the cervix, uterus, and ovaries. By this time you had moved offices twice -- the larger complex opposite the hospital, then the present building beside the hospital, where you can be close to your patients. With each move, though, you became busier and busier, and more and more distant.
It is a fact of modern American medicine that doctors must see a certain number of patients in order to be able to afford to pay the dreadfully high insurance costs that are your only means of protection against multi-million dollar lawsuits -- that bane of the whole system, that also seems to be the right of the patient to sue for at any perceived hint of malpractice or incompetence, when we all know that you are doing the very best you can do for your patients. In the time allotted.
Increasing the number of patients you see requires a larger support staff to manage the patients' visits. If we use the analogy of a fast-food restaurant, we can see that each step of the appointment-through-billing process is set up to produce a smoothly running operation guaranteed to let you see the maximum number of patients for the briefest time possible. Unfortunately, I don't eat at fast-food restaurants.
There is another reason prompting this course of action, though. On November 15th, 2006, I arrived at your office without an appointment, in obvious distress and in need of professional care. I was asked to sit in the waiting room. Then a nurse came out and informed me that if I was experiencing an emergency, I should go to the emergency room.
I asked to see you -- if only for a moment -- as the human being who would hug me and tell me yourself to get my ass over to the ER, if need be, but also tell me what to say when I got there to get the most appropriate treatment in the least amount of time. The nurse who handles your morning appointments disappeared again, then came back to repeat her previous advice.
I had to call a friend to come get me and take me next door to the ER.
Of course, I should have gone straight to the emergency room in the first place, but unfortunately I was not thinking clearly at the time, and was not able to come to that rational conclusion. And I completely understand that you might not want to throw off a tight schedule to see one of your patients who did not even call ahead to see about the possibility of getting an appointment. But I'm going to have my annual check-up in September, when I go home to Ireland, and that is where I will be receiving my healthcare from now on.
Yours sincerely,
________________.
____________________________________________________________________________
P.S. to the Hubpages readers:
I know some of you are going to tell me that it's just as bad in Belfast as in the States, now -- but at least I know I'll get an appointment!
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Hey Frieda -- I'm just about to print it out and put it in the envelope. I knew I wouldn't send it unless I published it here first.
Good for you Theresa. America is a nightmare where health care and dentistry are concerned. I still visit my old dentist in the UK when I visit. I trust him, but we won't go there, good luck!
Good on you, Teresa. Your letter broke my heart a little because it is so true. The Hypocratic oath has been trumped by the fear of lawsuits and the quest for the almighty buck. I vaguely remember in my childhood when doctors were much more involved with their patients - when you felt that they actually cared for you as a person a little bit...
Thanks for sharing this - very well-written (of course)!
Teresa: This brings back memories of a medical center I used to visit for my annual checkup, and they actually had "the patient of the month", certificate with a smiling photo. The brownie points was not missing appt's following instc's and such, but I was turned off because it encouraged being dependent on a doctor, I didn't see any brownie points for getting well! It was a business.
One good thing though about my family's primary physician then who worked at the center , was that when sis had a near heart attack and we went to see him (neither one of us were thinking clearly), he took her right away, and told us to take a cab in a very calm voice, and go to emergency. Things turned out well, the heart attack was averted.
Your letter is a good one, I have a big, evilish smile as I visualize your doc reading it. hehe.
Gypsy, RooBee, Violet -- I know we've all had similar experiences. Thing is, I really do like this woman, and she's a great surgeon as well as urogynecologist. I just decided I couldn't go back.
Violet -- glad to hear your doc knew exactly what you needed: a calm voice telling you how to proceed.
Yeah definetly send it ,Teresa. Seems like a lot of doctors forget that their patients are people, think, maybe we should visit a vetinarian, who incidently give better care to their patients,
Well done Teresa. I hope he 'gets' it too. You are quite correct in what you say too.
It is a shame about the health care system. I have become a mass treatment process and the hospitals aren't any better. I'm sorry that you've had so many difficulties.
My sister is a Family Practice physician and the stories she tells me prepared me for your testimony.At a hospital here in Central Florida she was scolded many times for spending too much time with patients.How did the hospital administration know?All of the attending physicians carry something similar to a P.D.A. and this gadget has G.P.S. tracking which a bureaucrat looks over to check "productivity"
She also had a private practice that she has since closed after making the mistake of accepting a monthly stipend from an H.M.O. to be placed on a list of acceptable physicians.She was young and fresh out of internship and $5,000.00 per month seemed like a decent amount of cash flow,until her workload increased by 800 patients.
