Vent...I HATE hospital doctors...looonng

[disfan07]

This is really just a vent about how much i hate "other" doctors...aka, doctors that are not mine. I dont know how much this will make sense but I have reached the end of my rope with this guy and this hospitalization.

I am currently in the hospital right now for asthma. My pulmonologist is the one who admitted me but in addition to him, an inpatient hospitalist has been coming in everyday as well becasue my primary doctor is part of the medical group associated with the hospital but they do not come to the hospital.

This doctor is a real SOB. After 2 days of dealing with his crap I finally told him to get the hell out of my room. He has basically been questioning every decision that my pulmonologist has been making. He has absolutely no continuity of care and has no idea about my history so in my book that means he has no right to have any say in my treatment anymore.

He basically implied that I was faking it and that there was really no reason for me to be here at all.

My pulmonologist already had me on 10 days of oral prednisone which did not seem to be working and I caught a nasty virus which made things worse so my doctor decided it would be best to admit me for a couple of days of IV steroids to knock it out faster. In addition, I was starting to have problems with my blood pressure so he ordered IV fluids to rehydrate becasue he couldnt figure out exactly WHY my blood pressure was dropping but we decided to try and easy fix which seems to be working. My blood pressure went from 70/40 to 95/50 so we are making progress

This hospital doctor came in today and didnt understand why I was still here. When I told him what my pulmonologist said he was like, well thats what gatorade is for. You dont need IV fluids, just drink gatorade.

My electrolytes are not that out of whack. Some minor issues but nothing major. We dont know why my blood pressure is doing what it is doing but the fluids seem to be working so my pulmonologist wants to go this course until tomorrow and see what happens. We are making our usual progress here. 2 days IV steroids, started on oral again today and if I am stable tomorrow, I go home late tomorrow afternoon.

After a couple of other comments I just told him to get out. I told him that I was no longer discussing my care with him again. That I would be dealing with my own doctor only.

This guy would not shut up. He would not listen to me. Everytime I would tell him what my pulmonologist told me he would say that he was told something different. My doctor wouldnt lie to me. If he wanted to talk to me about something he would. He would not lie. After my pulmnologist told me that he wanted to keep me here until tomorrow, this other doctor came in and said he wnated to send me home today. After I told him that my doctor was keeping me here another day he was like, "no he is fine with sending you home today". I was like, if he was okay with that he would have TOLD me adn we would have discussed it and would have made a decision but he said tomorrow"

Becasue of teh severity adn complexity of my medical conditions, we try to nip these issues as quickly as possible. We dont wait until I am having a full blown asthma attack to deal with it because that would land me in ICU. He deals with it ahead of the crash so that it is only 4 or 5 days instead of 2 weeks. I was lightheaded, shallow breathing, my face was numb, my O2 sats we dropping (they were like 90% when admitted), my heart rate was faster than it should be on my meds, etc. I was on my way to crashing fast.

I have dealt with a lot of ****** doctors before but this one takes the cake. I dont want to be here. Since october of 2009, I have racked up about 40 days in this hospital (inlcuding asthma admittances, surgeries, etc). I already missed 2 days of classes and will be missing this entire next week including 2 midterms so that I can fully recover and not relapse I am not happy about being here and this guy just pushed me over the edge. I have had 4 IVs in 3 1/2 days becasue they keep failing. I am bruised liek crazy from these IVs. I am tired, I am cranky and I am very very sore from this virus I have and just from coughing so much. You dont mess with me at this point.

If you made it this far thanks. I just needed to vent and get my frustration out because I was about an inch away from saying some things today that would not have been appropriate.

 

[Katie's Butterflies]

Yep some hospital doctors are complete jerks and idots. I'm sorry you have to deal with him (on top of having to deal with the needles, uncomfy beds, hospital food etc etc etc ). At least you get to go home tommorrow and not worry about him ever again.

Feel better.

 

[disneymarie]

Gee, I do believe I met this so called doc. For some reason I do not understand they have some god-like ego and make patients hospitalizations a trauma.

Maybe that was his homeopathic way to raise your blood pressure

I hope you have a speedy recovery and never see the doc again....

But, seriously, I would contact the patient advocate and tell them you have patient rights to be treated with respect and considering the amount that your medical ins will be paying them, you will be challenging payment to this doctor as he did not participate advocating for your treatment.

I did this with my dd care and my carrier did deny a great portion of the fees to be for their hosp. doc. He received about $500 instead of the $2,500 he was seeking.
I even went through and found that I was charged for meds the day she was discharged, for items I never received like a splint for her, even the gowns: they were reusable gowns for goodness sake.

