Surgeon better be worth it; his office staff is killing us

mtguy said:

I know what you are going through
So you are staying with Dr P? In my mind, he is the best but his office staff is the worst. I experienced all the same you have and more.

1. Misplaced paperwork - I asked to have my records sent to my family Dr and Urologist. Gave them the addresses to send it to and was not given any release form to sign. On a follow-up appt. I asked again about sending the records. They looked puzzled and could not find the information I had left with them. They then gave me forms to fill out so I took them with me and bring back on the next visit.

2. Wrong forms - the forms they gave me was to release information TO his office, not FROM his office to other doctors. And the phone number at the top was wrong as I tried to call it to get clarification on the forms.

3. Gave me another patients information - when they handed me the forms, they also grabbed an extra sheet of paper that had patient information all over it. I found it when I got home going through the papers. When I got back to their office, I told her she gave me the wrong forms, phone number at the top is wrong, and they gave me other patient information. She looked mortified...as she should have been.

Since I life out of the area, I will have my 3 month follow-up and then I am done with them. I will be back under the care of my regular urologist.

Long story to your question but at this stage, I would stay with Dr P since you want the most important issue to be addressed by the best. But I would get another urologist for routine checkups and such. To get on the schedule of another surgeon is going to put you back another month or so. For me, that would have been disaster.

Good luck

Thanks for the information
MTGuy,
Thanks for the war stories. I did decide to stick w/Porter, but am going to return to the urology office where I was first diagnosed as soon as practicable after surgery. (Surgery is tomorrow; I'm starting to feel sick at my stomach about it, but that's another story.) I won't tolerate the office's lack of professionalism and poor performance any longer than absolutely necessary. I wouldn't put up with it in any other aspect of my "consumer" life, and am appalled that people in their field are so sloppy and seemingly clueless to the ramifications of their behavior on patients who are in a vulnerable state. Contrast that with one of the doctors at my urologists' practice. I did not choose him as my surgeon (He wasn't my main uro), although he was in my top three. (Porter's personal experience as a PS patient plus his high numbers at the robot swayed me to him.) I had informed the other doc's office that I wasn't going to use him. About a week later, that doc called me to see how I was doing and to reassure me that I was in good hands with Porter. I thought that was quite decent of him. My wife and I had already been discussing the prospect of bailing from P's office, and that call kind of clinched the thought. Current uro's office is more convenient location, and hopefully the "rehab" program is more attentive than I think possible at this point from Porter.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. PC has been part of my life for about three months now, although it seems like much longer. As an unwilling new member of the club, I have to say that the information from forum participants has made a huge difference in my education so far. Nothing like hearing from folks who've been there. I hope you're doing well in your recovery.