Your former primary care provider seems like the type of person who got into to medicine to truly make a difference and this letter may break her heart.And that is a good thing because eventually enough physicians will revolt against their patients being treated as products on an assembly line or numbers on a spreadsheet.Thank you for sharing this with the community and for the reminder that we are not human capital/cattle, we are in truth human beings.
Hawkes, "ralwus" (CC!), Pete, thanks for your encouraging words. And yes, now that I think about it, my pets are treated with a lot more human kindness (plus they get doggie treats!).
Mindful -- I thought long and hard about how to phrase this letter. You are spot on, I think, in your assessment of my doctor (who is indeed a really nice lady). I know that in part her "handlers" are there to do the nasty work of turning folk away, probably because she knows she couldn't do it herself. And that is sad.
Your sister's experience is saddening, too. Here's hoping that physicians can find a way to break out of this cycle of pointless productivity. Surely there must be some way to lessen the pressure on doctors to see so many patients per day?
Great letter, but I have to say that I doubt the doctor concerned will ever get to read it. It'll probably be read by a nurse assistant and discarded. If he's too busy to see his patients, he's not going to have time to read his mail.
Yeah, I've thought that myself, Cindy -- and that's the other reason I wanted to post it here, too. At least I know someone has read it. Another idea I'm kicking around is saving the whole webpage as a file and printing it off with the comments added.
Teresa, I know nothing is exaggerated here--if anything you are probably understating it. I'm glad you can get care in Ireland, because honestly, I think the state of health care in the U.S. has reached the point where it's dangerous--that's how bad it is, dangerously bad. I'm currently without insurance (since October) and I think I'm better off sometimes. But I still worry. Anything can happen to anybody, and if it happens to me, I'm screwed. Good hub, but horrifying. (((hugs))) to you.
Grundy-girl: whatever you do, don't break your forearm, because the titanium pins, plates, and screws cost thousands of dollars. Each. (Hope you're on vitamin supplements and calcium supplements and washing your hands eight times a day, too. Stay safe!) Hugs back atcha, girl. Scary.
Totally awesome, and so indicative of how our society has just lost it's freaking mind. Our priorities are so totally jacked up it's beyond fathoming. And this is only going to get worse. NOBODY is going into primary care out of med-school anymore. In a study done recently of US medical students about to finish up, roughly 2% of them said they were going to go into primary care (all the rest elsewhere... specialty etc.). The number one reason was because of the paperwork and hassles associated with it. They said there was no money in it, and too much headache. Which means, the primary care of the future is going to be given by doctors coming out of medical schools outside the US. Somehow I don't think that means Canada and Western Europe.
The problem will get worse. Bad medicine will be more prevalent, inducing greater "evidence" for the need for greater legislation and more litigation, which will make good doctors even less approachable etc. The cycle continues.
I HATE feeling like a piece of meat, and I refuse to go to the doctor anymore because I don't have a primary care doctor and have no way of finding one that will give a shit about me. Frankly, it's something of a sore spot (lol) for me, this topic, and I could really go off, which I almost did, but I'm stopping here.
Awesome hub, awesome letter, and I hope you do send it. They need to hear it; your doctor might even care. Won't change, but maybe will say something at some doctor convention and start the ripple that becomes a wave. Worth a try.
The thing is, you can choose not to eat at fast food joints, but the same privilege doesn't seem to be affordable when it comes to health case. I swear, it makes me see red.
Best of luck in Belfast, chica! Incidentally, would you let me know when you go up there? Who knows, I may be in the vicinity at the time :-)
It will matter to him if he looses a few more than just you, but unless he's the rare kind where you really do matter, but he's forced to be the way he is due to insurance pressures.. he won't notice.. sad to say. Good letter! It really is!
They said if we got government provided health care we would have to wait forever like in Canada. Well the soonest doctors seem to be able to get me in is in three weeks. Even if it is urgent.
Now, at my job, I am supposed to fire some one if they can not produce a doctors note for any health related absence. I WAS on the companies health plan, but could not get one for myself if I needed one.
This is a mess.
