Published by JPLand on 26 Jun 2008 at 09:50 am
Health “Professionals”
Sometimes I wonder if I’m better off staying home instead of going to the doctor. Don’t get me wrong, I think that my doctors do a great job. It’s their staff that I worry about. Back in February, I wrote about a little concern that I had with the doctor’s office. But I’ve long since forgotten about that…until today.
This morning, I went to the doctor for a check-up after a recent procedure. As I walked in the door, I spotted the clock and noticed that I was a few minutes early. So, I signed in, and then went to the restroom. (The only thing worse than waiting 6 hours for the doctor is doing it on a full bladder and not being able to go because you’re sure that they’re going to call your name any minute now…) I returned to the waiting room and didn’t even get two paragraphs into the article telling me about the best cured ham in the states when the assistant called me back.
Behind the big door, we walked along the hall. She pointed me to a room, handed me a cup and said:
“Mr. Land, I need you to provide us with a urine sample.”
Oh my…this is not good. I obviously wasn’t expecting this. I took the cup and walked slowly into the bathroom. My mind raced about how I could do this. One option was to drink a bunch of water real fast. I could get the water from the sink, but the only thing I have to scoop it with is….this cup. Not only do I not want to use the cup to drink out of (obvious resons), but I thought it might throw of the test results. (“Mr. Land, you’ve tested positive for flouride.”)
I just did my best and managed to squeeze out a sample. Hopefully this would be enough to run their test. I thought it would be best if I didn’t open the door and ask the lady if the amount was OK. I just put the cup into the magical testing cabinet, washed my hands, and left. I knew that the people on the other side of the wall were probably laughing about how little they had to work with, but I was wondering why I still had that much left in my bladder.
As we walked down the hall, the assistant glanced over my chart. She pointed me to my room and as I sat down, I heard these comforting words,
“Oh, I’m sorry! I should have looked at your chart earlier. We didn’t even need a urine sample from you.”
First, if you screw-up something like that, don’t tell me. Just go pour the sample out and I’ll never know the difference. (Or, in my case, wait 15 minutes and all three drops will probably have evaporated.) But now let’s get to the real issue…She didn’t read my chart? Are you kidding me! I’m here at the doctor…don’t you think that an important piece of information would be why I’m here?
To be honest, I’m probably pretty lucky. There are a lot of other medical mistakes out there that could turn out much worse. And I’m gullible enough to go along with most of them. “Hey, they’re doctors. They know what they’re doing…right?” I’m just thankful that I she only asked me for a urine sample. She could have said “Drink this shot of whiskey and bite down on this stick.” I don’t like the taste of sticks.
Dru on 26 Jun 2008 at 11:15 am #
Are you sure it wasn’t a VA hospital you were at? I went to the VA hospital for the past year for losing feeling in my legs. They have since told me there is no problem and I should learn to deal with any pain and discomfort I feel.
Last month I went into a Nuerosurgeon that was recommended to me and first thing he does after reading my MRI, X-Ray and Cat scan was say, “I hate saying this to a patient the first time we meet, and to a patient as young as you but… We have to do surgery.”
So the VA telling me there is nothing wrong and now what I like to refer to as a Real Doctor has found so many problems he is trying to decide if surgery will fix all of them or atleast give me a couple extra years without walking assistance.
The main concern, Losing feeling in my arms as well.
Doctors and their staff are all filling positions that are, to me, an Art.
Carmen on 26 Jun 2008 at 1:44 pm #
As an RN for nearly a decade now, you’d be amazed at the medical errors made by nurses (and some doctors). Deadly errors. I know of one nurse who has lost her nursing license. An unneeded urine specimen is nothing.
What do you call the guy who graduates last in his class from medical school? Doctor.
Amanda on 29 Jun 2008 at 9:14 pm #
I know how you feel. I went to the doctor a month or two ago. I got on the scales so I could be weighed, was shown my room and waited for the doctor. He finally comes in and looks at my chart. I told him that we had discussed my headaches before. There was no record of it on my chart. Come to find out, wrong chart! I would have liked to have kept this other chart, I would have been a few years younger!!
JPLand on 01 Jul 2008 at 1:53 pm #
DruU,
It’s tough to find that line between “getting a second opinion” and “bring a hypochondriac”, isn’t it? I tend to always think that if I ignore my symptoms long enough, they’ll go away. in light of your situation, it’s probably not the smartest thing to do. Then again, most of my symptoms involve self-inflicted pain.
Carmen,
How can you say that an unneeded urine specimen in “nothing”? I’m still going through therapy.
Amanda,
I’m confused about what you are implying. Are you trying to say that we are old? Indeed, we are still spring chickens! It was just 10 years ago that we were running around the red track. 10 years isn’t a long time….is it?