 

[Kellydelly]

Are you elderly? I work in a hospital and I know that the goal is discharge planning from admission. The administration doesn't want you hanging around in one of their beds if you are stable and could go home. It drives pts nuts that they don't have 24/7 access to their own doctors and are at the mercy of in-house doctors instead. I don't see that this doctor was so wrong, you just didn't agree with his plan of care. If you stay in the hospital you are more likely to get sicker, with pneumonia or some other bug lurking around. The goal is to get people in and out, fast!

 

[Anne MN]

BTDT
I discuss things with DD Dr's- I give residents/fellows/hospital dr's one chance- they try to do things that have not been discussed-NO WAY! I even ask them if they have talked to DR XXX about this- the say- this is what I would do- NOPE NOT GONNA HAPPEN until you talk to her main DR.
I had her in the ER for a fast HR- they were more concerned with a headache! I was treated like I didn't know what was going on and I was dumb! I had called her Dr's(they are 4 hrs away) they were ok with trying to manage local- they said "have the ER call and I will tell them what they need to do" resident said "that is not a working phone # and blew me off" I went outside and call the exact #, talked to the DR and gave him the phone # for the ER- boy was that resident suprised to talk to her DR!- I was then labled a "problem parent"- resident was being kinda snippy- said no you are not treating my kid only the attending(not a DR in training doing a rotation) attending tried to get nasty- said she needed a lumbar puncture- NOPE NOT happening! I had 5 Dr's trying to guilt/force me to sign a consent- IF i would have allowed it, the resident who I kicked out of the room would have been doing it because they need the practice
if they would have been even slightly off, we would have been on a lifeflight to her Dr's I told them this and they tried to brush it off!
(I am in the medical field and told the Dr's- they were like- oh good for you- we know more than you about your kid and will totally ignore everything you say- made 2 phone calls- they didn't step in the room again!- don't mess with a parent !)

 

[Mermaid02]

Is there some type of patient advocate at the hospital? I would contact the head of that department and tell them about him.

 

[Disney Doll]

As an FYI, as a patient you have the right to say who will and will not be involved in your care.

I would recommend asking to speak to the Nurse Manager of the unit you are on, discuss your concerns with him/her and ask them to do whatever they need to do to remove this MD from your case. Whether his opinion has any basis in sound medical practice (which it may or may not) doesn't really matter. You don't like him, you don't trust him and therefore it is useless to keep him on the case. It will be better for you & him if he is no longer involved.

 

[golfgal]

Call the patient advocate and report his behavior. They will take it from there. There should be information about how to contact the patient advocate in your admission paperwork otherwise ask the nurse. I am sure he is not their favorite dr either but if no one steps up to complain, nothing will ever get done. If there isn't a patient advocate in the hospital, file a complaint with the hospital administrator.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

It sounds like the two of you have gotten into a bad cycle.

My pulmonologist is the one who admitted me but in addition to him, an inpatient hospitalist has been coming in everyday as well becasue my primary doctor is part of the medical group associated with the hospital but they do not come to the hospital.

In fairness to this "other" doctor, each doctor is responsible for his OWN actions, diagnoses, treatments, etc. He CAN'T just go by what the pulmonogist - who isn't directly involved in your care - says. Imagine if something went horribly wrong with you - who do you think would get the blame? Yes, the doctor there with you. So this doc, in fact, does have a right to practice in his own way.

It sounds to me like the system, as it's set up, isn't a great one - if the doc who admitted you can't be directly involved in your care, there to examine you, look over your data, etc (all necessary for proper assessment, diagnosis, evaluation, etc). And it also sounds like you have a lot of anger which, although understandable, doesn't make for great relations between yourself and your caregivers.

Hope you can appreciate my honesty, and hope you feel better soon.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Are you elderly? I work in a hospital and I know that the goal is discharge planning from admission.

IIRC the OP is young, around college age (early 20's) and has other health issues. Thus the information about missing school and midterms. I do think that there is a risk of catching other infections in the hospital but it sounds like her pulmonoligist had decided the benefits outweigh the risks. From her post the Pulmonoligist is coming to see her daily and is ordering her care. These 2 doctors need to talk and come to an agreement on the plan and leave her out of this he said, I think, we don't agree junk.

OP, do ask for a patient advocate and talk with them. I would also tell the pulmon. what the other guy is doing and saying and ask him to deal with him. that you feel better fast. Being in the hospital is no fun.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

From her post the Pulmonoligist is coming to see her daily and is ordering her care.

She said the pulmonologist, if I read it correctly, does not come to the hospital. Probably need definition of primary doctor.

 

[lovetoscrap]

She said the pulmonologist, if I read it correctly, does not come to the hospital.

Her primary care dr doesn't come so that is why the hospitalist is coming. The pulmo. is coming and in addition to him the hospitalist also sees her.

