My doctor is not listening to me!!

[Lorimacm]

Sorry guys I need to vent.....

I just picked up all my records from my current cardiologist office - the one who didn't bother to evaluate my echo from 9 months ago with the one I had last month until I asked him about how they compared. Well, my last visit was 2 weeks ago and I was reading his notes....mind you I have been complaining of fatigue since last year plus the increased palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness and leg pain. He writes patient "feels good, asymptomatic". I even made sure I was interpreting this correctly so I went to look up asymptomatic because I thought I was losing my mind. And of course the meaning is the same as it always has been "exhibiting no symptoms".

Was this guy in lala land last time I was there. He first was having me wait until 1 year to be seen again, then when I asked about comparison to last echo he quickly changed his mind and told me I would need valve replaced but didn't know how long but I need to come back in 3 months. Is this the twilight zone.

Ok enough venting.....confirms my gut that yes I need to find a new doctor!!

Thanks for listening,
Lori

 

[Nancy]

Glad you answered you own question. Venting is good!

Say bye-bye to Dr. LaLa and find a good doctor who cares.

 

[COLLEEN S]

Lori,
Actually, this happens a lot. Shocking, but it does. I wanted copies of my medical records to take to the heart surgeon. G.P. and cardio. BOTH of them had all my symptoms and medical history wrong. I think it is because the transcriptionist who types out the dr's dictation...1.doesnt care....2. is on crack....3.cant spell or 4. doesnt care, is on crack, and cant spell.
Seriously I told him I have Fibro and they had on there that I take FIBER! I dont take fiber. It said "denies any fatigue or pain" and I have been in pain from Fibro or OA, some days better than others, since 1990!

 

[Lorimacm]

Just blows my mind how off they can be. You know the funny thing is it wasn't transcribed it was in his own hand. Could we chalk it up to a bad day....I don't know about that.

 

[Eva]

Follow your guts, Lori. I should have had my surgery in 2005 not 2008. In 2006 I was almost like paralyzed, extremely fatigued for over three months and I shared this with my ex-cardio, but he was in lala land. He was not listening and I wish I followed my guts then to fire him and find another one. But he had a great reputation as a great cardio, but not with me. Luckily, I survived till my surgery ... my surgeon considered it was a miracle I was up on my feet...my valves were worn out!!! We should always follow our guts.

Do not chalk it up to a bad day, it is a bad doctor.

Good luck with finding a good listening doctor.

 

[Dina]

He first was having me wait until 1 year to be seen again, then when I asked about comparison to last echo he quickly changed his mind and told me I would need valve replaced but didn't know how long but I need to come back in 3 months.

He sounds very dangerous. Its good you found out now.

 

[westie]

drop him

drop him

.
drop him quick

 

[ALCapshaw2]

It may be worthwhile to Write a Letter pointing out the MISINFORMATION in HIS notes and including a copy. That way, your letter will become a part of your record, just in case someone ever actually takes the time to check your record.

IF the Doctor actually reads it, and it is the fault of the transcriptionist instead of the Doctor, that also needs to be addressed.

And YES, it sounds like it's time to Find a New Doctor!

 

[Ross]

That way, your letter will become a part of your record, just in case someone ever actually takes the time to check your record.

Someone actually READ?

I've figured out over the years that they ask you everything 4 times so they can get it wrong all 4 times.

 

[Nancy]

One time, a new doctor (an excellent one BTW) requested that I bring every piece of information I could get on Joe. So I asked his Internist (another excellent one) if he would give me copies of Joe's recent files including any information sent to him by other doctors.

He agreed and I had a package of some 60-70 pages of doctor notes. They were all in disarray, so I had to collate them and I read each one as I did this.

It was actually quite a revelation.

Many copies were FAXes that were unreadable by me or anyone else. There were HUGE diagnostic errors, many things left out, missing pages that contained necessary information, test results that were smudged or ran off the page, etc.

I wondered how anything gets done when doctors are asked to share patient information.

Many doctors don't read any information, and it just gets filed by the office staff and is never looked at.

I decided a long time ago that if I discovered that a doctor didn't have enough interest in reading about the patient he was caring for, then to heck with him/her.

Sometimes, I would ask them key questions that I knew the answer to, and they should have known the answer to if they were on top of things. I listened to how they responded and then discussed it with Joe.

Those who gave a good exam, asked all the right questions and had prior knowledge of Joe's multiple conditions were the ones we kept.

We weeded out the uncaring ones for the most part.

And you should too.

 

[hall]

WOW! I guess if you would have had something go wrong before surgery that jackass figured with his notes the way they were, he would be covered, saying you never told him anything was wrong. That is the only angle I could think of for a doc to do that. Yep, get rid of him, yesterday!

 

[catwoman]

I picked records 6/17/09 from my previous cardio. I had called several times and written to get copies of my echo from 6/24/08 and carotid ultrasounds 7/7/08, but had not gotten anything.
So I dropped by after my checkup with my new cardiologist.

Chart notes from 6/24/08 had date of my MVR wrong; stated I had mild to moderate perivalvular leak (but the echo done the same day said it was trivial); said I had a transient cognitive defect approximately one month before; that I had stopped taking aspirin six months before because I thought it caused bleeding.
I could go on and on.

In late April 2008, I became very tired but it wasn't obvious until I was at a cat showing training with another judge. That's what I told my cardiologist, who immediately suspected TIA. I couldn't get in to see him until late June. I was still quite tired, but it was getting better. I assumed it was due to anemia & perivalvular regurge.
Several months later, my PCP and, later, the new cardio gave me a better explanation: mono. Much more plausible, since this followed a bronchitis bout by 3 weeks.

I stopped taking the aspirin because I noticed significant bruising while on it. Never saw any bleeding.

Former cardio did not use a laptop to record notes. I've noticed that my new cardio does, and so does my PCP. They go through a litany of questions, then make notes. I hope the laptop use allows them to be more accurate because it's faster.

 

[KristyW]

i hope the laptop use allows them to be more accurate because it's faster.

and readable!!!!

 

[Eva]

wow! I guess if you would have had something go wrong before surgery that jackass figured with his notes the way they were, he would be covered, saying you never told him anything was wrong. That is the only angle i could think of for a doc to do that. Yep, get rid of him, yesterday!

....
i've figured out over the years that they ask you everything 4 times so they can get it wrong all 4 times.

so true!!!

 

[Lynlw]

I find it can be even worse if you go to a practice with a few docs and see a different doc everytime. We ran into a problem with Justin's old ped group because he always saw different docs and it seemed they didn't communicate well or bother to read what the other docs did. He had BE for a couple weeks where I would take him a few times a week , saw a different doc each time and they kept dxing new things, (resp infection, stomache virus ect)new meds, ect., with the theory since it was winter and he was run down he kept catching new things. I had to throw a fit and say it is NOT new things he has been sick all along feels better for a day ...and demanded bloodwork. he ended up having BE and was admitted (after "I" called his ped card). We had a new doc before he was discharged.

 

[terodac]

Good thing you found out that he is a nutt, before your surgery!! New Doctor is in order for you!!

 

[lynnconnolly]

Lori, I sympathise entirely. With many doctors, anything you see seems to bounce off their eardrums. It's very annoying and though it's probably no help, you're not alone

Lynn