In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 1 Oct 2017 19:32:57 -0400, Ed Pawlowski
wrote:

On 10/1/2017 6:45 PM, micky wrote:

alt.home.repair added, because they have opinions about everything!

About email in general, not Eudora.

When you write to someone at his personal email address but one that
ends in a corporate domain, in this case two medical practices with 75
and more than 150 doctors respectively, what are the odds that email to
hir will a) be read as a matter of course by the network administrator
or worse yet, his medical supervisor, b) be scanned by software looking
for key words the management would wants to pursue

Where I worked was smaller than what you describe. i was the general
manger and I set up the email system so yes, I can read every incoming
email if I wanted to. I never really cared or bothered but it can be
done. Corporate email is never private.

I knew I heard that somewhere!


Background: The first doctor fresh out of residency didn't ask me
enough questions and inconvenienced me, worried me, and took 10 or 20
hours of my time doing more research for 2 years, when if she'd only
asked one more question or told me one big side effect of the drug she
prescribed, I would have done things in a different order and saved all
that trouble. I read serious articles on the web about the drug before
starting to take it, but the fact that this side effect is thought to
never go away, even after you stop taking the drug, was not mentioned in
the articles. When I asked her a year later, she knew about that
though, but she tried to palm the question off on the dentist.

I'm annoyed and I want to tell her so she doesn't make the same mistake
again (though I suspect my GP who's in the same practice already told
her) but once warned, I doubt she'll ever do it again and I don't want
to get her in trouble with her practice.

Either tell her face to face

Too much trouble for both her and me. I'd have to go there and she'd
have to take time, and at the same time. Plus there are 3 of them.

or send her a snail mail letter and park
the envelope "Personal" or "Private" or "Confidential" and under HIPPA
rules they should respect your privacy.

I'll try calling this week for private email addresses. I'll try to say
later if I could get them. For some reason I find writing letters to be
a lot of work, and each of the doctors has more to gain from this than I
do.


I have no complaint about the second one, but his practice has caused me
grief on 3 other occasions and on a continuing basis every time I need

The other 3 occasions were like this. 1) One time I was left in pain
from an earlier procedure (busting up a bladder stone or something
related) and it took them about a week to find an operating room or
whatever you call it to fix whatever went wrong the first time. That's
bad enough but when I was in the most pain, I called the office and the
secretary refused to take a message because of HIPPA. I dont' believe
that is the law. Rather I think their lawyers are being extra careful,
and they won't pay the extra premium for more insurance so their lawyers
could be more lenient.

I ended up faxing the office with the first line in caps "I WAIVE ALL MY
HIPPA RIGHTS." so they would have no excuse not to carry the piece of
paper to his office (for fear they might accidentally read it),


2) Another time I was in moderate pain but it was getting worse and I
didnt' want it to go higher over the weekend. I called, said I was in
pain, and they said my doctor wasn't in that day. What, I'm in love
with him? Why can't I see another doctor. (they have 75, all
urologists.) Okay, they agree to that, and when I come in some
nurse-type takes me to an examining room and asks questions. How much
does it hurt? A 5 out of ten. "That's not what you said when you
called this morning." Well they didnt' ask and I didn't say anything
about how much it hurt and it's been 2 hours and it might have changed
and who cares what I said. I have to prove to them I'm in pain?

And what did she do, She gave me a small bottle of Uribel pills, which
a) she said don't require a doctor, and b) they solved the problem. So
why did they grill me on the phone and in person.


3) Another time, my ride had been in an accident and was now scheduled
for physical therapy during my procedure. She called me in the
afternoon,and I called the office to explain about 3:58PM. The woman
who answered the phone had to check with someone, who seemed to be in
the same room, and the answer was she could drop me off and pick me up
later. But when we got there early Monday, that wasn't good enough. It
may be that the office closed while the phone was ringing and the
answering service picked up, and what they say doesn't count for
anything, but they didn't tell me they were the service.

So now I'm there and I know both the doctor and I don't want me to leave
without doing it -- he won't get paid -- and I make him come out to the
waiting room, and he says they have to have the ride waiting because
sometimes husbands or wives don't show up on time and they have no one
who is able to watch the patient after the procedure. I say, Why can't
I sit in the waiting room and if I fall out of the chair the
receptionist will see it (and the way the room was, she would). I point
out that my ride is no more medically skilled than the receptionist, so
if I'm able to sit in the car with my ride, why can't I sit in the
waiting room. I don't point out that 30 minutes after the ride and I
leave, he's going to leave me alone at my house because they'd have a
fit about that, but they never ask where I'm going, and they know I live
alone. Like many people. So it's not my safety but their liability.