And good for you! :D
I hope you send this brilliant letter teresa - it seems from an outside view point that the medical system in the Us is not only beyond expensive but also heartless. We Australians enjoy government provided health care and really no one waits - it is one of the things we have to thank the labour government for - medicare - and the doctor I go to - unsure of the way you use the term in the US would be I guess my primary care giver - is an australian, a barrister as well as a general practioner - and I am happy. The bills are not outrageous, just the gap payment of $30 applies and for those under sixteen bulk bill which means no payment. This also applies to hospital visits and stays for all australians. Unfortunately dental treatment hasn't reached the same standard of care but I guess as we have another labour government in power it will. Sorry about your trouble but hopefully they will be sorted in Ireland. cheers
Did you ever watch that Michael Moore movie called Sicko? Maybe you should go across to Cuba for decent health care!
Shades: the med school stats you quote are very revealing, and suggest that the system might naturally implode, which would be motivation enough for something to change. Sorry you have a sore spot! (LOL?)
Elena, I will email you the dates! Thank you for stopping by and reading -- how many gazillions of hubs do you have to read to catch up with us all? :)
CAndie --truth is, she's too good a doctor to lose many patients in this particular way. It's the system, I think, that needs a swift kick in the sore spot.
PaperMoon -- the logic of it is byzantine, isn't it? No wonder these "Doc in a Box" franchises are opening up everywhere -- for simple "fixes" I go there now, anyway -- to avoid waiting the three weeks (which seems to be standard).
Ajcor -- yes, Australia sounds a lot like the UK and Ireland. Enjoy the sanity and compassion of it! I don't know why the conservatives here are so against universal healthcare.
Hey, Cindy -- I'm too scared to watch Sicko!
Terrific hub on a topic so depressing in America. Even my free governmental health care (VA system) has a multitude of issues.
Yesterday, I drove 132 miles round trip to the nearest facility because my medication (through the mail)said one thing on the outside and was a totally different med on the inside.
Since I once was a health care lobbyist on Capitol Hill, worked in hospital administration, etc. I see the big picture from both sides. It's not pretty, and very scary.
Just before my husband turned 65 and still had health insurance (before being forced onto Medicare) his private cardiologist had a poster size letter framed in the waiting room -- it read in part:
Due to our heavy patient load, we cannot accept Medicare patients.......
Well, he'd been seeing that specialist for years, but once he was on Medicare -- no more appointments and no referral to another doctor. When questioning the staff, it was all about the length of time and the hassle of collecting the money from a government entity.
The biggest insult of the situation? After I got him care, they steadfastly refused to send his medical records. Went there in person to pick them up, the practice had been sold to another physician and the prior physician had left the country.
That was just the beginning, because the new physican without the medical records, refused to give him plavix without a new round of expensive testing. Six months later, that still hadn't been done. His previous stent without plavix clogged and he had a massive heart attack.
Don't get old and sick in America.
I don't have the luxury of a primary physician myself, but I do deal with my mother's team of doctors on a regular basis. It is so very important that doctors maintain a relationship with their patients. It is also, I believe, the responsibility of the hospital or medical facility that employs them. There are some medical systems that pride themselves on good customer service. Follow-up calls are made and a vast communications network can be maintained to address any patient's needs. But, for the reasons you mention, it will never be perfect, again.
I hope you sent that letter, Teresa. That's the big truble with health care in America, it is a business. I quit one gyn when he decided to go into partnership with a cosmetic surgeon. So all over the office were pamphlets and pictures of before and after women to induce the post menopausal gals to get their faces rearranged.
Wow, Jerilee. Just wow.
I feel your pain. I have gotten to the point where I hate going to the doctor, because it seems like if I have even one question, I am wasting their time, after I have sat in the waiting room for an hour past my appointment time, even though I was early, and sat in the exam room for half an hour, no one checking on me, and I get about 10 minutes with the doctor, and I am rushed out the door.
There was an exception to that. When my ex was in the military, we had a medical clinic on base. The medical staff there was great!! I never had to wait, the doctors saw me very quickly. My doc was a Navy officer, and he was a great guy!! He always had time to answer my questions, and never acted as if I was wasting his time. I miss all of that. Plus, it was all free!!! LOL!!
Teresa, everything you say about the medical system here is correct, and the best way to fix it is to abandon it, as you are doing. Most of us, though, can't seek medical attention in Belfast. We are going to have to learn to do without. In many cases, that will actually make us healthier, as PGrundy so astutely noted.
