(no subject)
Tonight, I left bad reviews of a doctor on medical rating webpages, after confirming that the only way to officially report medical error is with the help of a lawyer. Then, I realized never told the story here. Last December, I'm pretty sure I caught the flu. After about two weeks of worsening symptoms, I developed a terrible cough and re-developed a high fever. I felt like I needed to see a doctor, but by this point, it was December 21st and I was in Utah visiting my biological father. He managed to snag the last appointment of the day for me with his GP, who wasn't leaving for vacation until lunchtime. When I got into the examination room with her, I told her my symptoms and said I was worried about having bronchitis or pneumonia. What did she tell me in response? "Don't worry about that; I can tell by the way you smell that you have strep throat."
I blinked a few times at this; I've never had a doctor diagnose me by smell before. And I hadn't really noticed any throat pain. Then again, I'd had a fever over 103 for a few days, and I've had strep throat before with relatively minor throat irritation. She left the room, and I figured she'd gone to get materials to perform a throat culture. I sat in the room waiting for a good ten minutes, and then one of her staff walked in and said "Oh! You're still here!" "Yeah," I said, "she's supposed to be coming back to do a strep test." "Oh, that can't be right," the nurse told me. "She's already left the office to go on vacation. But here's the prescription she wrote you for antibiotics."
So, what do you do, when it's basically Christmas, doctors are shutting their doors across the country, and you have your own flight to catch back to Texas that same night? I filled the prescription, and flew back home.
The next day in Houston, I felt even worse, and insisted Justin go with me to an urgent care clinic. The doctor there listened to my chest, told me it sounded like pneumonia, and then did a chest x-ray to confirm. Then I got hooked up to IV antibiotics, because "those little antibiotics for strep throat wouldn't have done a thing." At least they wouldn't have hurt, I guess. They doubled checked my throat at the UCC, and didn't find any indication that I had strep.
It's pretty appalling to me that a doctor wouldn't do as basic a test as a throat culture, and even more appalling that they apparently did not do so because they were eager to leave for vacation. If you can't spend enough time with a patient to prevent the misdiagnosis of a very common disease, you just shouldn't accept an appointment with them. At the time, I was too sick to really be angry about it, and after I got better I was too distracted by the wedding. But I recently got a bill for this visit; it turns out they don't take my insurance, and I owe them $130. I'm sure I built up some bad karma tonight, but it felt pretty good to write those reviews.
I blinked a few times at this; I've never had a doctor diagnose me by smell before. And I hadn't really noticed any throat pain. Then again, I'd had a fever over 103 for a few days, and I've had strep throat before with relatively minor throat irritation. She left the room, and I figured she'd gone to get materials to perform a throat culture. I sat in the room waiting for a good ten minutes, and then one of her staff walked in and said "Oh! You're still here!" "Yeah," I said, "she's supposed to be coming back to do a strep test." "Oh, that can't be right," the nurse told me. "She's already left the office to go on vacation. But here's the prescription she wrote you for antibiotics."
So, what do you do, when it's basically Christmas, doctors are shutting their doors across the country, and you have your own flight to catch back to Texas that same night? I filled the prescription, and flew back home.
The next day in Houston, I felt even worse, and insisted Justin go with me to an urgent care clinic. The doctor there listened to my chest, told me it sounded like pneumonia, and then did a chest x-ray to confirm. Then I got hooked up to IV antibiotics, because "those little antibiotics for strep throat wouldn't have done a thing." At least they wouldn't have hurt, I guess. They doubled checked my throat at the UCC, and didn't find any indication that I had strep.
It's pretty appalling to me that a doctor wouldn't do as basic a test as a throat culture, and even more appalling that they apparently did not do so because they were eager to leave for vacation. If you can't spend enough time with a patient to prevent the misdiagnosis of a very common disease, you just shouldn't accept an appointment with them. At the time, I was too sick to really be angry about it, and after I got better I was too distracted by the wedding. But I recently got a bill for this visit; it turns out they don't take my insurance, and I owe them $130. I'm sure I built up some bad karma tonight, but it felt pretty good to write those reviews.