My pulmonologist is the one who admitted me but in addition to him, an inpatient hospitalist has been coming in everyday as well becasue my primary doctor is part of the medical group associated with the hospital but they do not come to the hospital.

 

[dakcp2001]

As an FYI, as a patient you have the right to say who will and will not be involved in your care.

I would recommend asking to speak to the Nurse Manager of the unit you are on, discuss your concerns with him/her and ask them to do whatever they need to do to remove this MD from your case. Whether his opinion has any basis in sound medical practice (which it may or may not) doesn't really matter. You don't like him, you don't trust him and therefore it is useless to keep him on the case. It will be better for you & him if he is no longer involved.

I totally agree with this. Once a patients stops trusting a Dr or dislikes him for whatever reason, having him continue on the case is just going to cause more frustration. Otherwise when you do go home you are not going to follow his instructions, you are going to end up right back in the hospital. You need a Dr that at least hears you out, even if he disagrees with you. And you need to listen as well,sometimes they know more than you think even if they are smug and pompous.

Just ask for someone else, at the very least you will get a different personality and a second opinion. If the second agrees with the first, listen to him.

They really do try to get you out of the hospital quickly. You will prob feel better at home and be exposed to less germs.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Her primary care dr doesn't come so that is why the hospitalist is coming. The pulmo. is coming and in addition to him the hospitalist also sees her.

Whichever doctors are coming to see her, she refers to them as the "others". This implies that some are there, and some aren't, but clearly they're not all on the same page. This isn't the fault of the person who IS there with her - it's a problem with the system. The person who is there has to, along with the general plan of care, make decisions based on his own assessment of things, not necessarily what someone's telling him over the phone, etc. This puts the person there with her in a difficult position to start. Realistically, it has to be a team approach, where everyone's on the same page.

 

[katesorad]

I really hate some doctors for sure. When I was in the ER a few months ago, I was in severe pain, screaming, etc. They threw an IV in my arm ASAP with pain meds, and I'm guessing they just wanted to shut me up. They put me through a ton of tests, including a CT scan, and after waiting around 8 hours in that little room, the doctor came in and said nothing was wrong with me. I was so mad, and asked for more information. He said he didn't have any information to give me. I went home, still in pain, and sat through pain for quite a few days.

So I made a follow-up appointment with my doctor, and he said that he found big kidney stones at first glance on my CT scan results. I was so mad that I had to suffer through that pain, not knowing what was wrong from Friday when I was in the ER, to Monday when I was able to get an appointment with my doctor.

Very frustrating. So I can relate and see where you're coming from.. I hope the rest of your time at the hospital goes better.

 

[luvdzny]

I don't think the hospitalist is completely wrong. DD has asthma, heart problems and severe problems with her entire autonomic nervous system. When her blood pressure drops, the first treatment is Gatorade, 64 ounces a day or more, and just generally increasing her salt & fluid intake. If that does not work then it is on to IV treatment. (Although at this point she has to do IV therapy at home 3 times a week.) If you need IV steroids it can be done at home with a PICC line. I have been sent home from the hospital with a PICC line for meds & IV fluids before. I could have a home health care nurse come in, but it is cheaper and more convenient to do it myself. While you may not like the doctor, I would not say that his advice is wrong.

 

[Rumpus]

This is really just a vent about how much i hate "other" doctors...aka, doctors that are not mine. I dont know how much this will make sense but I have reached the end of my rope with this guy and this hospitalization.

I am currently in the hospital right now for asthma. My pulmonologist is the one who admitted me but in addition to him, an inpatient hospitalist has been coming in everyday as well becasue my primary doctor is part of the medical group associated with the hospital but they do not come to the hospital.

This doctor is a real SOB. After 2 days of dealing with his crap I finally told him to get the hell out of my room. He has basically been questioning every decision that my pulmonologist has been making. He has absolutely no continuity of care and has no idea about my history so in my book that means he has no right to have any say in my treatment anymore.

He basically implied that I was faking it and that there was really no reason for me to be here at all.

My pulmonologist already had me on 10 days of oral prednisone which did not seem to be working and I caught a nasty virus which made things worse so my doctor decided it would be best to admit me for a couple of days of IV steroids to knock it out faster. In addition, I was starting to have problems with my blood pressure so he ordered IV fluids to rehydrate becasue he couldnt figure out exactly WHY my blood pressure was dropping but we decided to try and easy fix which seems to be working. My blood pressure went from 70/40 to 95/50 so we are making progress

This hospital doctor came in today and didnt understand why I was still here. When I told him what my pulmonologist said he was like, well thats what gatorade is for. You dont need IV fluids, just drink gatorade.