Jerrilee -- I don't know what to say. That is just dreadful. When I think of all the hospital care my father had in Belfast -- for free -- after his first heart attack, it makes no sense that a system could exist where the old become abandoned with such callous disregard for their wellbeing.
LadyRogue: thank you for stopping by and commenting. We are certainly getting a broad picture of the state of healthcare in these comments.
Dolores -- that's awful. The crass commercialism of cosmetic surgery has no place beside real health issues.
Shades -- yeah.
Anna Marie -- If I could get back all the time I've had to sit in an exam room (usually in a paper gown) waiting and waiting. . . glad to hear the Navy doctors are at least efficient.
Aya -- you are always a quiet voice of reason. I wish there was something more positive we could all do, and I'm sorry you all can't come with me to Belfast. . .
I have just read all the comments and what a terrible time you are all having in one way or another - Jerrilee's case is particularly appalling - what can you do? lobby the government? don't you have enough doctors? (we don't and have had a dreadful/public case/s specifically of one overseas doctor being employed in Qld. and then killing his patients! - now going through the court system) From what i have read in the newspapers here your medical treatment is absolutely brilliant - at the forefront - but having the money to access it makes it impossible - but I had no idea that medical practitioners were as hard to see as it was for you guys to get trreatment in a hospital without having to sell your children and their children as well...so sorry...
Ireland looks good for you Teresa!
what ever happend to Marcus Welby? send the letter. *ell, try to have it published in the local paper, editorials. i had a orthopedic guy tell me the ER man was wrong and that my hand wasn't broken. told me the pain couldn't be as bad as i said it was. he grabbed my hand in his and crunched it into a fist. there was a loud crack and the pain was so intense i almost fainted. as it was, i threw up all over the sparkling floor of the tiny alcove i was allotted. i also prayed my husband wouldn't break the doctor's neck before he readjusted his diagnosis. sure enough, yes, yes, there is a break across two knuckles, ah and yes there are some bone chips floating around. all he did was tape my fingers together and delay appointments for weeks at a time. "we're booked for the next 7 weeks."
my hand healed wrong and hurts every day. i call it the Padra Pio pain because it's like a nail going through my palm and out the back of my hand.
send the letter. skywrite it. and take me to Ireland with you. {laughing, but without any real belief that things will change in this country.}
ajcor: you're right -- there is excellent care available if you can pay for it. But it is common for people to have to sell their house to pay for unavoidable medical bills. Thanks for your sympathy!
WomanN -- God what a prick that orthopedist was! Hope something heavy falls on any part of him he treasures most and cripples it. Hands are so important. . .
I think I'm going to print out this whole web page and send it to the doctor; also email it as a press release, or something. . .
Well, I hope that you did put it in the envelope and post it - and why not also send it to a local paper? As Cindyvine said, the chances of the doctor concerned actually reading it are slim.
Teresa, You've captured perfectly the sad state of healthcare. There are still little pockets of superb care. The problem is how to identify them and even more problemmatic, how to ACCESS them??
BTW, too bad you are not a Kaiser patient. If you were, you could send your letter to your PCP directly via email. Saves time opening the envelope and unfolding the sheet of paper. Doesn't in any way, shape or form guarantee a response, tho:-).
MM. P.S. I am so very sorry to hear about your surgeries. You are even stronger than a superwoman.
Hey Iphi, I will do. Reading everyone's responses has been sadly revealing and has encouraged me to send it to the paper, too.
MM: there really are great services available, as you say. Too bad they're so difficult to find. (and thanks for the PS; all I remember about the surgeries is the fact they gave me great drugs. . .)
It's a shame what has happened with health care and specifically our doctors. When our family physician retired some 20 years ago, it has never been the same for me. I'm sure that's true for most people.
The best of luck, Teresa.
Hippocratic oath does't take place at the doctor knowledge all they see in front their eyes is money they are nice to you till you became thier patient and after that they don't care about you it's show us toward what the health care is going thank you for your open letter
Thanks, Christoph. The healthcare system is not letting our doctors work the way they used to.
Moti-k -- thanks for stopping by and reading. I think, though, that many doctors, mine included, are forced to see more patients to cover their insurance costs. My doctor would be inclined to spend more time with each patient if only she could.
I hope you do send it, and get a proper and decent reply.
I don't think you are entitled to NHS care in NI, though, as you aren't "ordinarily resident" in the UK and paying taxes and national insurance here.
