The on-going BS dealing with doctors

I am livid right now. Absolutely livid. Frustrated and disheartened and absolutely sick of the helplessness we deal with re: the medical system.

I'm going to have to backtrack here - last summer I was seeing a psychiatrist who I originally liked and thought he was going to help me.

He is the one who diagnosed me with Type 2 bipolar and ADHD.

I saw him for awhile but then he forgot that we discussed ODSP and actually told me that we'd never had a conversation about it.
That occurred at the end of an appointment and I was shocked and frustrated and upset.

I went out to my car and I flipped out. I called Hubs, one of my best friends and another friend and told them what had happened.

I stewed about it for a few wks and went into a massive downcycle - worse than my standard low.

I wrote him a letter - an upset one to be sure - so that he'd know how I was feeling before my next appointment in the hope that I wouldn't have to "waste" my next appointment discussing my feelings about it and just get to the ODSP info.

Instead my next appointment was spent with him angrily confronting me - showing me his "notes" on our previous sessions (which consisted of 2 - 4 SENTENCES per 45 minute session) though he did back-handedly say, "I have a lot of patients and may have forgotten."

He also asked me why I was getting emotional (I was crying) and the whole thing was traumatizing.

I have issues with men, and with authority figures and with feeling powerless.

That last appt was all about him proving that he, the almighty psychiatrist, was in the right and I, the lowly patient should suck it up.

I tried to kowtow to him because I was afraid and I never returned.

Following that, maybe a few wks later is when he deigned to write up an assessment on me and send it to my family DR.

In between my last psych appt and him sending the assessment (which I have never seen - though family DR said it was "unflattering") I had an appt with family DR where I said I'd had a "falling out" with the psych.

I felt so distrustful after it all that I didn't ask for a new psych referral until around March 3rd, at first for whomever was available but then I got the name of someone recommended for doing well-written assessments so I called to switch the referral to a psych at the local hospital. Plus the psych family DR had first recommended turned out to be the psych of a trusted friend (and she hated him).

I knew it would be a wait.

I followed up in May and found out from hospital that family DR had sent a referral in March but it wasn't filled out correctly.

Hospital had followed up with family DR and said they'd be ignored so they closed the file.

I asked them to contact again and then contacted family DR and asked them to correct the situation (this was around May 6th or 7th I think)

May was when Grandpa got sick and went to hospital and we found out he was terminal so from that point until Grandpa died in June I was occupied with that.

And grieving.

Followed up again about Aug 20th (found the whole sitch frustrating and upsetting so I had to work up my nerve to get back to it).

Family DR office said referral had been refused.

Hospital said DR still hadn't filled out the specific info on the form they had faxed back in May. They re-faxed to my DR's office.
I called family DR and explained the situation and asked it be resolved.

I have been doing phone calls with Dr's office and hospital since Aug 20th.

Today, family DR still hasn't done it. Receptionist now presented something totally different to me. Says I have an outstanding bill with them. One since last Oct re: prescription renewal and one for Jan re: missed appt.

Says family DR won't fix the referral until this is taken care of.

This is the 1st I've heard of the Rx renewal charge.

As for the missed appt charge, I did receive a letter about thta and I called them immediately because I had shown up for the appt time I was given on the phone and the DR wasn't there. I was told at that time I'd missed the appt. I said I'd come at the time I was given.

When I spoke to the person on the phone following the letter, she said that maybe she'd told me the wrong time because we'd been discussing 2 possible appt dates and times and said she'd take care of that because it was possibly her error.

Now, keep in mind this morning was the first time they've said anything about fixing my referral being held hostage.

Then she said she wasn't sure if I was still a patient.

I explained that I had gone to a walk-in clinic once for an inquiry which I believe a patient is allowed to do.

(It was a consult re: my doctor-patient relationship and if one could go on a waiting list for a different DR while still keeping one's own DR in the interim.)

Because I require a follow-up mammogram this month, I decided to do that first. I have an appt on the 24th with family DR about that.

I started crying on phone with family DR receptionist and said he'd better get this sorted or I'll be forced to lodge a complaint.

I cannot believe this.

And people wonder why I don't trust DRs. And why it's so hard for me to deal with people. And why I get so defeated and hopeless

Well, how would you feel?

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network