My electrolytes are not that out of whack. Some minor issues but nothing major. We dont know why my blood pressure is doing what it is doing but the fluids seem to be working so my pulmonologist wants to go this course until tomorrow and see what happens. We are making our usual progress here. 2 days IV steroids, started on oral again today and if I am stable tomorrow, I go home late tomorrow afternoon.

After a couple of other comments I just told him to get out. I told him that I was no longer discussing my care with him again. That I would be dealing with my own doctor only.

This guy would not shut up. He would not listen to me. Everytime I would tell him what my pulmonologist told me he would say that he was told something different. My doctor wouldnt lie to me. If he wanted to talk to me about something he would. He would not lie. After my pulmnologist told me that he wanted to keep me here until tomorrow, this other doctor came in and said he wnated to send me home today. After I told him that my doctor was keeping me here another day he was like, "no he is fine with sending you home today". I was like, if he was okay with that he would have TOLD me adn we would have discussed it and would have made a decision but he said tomorrow"

Becasue of teh severity adn complexity of my medical conditions, we try to nip these issues as quickly as possible. We dont wait until I am having a full blown asthma attack to deal with it because that would land me in ICU. He deals with it ahead of the crash so that it is only 4 or 5 days instead of 2 weeks. I was lightheaded, shallow breathing, my face was numb, my O2 sats we dropping (they were like 90% when admitted), my heart rate was faster than it should be on my meds, etc. I was on my way to crashing fast.

I have dealt with a lot of ****** doctors before but this one takes the cake. I dont want to be here. Since october of 2009, I have racked up about 40 days in this hospital (inlcuding asthma admittances, surgeries, etc). I already missed 2 days of classes and will be missing this entire next week including 2 midterms so that I can fully recover and not relapse I am not happy about being here and this guy just pushed me over the edge. I have had 4 IVs in 3 1/2 days becasue they keep failing. I am bruised liek crazy from these IVs. I am tired, I am cranky and I am very very sore from this virus I have and just from coughing so much. You dont mess with me at this point.

If you made it this far thanks. I just needed to vent and get my frustration out because I was about an inch away from saying some things today that would not have been appropriate.

I will play devil's advocate here. You may have successfully gotten yourself branded as a "difficult patient". Your pulmonologist may indeed be telling you one thing and the hospitalist something different. That doesn't mean that he is lying, but he may find it difficult to communicate with you as well. I know that it is difficult to have a chronic condition and you may experiencing frustration because of that. The best solution would be to have all of the physicians involved in your care at your bedside and have a meeting, establish a plan and attempt to stick with it. I do understand that when you aren't feeling well, it is difficult to deal with going home, however, staying in the hospital is not without risks.

 

[phorsenuf]

So then the pneumonia is gone?

My PSA for the day:

If you have had penumonia before that you have been hospitalizaed for;

If you have anything conditions that put you at high risk;

If you live or take care of anyone that is high risk

PLEASE talk to your doctor about the pneumonia vaccine. It might not completely prevent it but it can decrease the severity. My doctors are convinced that is why this will only be a week stay for me on a regular floor rather than 1 week in ICU and one week on the regular floor.

Its one vaccine every 5 years.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Oh you poor thing If you were my kid I would be absolutely furious. I have 2 kids with Asthma and know EXACTLY what you are talking about. Asthma is one of those things where you are either fine or in serious danger and someone not familiar just won't get that. When Asthmatics have trouble you take medicine which makes you breathe BUT for a number of days after you get back to normal you are still in serious danger, so you may look OK & your numbers are ok but you are not OK.... then when they drop the steroids you run a huge risk of getting much worse very quickly. The hospital Dr should know better. I really think that Dr needs to get a grip and realize your Pulmonary Specialty Dr. is not a moron and probably has very good reasons for keeping you there. If I were you I would would file a complaint, demand another caregiver and direct any questions to the Specialist who has the skills to shut someone who questions him or her down. Next time it happens I'd offer your Dr's number and tell the person you'll let the Dr know he/she should be expecting their call to discuss your care because they disagree, that's what I told my kids school nurse and she was absolutely silent If someone wants to challenge another Dr fine it is not appropriate that it be done through a patient because you are an easy target. Not ok.

Feel better, I'm really sad this happened to you.

 

[Bilberry]

I don't hate doctors. I've had a few run ins with rude physicians. And a few times had meetings with doctors that didn't give me much confidence in what they do. In general I now stay away from hospitals when i can with home tests and use lab services with businesses outside of hospitals. I'm not afraid to go to a hospital when I need to though.

But saw this article about doctors in Israel and was shocked! When doctors went on strike in the past there, making it difficult for people to receive typical medical treatments, death rates went gone down, considerably! I wouldn't have expected that.

"Recent research highlights the hazards of modern medicine"

http://www.drbriffa.com/2011/04/11/recent-research-highlights-the-hazards-of-modern-medicine/