I've wondered about that, although I did see my mother's doctor last time I was home. I need to do the research. But the thing is, even if I have to apply as a tourist, I'll still be able to see a doctor (without waiting the three weeks it seems to take here to get an appointment). So either way, I win.
Teresa, I too hope you send the letter. I've tried to decide if I'll tell my orthopaedic surgeon about the recent hubs I've written on my $20,000 plus broken arm, but I still have follow up appointments and don't want to make him mad! I said I would email links to all of my elected representatives - haven't gotten around to that yet, but thanks for the reminder, and I suggest you do the same.
I reckon even if you have to make a private appt. you'll still be quids in, good luck! Did you send the letter?
Hi, Teresa,
today is not easy either for patients nor for doctors. It is not easy to work all day with ill people, who are suffering and complaining, and desperately seeking for help, and so often doctors usually cannot help them as much as patients expect, they can try to do only their best...offering them some medicaments (which maybe temporary help but do not cure illnesses), with some surgery (which so often creates further health problems, although can save a life)...etc.
People expect so often that doctors will ultimately cure them (like they have some magic stick) but actually health is in hands of everyone of us, doctors can just - help, but they cannot control anybodies`s body. Being doctor today, with so many chronically ill people, with so many new / modern illnesses is not easy. Try to imagine very big room completely full of ill people, and on all of them - only one is more or less healthy and expected to heal them all - as soon as possible, to determine immediately the right cause of their diseases and instant cure..and at the same to be compassionate and have long appointments with them (while other would need to wait much longer then expected, so they would complain )Uffff...It is very high pressure put on doctors today.
And all of us know that we come to the doctor when is urgent, and do not listen advices about prevention, when is time for it...
I feel deep compassion for the both sides...
I believe that your Doctor just did not have enough personal energy that day: she was maybe also ill, or had her period, or migraine, or was just too exhausted, and nurse was protecting her from collapsing. Doctors, like other humans, also can be sick and not feel well.
Many nice regards...
Tatjana-Mihaela -- kind you for your kind comment. Indeed, there may be many pressing reasons why the doctor was unable to see me, and I do have a lot of sympathy for her predicament: if you've had time to read through all the comments, you'll see just how much I respect and admire her.
But I don't admire the system that is making her see too many patients.
You cannot be more right! The system of health care is wrong...in every country in the world.
In Croatia you would be informed that you can have appointment the same day but- privately. Or you can go to emergency.
The case is same, since we have capitalism.
But even before, doctors use to have 30-60 appontments per 8 hours of work.
When there is such a pressure, it exists high possibilitie of misdiagnosing, what is extremely dangerous if case is emmergent and they recommend surgery which is not needed, once that happened to me, I literally run out from the hospital, once happened to my friend, she was arguing with doctors, and prevent them to perform surgery of appendix- wrong dyagnosis in the both cases - the good is that the both of us knew the symptomes of appendicitis, so we did not let them to cut us.
When my Mum was working in Germany, doctors tried to push her to hysterectomy, when was abolutely no need for that - the reason was connected with the insurance company - it did not want to cover the cost of her sick-leave without surgery performed.
Etc, etc....
.
My mother used to make derogatory comments about the ob/gyn that delivered my little sister 40 years ago, calling him a veterinarian. Today I think that would be a compliment. My dogs get much better, personal care at the vet's office than we do in our doctor's offices. Teresa, send the letter to your doctor with a copy to your state's medical board. Someone will read it!
Teresa,
Good for you, in standing up for your rights!!
It's a shame that medicine has been taken over by people on the business end- it's lost such a large portion of it's personal touch and care. My father has been practicing medicine for 38 years now and I hear him complaining about the same types of things (except on the other end). Part of the problem is that the doc's are working for these big business types that only care about turning as big of a profit as possible. That means seeing as many patients as possible a day which means the level of care drops. The hospital administrators that he works for want him seeing 40 patients a day which is absolutely crazy if you want to provide people any type of decent care. When seeing so many people so fast, it's easy to overlook something that may be life threatening. So, if the doc misses something, when rushing patients through, and the patient gets sicker or dies because of it, the doc gets sewed and the malpractice insurance goes up. So what does the doc have to do to cover that increased malpractice charge? See more patients. It's an awful cycle.
I agree -- the doctors have been placed in a terrible situation, and I don't know what they can do about it. The worst part is that they are too busy to even think about how they could try to change the situation.
