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Friday, October 24, 2008

Doctor's Misunderstanding

I had a disagreement against a physician which I wrote about to the State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts. It was rejected by them, without ever giving me a reason why.

I had to visit this doctor, because I belonged to the insurance group, Advantra, and he was my primary physician. This visit was a just a routine visit. The doctor’s diagnosis was a suggestion to take a pharmaceutical (Amox-Clav) and exercise for ‘ROUND SHOULDERS.” I don’t think he was listening very well, because when I told him over and over again, I have had round shoulders ever since I was six years old and I did not think
any pharmaceutical could change that at my age, which at the time, was over 80. I’m sure an antibiotic will not fix round shoulders, but I did have some of the bad side effects from one dose of the drug, which was bleeding.

I returned to the doctor’s office, only to be told by the receptionist that I needed to go to the emergency room. But instead, I waited four hours in his office before he would see me. After finally getting to see the doctor, and having a quick conversation, he told me that I needed to go to the hospital. It was I who had to ask if I still needed to take the Amox-Clav or not. You would think he would have told me that himself.

I didn’t feel I could or should go to the emergency room by myself, so this trip required calling a friend to accompany me to the hospital. After a grueling day, I ended up with a three day hospital stay, where they didn’t find anything wrong with me. This doctor didn’t come to check on my condition until the end of the third day, too late to discharge me that day, but staying any longer would not be cover by my insurance company. I left the hospital without his discharge authorization.

I’m sure I’m not alone with this type of medical experience, but there should be a listening ear to hear for the patient’s benefit, not just for the doctors.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Dear Abby - You must be kidding!

I had to reread a headline and the story to make sure I was reading it correctly.

Dear Abbly wrote, in response to a question from the woman of an unmarried couple, who asked,

After living together for two years, and splitting all bills – rent, utilities, etc. --
in half, I asked about paying half of my birth control bills (about $40 a month),
most guys and women don’t agree with me.

Dear Abby’s response shocked me.

This is her statement:
There are two kinds of expenses when people share a dwelling, joint expenses and those
that are personal. Prescription drugs usually fall into the latter. Unless you are prepared to
pay half of the cost of his prescription drugs – including Viagra – my advice is to back down
on this.


Dear Abby:

YOU COULDN’T HAVE GIVEN THIS MUCH THOUGHT:

She didn’t ask you about Viagra. Evidently this is not one of their
problems or it would have been included in the question.

We don’t know if they share that expense,but the question is an indication
of the incredibly unbilievable problems that come up between people
today.

Your statement that birth control pills are personal is unbelievable.
PERSONAL MEANS ONE PERSON, NOT TWO.

How could birth control pills apply to one person only, unless you
have a new kind of sex that only requires one person....then we don’t\
have to worry about BIRTH CONTROL.