Hey I got a story I would like a few people opinions on. I had to retrieve some records from one of my GI as I am currently seeing two being between the private and public health care system for reasons involving being knocked back for private treatment due to my Crohns/Colitis being a pre-existing condition and I am required to serve some 12 months waiting period thus was sent through to a public hospital from a private ER on a night I was sent their and said to be flaring according to my CT scans and abnormal results in my blood work so anyway I was after a simply copy of my records to have on hand and so I could take to the public GI so he could review my past treatments and see what has worked and what hasn’t and hopefully help devise a new plan to treat my symptoms as the original private GI was postponing tests telling me just to take my medication regardless I had complained it wasn’t working and made me wait, it was no wonder I got sick and ended up having to be seen by another GI on an emergency basis, Anyway back to the story about calling about my records, Unfortunately upon making quite a reasonable call and polite call to my private GI's secretary yesterday on the 23/05 about acquiring some of these medical records. I was met with a less then helpful tone and attitude. however I assumed she may be having a bad day and continued to explain my case and was also polite in doing so, she was being slightly difficult so a few times I did need to become slightly assertive to make my intentions clear but at no time did I have any need or motivation to become rude or harassing in anyway. To make things clear to readers so far and further explain the whole point, my reasons for needing copies were for the public GI who performed the urgent colonoscopy on me on the 7/5 as he wants to compare previous results from old test and work from there. It's not like I cheated on my private GI I simply was in extreme pain and distress and I had to see him on an urgent basis and he was all that was available .I also was want a copy of my diagnostic records on hold for my file as I plan on traveling and feel if I were to fall ill with GI issues having some of my basic records of my history may aid in treatment and thus avoid being overlooked in case i was say in America and had a flare, as they say knowledge is power and if i needed help anything to enlighten people could greatly benefit me if some unfortunate incident was to arise. And knowing Crohns is chronic I know being prepared in ways such as what 'm describing is a fair idea and I know there are others who do the same types of things in their circumstances. Too many times I have no record of my stomach/colitis issues and am over looked as finding the problems underlying are not always easy to see. I suspect I have IBS too so sometimes I claim I’m flaring and when my blood comes back normal they same I'm fine, it's not that I am lying about my symptoms it maybe just the IBS or something that hides well but too often this happens on many occasion to me and the more paperwork I have describing the complexity of my issues the more chance I have of doctors treating me seriously and getting to the bottom of my issue and helping me rather than thinking I am lying or exaggerating how I feel because my blood work wasn’t showing high counts of inflammatory, I'm sick of being dismissed as embellishing or not taking meds and being told I'm a naughty patient who doesn’t take his meds and it’s my fault I’m sick. Specifically because some of my symptoms are IBS related and not all Crohns so sometime preliminary blood work will not show signs of any definite acute medical situation. This is going to be an on-going problem for me and one I will need to develop the right kind of skills to deal with differentiating what maybe Crohns colitis flares or more of the ever present sensitivities remaining in times of quiescence. I was told that I need to await my private GI Dr Martins call back to approve releasing some if any of records and have them be copied for me and then I could take and give to my doctors who needed them as required or he could alternatively although not my preferred outcome to send them to each doctor once I had given him the names of the doctors and specialist who had asked for copies of these old records. Of course it would have been much easier in getting a copy for me because then I could have copied and given to doctors as needed, plus I would have had copies to take with me when I plan traveling O/S. The reason I apparently was not able to get copies was because they contain information in them that requires some kind of medical training to be able to read and he (The private GI doctor) Thought me having copies was not suitable as I am not qualified to read such information. There was talk about me obtaining copies through using a my lawyer to fill out any necessary Freedom of information act documents making my records available, however even then that is not just a simply process and when you have doctors who will not happily give copies of records to a patient and only send them to other doctors, there is not much to do. TO an extent the doctor has a right to do so, regardless of that being a little odd an unfair if a legitimate and sensible reason is given, obviously it is the wish of him not to see certain information in there as I suspect from some notes I have been privy to read he has written about me they have contained information calling me a non-compliant patient who doesn’t take his meds and who has complaints that are not in proportion to what he can attribute it the severity or perceived lack of severity in some of my different test and results. Basically he has called me a bad patient in not so many words and maybe for fear of legal reasons does not want me to read them or is not willing to have an open disclosure policy in which all matters or issues within the doctor/patients relationship are open to discussion. I mean after all he is telling my doctors I do not take medication and don’t listen to him. Which is not true unfortunately when some doctors take his word for it and don’t ask for my side of the story theses doctors now have the propensity to get angry and this has happened once or twice all to do with some ******** lie my GI had said about me? So I am inadvertently having my name dragged through the mud and being given a false reputation as a bad patient. When the opposite is true and I pride myself on honesty and researching all ways to achieve good health and to be having a doctor who I have trusted with m health to be spreading lies that I am a non-compliant patient who doesn’t turn up to appointments and never takes meds and is sick for these reasons obviously makes me look very bad and on top of that if he is hiding record with these statements in, which I know exist as I have had a couple read to me. I have no chance to set the record straight and have my side of the story heard and thus get treated more seriously and perhaps have my treatment at a level where i am a lot healthier. He believes I don’t take my medication and that’s why I am sick, where as I do take it but i still get sick. So if he whereas good doctor he would realise that more tests need to be ran and perhaps a medicine change needed. because accusing me of not taking