Great letter, Teresa. I had a doctor friend, now sadly departed, who refused to get into the rut of "planned care" and that whole thing of having to see so many patients in a day. He used to schedule an hour (that's right, a whole hour!) for any patient he was seeing for the first time. Then at least 20 minutes per patient. Needless to say he did not make the kind of money other doctors made, and was made a pariah by the medical profession for loudly and often criticising the assembly line approach to medical care.
He believed that patients actually healed themselves and that the doctor's role was to facilitate their healing. He believed that patients deserved to have a mutually beneficial contract negotiated up front between himself and them in which care levels and other expectations were discussed and set out in the contract.
He was one of the most amazing people I have ever had the priviledge of knowing and being friends with. I miss him.
Wish there were more like him.
More strength to your arm in getting the level of care you want and deserve. And I hope your physician did get to see your wonderful letter.
Love and peace
Tony
Theresa: Just "met" you through your hubs. This letter to your doctor one touched me. I was misdiagnosed for depression and put on one anti-depressent after another for years. I finally took the matter into my own hands and researched my symptoms. I had very low thyroid (doctor insisted it was fine) and am now on the road to recovery.
While going "off" Cymbalta, I had horrible withdrawls and showed up at her office weeping, shaking and a terrible mess. I wanted to make sure my bp was normal. It wasn't. I finally left, still weeping. Dr. never came in. Nurse was blase about the whole thing and no one followed up with a call or anything. I could have been suicidal and no one cared. Needless to say, I've changed doctors. I've considered writing a letter to that other doctor. Maybe I will now.
Tony -- your medical friend sounds like a gem. I'll bet he is sadly missed, indeed.
Carrie -- good grief. What a shocking story -- and good for you, for finding out your own diagnosis and taking charge. One of the most ignored groups is the "hysterical woman" perception -- many doctors simply don't know how to handle distraught patients, and just hope they will go away.
Teresa - I think your letter is very good, also reflective of the state of US Health care in many cities. Uncaring or inappropriately behaving support staff seems to be becoming an epidemic in some parts. I'm sorry you lost a good relationship with or doctor; you certainly deserve better, especially with such a substantial history with the practice, and some heartbreaking health experiences while with them. Shame on that office full of people.
Good for you Theresa, and while I live in Canada, which has an excellent health care system, I will not go to the doctor unless I absolutely have to. I hate doctors with a passion. I have congenital chorea and no doctor here even knows what it is. I walked into a medical clinic in Kingston, Ontario and some old doctor took a look at me and because I was shaking of congenital chorea, said to me "I'm not giving out pills here". He thought I was a drug addict. He never even took the time for me to tell him what my problems were. That incident has put me off doctors for life. Unfortunately my back went out in January of this year and I have been off work since and have see more doctors in the past five months than I have in 20 years. However, still to this day, I am suffering in pain. See, I can't take pain pills. I get stoned on one tylenol. Apparently there is not much the doctors can do for me.
What an awesome letter Teresa. I had seriously considered posting one that I wrote to the principal of my son's school (cc to the schoolboard) but chickened out. After reading yours, I think I will post it.
I'm glad you mailed it, professionals need to know that they are surviving because of us, and damn it (pardon the cussing) we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Well done!
This is a great letter. I'm sure you'll get results.
TM, handshake to you for mailing this letter. It is right on track with how we are treated. I hope it arrives right on time.
Again, as a patient and an insurance policy holder, I am frustrated by what I call the medical meat market of it all. Slap it down, cut it up and send it shipping.
And Im not being perverted, it's the Theresa McGurk hub truth.
So many doctors are now so impersonal, but I can see that is what insurance is dictating. I did get lucky in that my doctor was a friend from my teen softball playing years. At least she knows me as a person.
Well working for the NHS in England means I know that we have many problems over here also. However I hope we are hanging on to some vestige of common decency. Perhaps we should all send such excellent letters, with a copy to a prominent newspaper.
Came across this cartoon at Time and thought of your letter
http://www.time.com/time/cartoonsoftheweek/0,29489
Teresa, sorry for misspelling your name earlier.
I really think that writing and sending this letter is a good idea, I am glad you dont come to The Republic, as you would get treated far worse than that....
looking forward to reading more of your hubs....
Frieda Babbley says:
5 months ago
What a great letter, Teresa. Did you really send this? I hope you did. I often wish we still lived in the times of doctor house calls. It's all so impersonal now that I understand why my mother doesn't bother to go unless she absolutely has to, which is never according to her.