This happened today: worst doctor's appointment ever.
First things first - can we all agree that doctors’ jobs are to do their best ability to cure or prescribe a cure for their patients’ illnesses or medical problems? That was the impression I was under, but apparently Dr. Lansangan went to medical school to get her MD in the specialty of “telling me unhelpful shit and prescribing the same home remedies my grandmother could”.
Ever since I sprained my neck in a car accident a year and a half ago, I get really bad pain in my left shoulder/neck that usually lasts for a few days at a time, and I try to get a massage and put heat on it, etc. This time, it started on Sunday and was so bad I couldn’t move my neck. I went to get a massage but massage therapist told me that I really needed to go to a chiropractor to “get this sorted out.”
So I called insurance, and they said it was covered on my plan, but since I’m on an HMO, I would have to get a referral from my primary physician. No big deal, right?
So after 4 days of being in pain, I go to the doctor’s office this morning (which, everyone in TV production knows what a to-do it is to get time off, especially on a taping day) and after running 20 minutes late, this little asian woman in a lab coat comes into the room and starts looking at my chart. She asks if I smoke. “No.” She asks if I drink. “Socially.” She laughs, and says, “Then you must not be very social!” (Um, excuse me?)
I explain about the neck sprain and continual problems/ pain it’s causing. She then has me lift each of my arms and move my head from side to side (during which I cannot lift my left arm as high as the right, and there is sharp pain on the left side, which i relay to her) and never bothers to so much as touch my back to feel the knot in my shoulder. Awesome.
Then she says, “I’m not going to refer you to a chiropractor, but I’ll refer you to physical therapy so you can learn some stretches for it and learn to adapt to it.” Um, what?
“Just take advil, and you can put icy hot on it.” To which I replied, “I’ve been doing that already, and I’m still in pain, and that’s why I’m here.” So she tells me to just increase the amount of advil, and I point out that I don’t want to medicate the symptoms but want to get to the root of the pain. And - this is the kicker - she goes, “Muscle tension is a part of life.” (!!!!!!!!)
(This is the point at which I want to confirm that she is, in fact a doctor. Instead, I ask how soon I can see someone about the pain.)
“We’ll mail the referral to you.” (This is the point at which I remind her that I’m in bad enough pain to have come to the doctor, and haven’t been able to sleep well since Saturday night because I’ve been in so much pain.) And what does she do? Repeats that my referral will be in the mail.
I left, appalled by how dismissive and condescending she’d been, and a little shocked by the whole experience because I’ve never had a doctor who was so blatantly dismissive and cutting me off and not listening to me as a patient.
Needless to say, I went straight to the office, contacted my insurance, and switched doctors. I’m just pissed I didn’t get a refund on my co-pay. Has anyone else had a similar experience with a bad doctor? Did you file a complaint?
