Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Time to say "YOU ARE FIRED"?

We have had two negative experiences with “Dr. M” in less than a week. To make a long story short, I am now convinced that (1) he falsified a Medicare claim to get more money, and (2) he wrongly prescribed without taking the time to diagnose.

Experience one: I had at first thought that the office staff may have mistakenly billed for something that hadn’t happened, so I brought it up at G-Ma’s appointment last Thursday. He instantly became huffy, jumping to the conclusion that I was accusing him of fraud. I tried to explain to him what I had been concerned about, but he just wanted to play the role of the innocent insulted one.

But, I ask you: if a patient is complaining of BACK PAIN and you give that patient an injection of cortisone, would you inject it into her hip JOINT? The hip joint was NOT in pain. He billed $130 for an injection into a hip joint. A normal injection (which is what I thought he did) wouldn’t be billed for $130.

Negative experience two: the office staff phoned on Monday to say that they needed to talk to the G-ma about the blood tests that were done last Thursday. They said her potassium levels were too high and that she should stop taking potassium supplements and eating bananas, tomatoes, kiwis, and oranges. She’s never taken potassium supplements, and she RARELY eats any of those foods either. As a matter of fact, she hardly eats anything at all. Last week she barely weighed 103 pounds fully dressed with shoes on.

It is obvious to me that if she has high potassium, it is NOT caused by her diet. THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER CAUSE!! Did the Doc think about her blood pressure medication as the possible culprit? She’s taking the MAXIMUM dose of a “POTASSIUM SPARING” blood pressure pill! The Knight is more than twice her size and that’s how much he takes!

Am I over-reacting? Or is this guy and his staff a bunch of turkeys?

2 comments:

Katscratchme said...

It couldn't hurt to get a second opinion. You are the client/patient/customer and you have a right to make sure that the health of your mother is appropriately attended to.

Anonymous said...

SUe them! SUE THEM ALL! HAHAHAHA!