There oughta be a law...

JerzyGrrl
JerzyGrrl Member Posts: 760 Member
edited November 2016 in Kidney Cancer #1

There oughta be a law against members of one's medical care team leaving messages on a Friday such as, "I'm calling to let you know about your [name of test / scan]. I'll call back later today. Or if not today, then Monday. Thank you!" and then they don't call back. 

I should know that there's no point in sitting by the phone, waiting for them to call back (Sigh. Like the after-date promise "I'll call you" when one is young). Get on with life, etc (Lots of "ETC," in fact)! However, realizing that it's going to be AT LEAST 62 hours later before they call back is just... So... Wrong...

Sheesh. At any rate, the wait is almost over, perhaps less than 14 hours to go, and sleep will use up some of that time. But still...

GAH! I'm gonna go look for some cheese and crackers to go with this whine. 

[Insert cranky emoticon of your choice here]

Jerzy

Comments

  • sblairc
    sblairc Member Posts: 585 Member
    edited November 2016 #2
    I'm so sorry. That is awful.

    That's horrible. If it makes you feel any better, that happened to me once. About a chest xray I had for pneumonia when I was 24. They said exactly what your message said. Turns out they were calling to tell me that I did have the pneumonia my doctor already told me I had!!! Seriously!!! I'm sure it's fine, for what it's worth.

  • daisybud
    daisybud Member Posts: 541 Member
    edited November 2016 #3
    Terrible

    That's definitely  awful.  I hope you hear from them first thing Monday morning.  you deserve the cheese and crackers and a whole bottle of wine.  let us know.  

    Kim

  • JerzyGrrl
    JerzyGrrl Member Posts: 760 Member
    edited November 2016 #4
    daisybud said:

    Terrible

    That's definitely  awful.  I hope you hear from them first thing Monday morning.  you deserve the cheese and crackers and a whole bottle of wine.  let us know.  

    Kim

    That's rich!

    Kim, I recently had a guest bring me a rather nice bottle of wine.  They didn't drink (nor to I, generally), so we had a good laugh, I expressed my gratitude, and it was carefully parked on a shelf in the pantry. If I were to decide to drink the whole bottle, I'd be in no shape to talk on the phone in the morning, I'd be too hung over! 

    Jerzy, a "cheap date"

  • Jojo61
    Jojo61 Member Posts: 1,309 Member
    edited November 2016 #5
    That is just another form of

    That is just another form of torture!! I hoping that it is nothing to worry about.

    Hugs

    Jojo

  • JerzyGrrl
    JerzyGrrl Member Posts: 760 Member
    #6
    Jojo61 said:

    That is just another form of

    That is just another form of torture!! I hoping that it is nothing to worry about.

    Hugs

    Jojo

    Or another form of...

    Either that, or another form of stress test?! Too bad I'm not hooked up with all the stick-on cardiac electrode thingies and a wireless monitor, huh? 

    Thank you, Jojo. I'm hoping right along with you that it's nothing to worry about. 

  • JerzyGrrl
    JerzyGrrl Member Posts: 760 Member
    #7
    Info. Sort of...

    Monday, I got to speak with the PA (that's who called, the physician's assistant). He had the radiologist's report regarding my MRI, but seemed hesitant to give me any information. I'm not sure if he couldn't because he's not allowed to give me that info, or if he couldn't because he didn't have the info, or if he couldn't because he lacked the ability to interpret the info. Probably a combination of the three. 

    I asked if they could send the radiologist's report to the surgeon (opinion #1) because there seemed to be no way they could fit me in to speak with their surgeon (opinion #2) before surgery pre-op was potentially scheduled with surgeon #1. We managed to miscommunicate about that, but finally I got the FAX number for surgeon #1 and he said they'd send it right away. Nope, by the end of the day, they hadn't gotten it yet. Surgeon #1's office folks said to call back first thing this morning, they should have it and put it in the chart. Nope, it wasn't there yet this morning. So I called back to the hospital. The gal I spoke with managed to track down that it had indeed been sent right away on Monday... to a different urological group in a nearby town. So she put in another request that it be sent to physician #1 AND that they call me when that'd been done. 

    Things finally got straightened out enough that physician #1 called and spoke with me briefly about the report. I'm hoping to pick up a copy of it tomorrow. 

    What's hysterically funny is, I called over to radiology to get a copy of the MRI report and the disk, and once I fill out a release form, they'll send me copies. I could've saved myself a lot of angst. 

  • Jojo61
    Jojo61 Member Posts: 1,309 Member
    #8
    Why do medical offices do

    Why do medical offices do this ALL THE TIME!!?  So very frustrating for you.  Hang in there! 

    Hugs

    Jojo 

  • donna_lee
    donna_lee Member Posts: 1,045 Member
    #9
    It's called HIPPA

    and it is terribly frustrating.  They cannot leave any pertinent information about your health on an answering machine. As they do sometimes dial the wrong phone number, or someone else could pick up your messages if you're not there. 

    But, as to your comment, why do they call on a Friday or late in the day so that you must play telephone tag and wait to find out what they were going to tell you?

    Hope you get your info soon.