medication and if i di would fix it is so stupid as if taking the medications he had me would make me better I already would be as I take them, It doesn’t matter how many times I tell him he think i am lying. So anyway to continue the story about the call to the secretary I asked for the notes and she said that she needed to check with the GI Doctor whether he was happy releasing them. So thirty minutes later I get a phone call from him and he asks me why have I been harassing his staff memebers and threating them to release information to me or else I will take legal action and get freedom of information act paperwork filed. I was shocked. I replied with my first comeback that in no way was I harassing them and apologised if it seemed so, I then explained how I simply would like some copies of my previous colonoscopies and check-up result with my medications listed and any other relevant notes he may have on me. He didn't like me asking this and wanted to know why I am after copies of record as it is a very strange request he though. I explained how I was sent to hospital on the 7/5/12 and had a Ct san which showed colitis and then was sent to hospital where 5 days later I had an emergency colonoscopy by one of the senior GI registrars at the hospital. Straight away this doctor i was on the phone to in the most condescending way possible said ' Now are you telling me a porky pie, I don't like you fibbing to me" I replied confused and asked him what he meant by this statement. He then said “Are you lying to me it seems like you're fibbing because if you had a colonoscopy I would have heard about it, why are you lying to me?" I began to get emotional and said "excuse me how dare you say I'm lying, what possible reason would a person lie about something like this". He said “well what was the name of the doctor?" I gave him the name and he still said I was lying to him. I got hurt and mad and asked what type of a doctor does this. I explained I had this procedure done as his treatments were failing I had gotten sick and then another GI doctor saw my condition and wanted to organise tests on me straight away. He then started basically yelling me to never harass his staff again, and how I was a "little boy who needs to behave himself and I never follow his directions or turn up to appointments" I defended myself and said I always take my meds which is true, have only ever missed one or two appointments both times I was too sick to drive and let them know and was not lying about my colonoscopy. He eventually rang the hospital and found out I wasn’t lying and rang me back explaining he found out I had had one but the doctor in charge of the procedure was on holiday so he never spoke to him personally. I did not receive an apology. He said he was happy to see me, But I was in tears that night. With all the stress this Crohns/IBS causes me I need doctors who trust me when I say I’m not feeling well and care for me and give me advice. Not only does he tell my doctors I complain out of proportion to how I present according to his perception. He has now made it clear to me he thinks I am a liar and non-compliant patients and during the phone call he made to me said some nasty things about me as a person calling me an " Amazing character" and not in a complimentary way he said it in the way that I am an "Amazing Character" i.e. not normal, silly, out there. However you want to interpret it. He was putting me down in ways where he didn't need to be outwardly aggressive or swear. The message was clear, He threatened to write to all my doctors and tell them how I was sick because I would not follow his medication directions and an also said I am relying on pain medication. I was so hurt I am a man and we aren't supposed to cry much. But being kicked when I'm down and particularly by people who are supposed to be the ones helping you get back on your feet is like an arrow to the heart. Given the fact I am currently in my first year studying Paramedics at a local University and have been an orderly at Flinders Medical Centre I have more than a budding vocabulary in reading medical jargon and being able to understand pathological reports and the histology involved and information about medical treatment.. And I am an intelligent, kind, compassionate person and cannot understand why I would be being treated like this. I did have a history of partying when I was younger and was sent to hospital for alcohol poising back when i was young a was paranoid maybe because of that he was he read about me he thinks I am some kind of bad apple and maybe not into looking after myself so I can get sick and use the pain it caused to get pain meds, these are all the crazy theory he has me wondering about. Because it is beyond me why I would be getting treated like this. My heart aches at how some people are. As I said I work in a hospital as an Orderly and am studying Paramedics as I care a lot of for the human race and my fellow human beings. To me there is nothing more important in this world than having empathy for other particularly if they are not feeling well. And I am so disappointed this doctor has behaved like this. I don’t care how hard he has studied or how intelligent he thinks he is, for him to be handling situations like he does to me he is a bad person and shouldn’t be in the field of helping people if he has propensity to talk to patient like he did me, regardless of him having a bad or not, there is no excuse. I will not put my health in the hands of somebody who accuses me of lying like he did, have staff members accuse me of harassment when I was nothing but polite on all phone calls I make and most importantly, I will not have misleading letters sent to my GP telling them I am a troubled patient who is non-complaint, with complaints out of proportion to my illness, this is confusing for them and treatment had been going well and then after his letter they became confused and unfortunately the Private GI's letter had a natural influence on them and it affected my healthy relationships with them and they were conflicted as to who to believe. I simply can't believe this doctor. I mean I had a colonoscopy told him the date I had it, the doctor who performed it and he still didn’t believe me. Even once he rang the hospital and they told him I was 100% telling the truth, he didn't apologise. Change his tune, offer any sympathy or advice, nada. He simply said he is happy to see me if I still need to see him. AS if i should be grateful he will see me after all the nasty **** he had just said about me. What an egocentric prick. The guy probably has a heart the size of a fly’s dick. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can handle this doctor and any places I can go to and complain about the treatment and borderline abuse I received from him? Any information would be greatly appreciated. - Tim
PS: sorry if there are any spelling errors i wrote this in a hurry as i need to get off the computer soon for my housemate to use for his homework/exams. Thanks again and look forward to any advice or responses you guys have
PS: sorry if there are any spelling errors i wrote this in a hurry as i need to get off the computer soon for my housemate to use for his homework/exams. Thanks again and look forward to any advice or responses you guys have