And again it's the lawyers.

(This last one, she was just going to drop me off but for some reason
she parked and came up to the office maybe 15 minutes later, and I
didn't really want her to but she offered to skip her physical therapy.
So that ended the fight without resolving it.)

Federal law for decades has said that they can't discharge someone who
isnt' alert, I think it is, unless there is a competent adult there to
be with him. But all over the country, lawyers have decided to play it
safe, and expanded on the meaning of alert, so that they decide in
advance that no one meets that standard. And I've always been fully
alert, these 4 times and a colonoscopy (which didn't require anyone to
wait, but it was a couple years earlier.) . I could pass any test they
gave me but they've made up their mind that no one is alert enough.
The advantage of the anesthesia they use is that for most people
including me when they wake up they're wide awak. One time, when a
young friend waited for me, I had him drive me 5 blocks to a main street
wwhere I got a cab downtown because I wanted to watch a court trial
(which was postponed) and I ran around downtown for an hour, then took
the subway back home. .

Now I'm so angry again and the letter wrote itself, but I can't send it
to the management until I've found another doctor. Which should only
take an hour.


any anesthesia for a procedure -- they insist someone bring me, stay
there the whole time, and take me home, about 5 hours. They won't let
the person leave and come back and won't let a taxi take me home.
I've considered having a taxi-driver pose as my friend, but then it's
about $180 iirc. I've found another very reputable practice that also
won't permit a taxi but just calls my ride when they're done and has him
come get me.

This is common practice for good reason. Have you no friends? Pay a

Yes, but I've gotten each of them to do this once already, plus a couple
other times where all they had to do was pick me up. I think the fifth
time is coming up.

teenager to go with you? One time I had my grandson go with me. The

Don't know any teenagers. In the 20 or so houses around here where I
know the people, there are no teenagers, and none among my friends. Too
old I guess and either no kids or no grandchildren.

other time my wife drove around the corner and I drove home from there.
In my case, they would call your ride when you were ready. Next week

That would be fine. I'd have no trouble asking the same people if it
was like that.

I'll take my wife for a colonoscopy and I'll hang out and read a book.
She did the same for me but I drove home. Five hours is a long time to
wait for a routine procedure.

It's 20 minutes to come get me, 30 minutes to get there, and 10 minutes
say to park and go upstairs to make an even hour. IIRC they want me
there an hour in advance, before they actually start, and it takes 60
minutes and another 30 or 40 before I wake up. As is typical, once I
wake up I'm wide awake then. , Then an hour to take me home and go back
to wherever they want to be. So that's 4:40

Even when my wife had major surgery they
did not say I had to wait, though I did.

Good for you. I'm sure she appreciated it. And the place that does it
your way is a famous hospital here. However the practice with this
policy controls at at least one other respected hospital, where I had
one procedure, and afaik several other hospitals. But except for that
one time, I think it's been done at a non-hospital surgical place, sort
of like where Joan Rivers died.

She was not going home though.

Recovery time. I hope she's fine now.



There's a 3rd, come to think of it. Because of continued back pain, I
went to an orthopedist and it wasn't until after an MRI and at the end
of the second appointment before he said how much my being fat causes
this problem, and that was only after I brought it up. I knew weight
mattered but I didn't realize how much. (and after that I lost 20
pounds and half the pain went away and the half left isn't of the same
nature. It's not as bad.) I guess he didn't want to offend me, but I
know I'm fat and I know it's no secret to anyone who can see me. But
again, I don't want the practice to read my complaint.

There was an NPR segment about how doctors are reluctant to discuss
weight with patients, even if the patients bring it up, and they fear if
they do, the patients won't come back. A lot of hits on the topic:
https://www.google.com/search?q=doct...utf-8&oe=utf-8


When I heard about this, my attitude to the doctor above softened, but
for his good and possibly for future patients, I still think I should
tell him.

But I don't want his manager to know. My mother had the same attitude.
That's probably where I got it.

I lost 15 pounds and it made a huge difference for my knees. Doc wants
me to lose another 15 but it is not easy to do.

It sure isn't. My friend can't make up her mind, but I might be going
on a trip for 2 or 3 weeks with a woman 15 years younger than I, but
more importantly, she walks 90 minutes 4 or 5 times a week. I'll never
be able to keep up with her at her max but I don't want to be so slow I
drive her crazy. (I'm going on the trip regardless of whether she
comes. )