    Donna

  • JerzyGrrl
    JerzyGrrl Member Posts: 760 Member
    edited November 2016 #10
    donna_lee said:

    It's called HIPPA

    and it is terribly frustrating.  They cannot leave any pertinent information about your health on an answering machine. As they do sometimes dial the wrong phone number, or someone else could pick up your messages if you're not there. 

    But, as to your comment, why do they call on a Friday or late in the day so that you must play telephone tag and wait to find out what they were going to tell you?

    Hope you get your info soon.

    Donna

    H-I-one-P-two-A, HIPAA...

    Oh, Donna --

    I was one of the lucky ones who got to train people about HIPAA when it was coming into effect. Heh. So I sort of do know the drill. BTW, if they "do sometimes dial the wrong number," that's totally not MY issue (It's 100% theirs and their place of employment's issue). 

    And actually, you CAN let folks know that it's ABSOLUTELY A-OK to leave a message on an answering machine.  Sometimes, they'll ask, "May we leave a message on your voicemail or with another member of your family?" I'll let them know "My voicemail is totally HIPAA-compliant. The only member of my family I live with is my dog. He's so miserable at taking messages, if you call and he answers, tell him you're going to call back but he needs to let it go to voicemail."  OK, it's silly (as far as I know, he's never yet answered the phone), but I make sure to use medical HIPAA-y language when giving them my OK to leave a message and the light-heartedness hopefully helps in my making the "It's OK" point. 

    I'm afraid I'm a real PITA at times regarding consent and patient privacy, though.  You know how -- when you go to a new physician or medical place -- they give you the stack of papers to fill out and somewhere towards the back is a one-pager that says how you've received / read / agree with with their privacy information.  I let them know that I cannot and will not sign that I've received and read something that they haven't given to me. Often I'm told to go ahead and sign it, because they'll get me a copy later if I still want it. "So, wait. You're saying that you want me to lie right now? And you're going to witness my lying?" I'll ask innocently but pleasantly. On occasion, when they persist, I'll line through the form, initial it, then write a statement at the bottom as to how they were unable to provide me with the above mentioned privacy information, so I'm unable to sign in the affirmative. THEN I'll sign and date THAT statement.  And yup, I read all those stupid details that you have to initial on consent forms.  When folks will try to bully me -- oops, I mean, hurry me along -- by summarizing what a page says, then put their finger by the initial-here line, I smile and let them know that I'm one of those people that figures that all those little words are there for a reason, so I'm going to read them all and then initial. 

    But -- I digress -- definitely, you can let your health care team know how to get information to you, who it's OK to leave information with, and how much info they may leave. 

    Jerzy

    PS - Where I went for my second opinion, they handed me a tablet to read all the consents and patient privacy stuff.  Then I got to sign that.  Pretty cool. 

  • Steve.Adam
    Steve.Adam Member Posts: 463 Member
    #11
    JerzyGrrl said:

    H-I-one-P-two-A, HIPAA...

    Oh, Donna --

    I was one of the lucky ones who got to train people about HIPAA when it was coming into effect. Heh. So I sort of do know the drill. BTW, if they "do sometimes dial the wrong number," that's totally not MY issue (It's 100% theirs and their place of employment's issue). 

    And actually, you CAN let folks know that it's ABSOLUTELY A-OK to leave a message on an answering machine.  Sometimes, they'll ask, "May we leave a message on your voicemail or with another member of your family?" I'll let them know "My voicemail is totally HIPAA-compliant. The only member of my family I live with is my dog. He's so miserable at taking messages, if you call and he answers, tell him you're going to call back but he needs to let it go to voicemail."  OK, it's silly (as far as I know, he's never yet answered the phone), but I make sure to use medical HIPAA-y language when giving them my OK to leave a message and the light-heartedness hopefully helps in my making the "It's OK" point. 

    I'm afraid I'm a real PITA at times regarding consent and patient privacy, though.  You know how -- when you go to a new physician or medical place -- they give you the stack of papers to fill out and somewhere towards the back is a one-pager that says how you've received / read / agree with with their privacy information.  I let them know that I cannot and will not sign that I've received and read something that they haven't given to me. Often I'm told to go ahead and sign it, because they'll get me a copy later if I still want it. "So, wait. You're saying that you want me to lie right now? And you're going to witness my lying?" I'll ask innocently but pleasantly. On occasion, when they persist, I'll line through the form, initial it, then write a statement at the bottom as to how they were unable to provide me with the above mentioned privacy information, so I'm unable to sign in the affirmative. THEN I'll sign and date THAT statement.  And yup, I read all those stupid details that you have to initial on consent forms.  When folks will try to bully me -- oops, I mean, hurry me along -- by summarizing what a page says, then put their finger by the initial-here line, I smile and let them know that I'm one of those people that figures that all those little words are there for a reason, so I'm going to read them all and then initial. 

    But -- I digress -- definitely, you can let your health care team know how to get information to you, who it's OK to leave information with, and how much info they may leave. 

    Jerzy

    PS - Where I went for my second opinion, they handed me a tablet to read all the consents and patient privacy stuff.  Then I got to sign that.  Pretty cool. 

    Privacy statements

    I read a very long privacy statement about a year ago. About three quarters through it was this beautiful line 'We will share your information for any commercial reason'. It was obviously intended that nobody would ever read it.

    I'll never take them for granted again.

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