Oh, at first it was confusing. Just the idea of computers was like — whoa! I'm eleven hundred years old! I had trouble adjusting to the idea of Lutherans.

Anya ,'Get It Done'


Natter 52: Playing with a full deck?  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Steph L. - Jun 15, 2007 9:43:35 am PDT #3260 of 10001
I look more rad than Lutheranism

don't doctors have pretty much complete discretion to determine treatment

Not if it's harmful/negligent. ita's medical history clearly shows that she's not an addict trying to score some narcotics, because it shows that standard migraine treatments have failed to work for her, repeatedly.

When other medical professionals have devised a treatment plan that's meant to be carried out by another doctor (meaning, the neurologist and migraine specialist came up with the plan intending for an ER doctor to carry it out), and the doctor ignores that treatment plan, I would call that negligent. I won't go so far as to call it harmful, or malpractice, but it's negligent bullshit that I don't think can be excused under a blanket permission slip granted by "MD" at the end of the doctor's name tag.


vw bug - Jun 15, 2007 9:43:52 am PDT #3261 of 10001
Mostly lurking...

God, I remember a particularly fun migraine ER visit. We waited, what, six hours before they even took her in? Ooh! That was the night I got to watch the Red Sox win the World Series! Migraine + ER = total misery

Em, remember the screaming when they won? I thought I was going to die. Or kill someone. My favorite ER visit, though, was the one when A met me there and we waited all night while I was having SEIZURES IN THE WAITING ROOM.

Like...
• I like your hospital
• My last visit sucked and I was treated like shit
• here's how it went down
• here's how it made me feel
• here's what it will change

This is exactly what you should do. I can send you a copy of a letter I wrote to a primary care facility where I was treated shitty if you’d like an example.


§ ita § - Jun 15, 2007 9:44:05 am PDT #3262 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Bon, that's the stress I'd like to make. I've jotted a rewrite down on my notepad and will post it when I'm out of this meeting.

Basically, he was a prick (evaluating me from behind a curtain? For real?) who refused to follow suggestion (the rec isn't on file, but it's what they administered the last time) and who was ineffective.


sarameg - Jun 15, 2007 9:45:19 am PDT #3263 of 10001

I'm advocating a shock collar for msbelle's wayward coworkers. Boss too. They get too difficult and ZAP.


Steph L. - Jun 15, 2007 9:46:18 am PDT #3264 of 10001
I look more rad than Lutheranism

evaluating me from behind a curtain? For real?

Definitely emphasize this, hard. How can a doctor determine a diagnosis, much less a treatment, if he doesn't even make the effort to evaluate the patient properly?


Theodosia - Jun 15, 2007 9:47:57 am PDT #3265 of 10001
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"

I think it's imperative to be upfront that you were not in fact looking for Dilaudid or other narcotics -- you were attempting to follow a regimen that specifically avoids them as prescribed by a specialist. I mean, you shouldn't get flagged as a possible drug-abuser faking for meds, but rather that you are seeking proper treatment for a complicated condition, and the doctor didn't even pause to consider what you were attempting to communicate.


Daisy Jane - Jun 15, 2007 10:01:54 am PDT #3266 of 10001
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."

That Welsh car phone salesman dude from connie's link is about to be on NPR news!


Toddson - Jun 15, 2007 10:07:49 am PDT #3267 of 10001
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

Nattering along, here's an amusing video. The mathematically inclined may find the name amusing.


Lee - Jun 15, 2007 10:08:08 am PDT #3268 of 10001
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.

ita, I think all of the advice you've gotten on the letter is very good, and I definitely hope you send it and copy everyone you can think of on it. That Doctor sucks ass, in a huge way.


sarameg - Jun 15, 2007 10:14:47 am PDT #3269 of 10001

I have a dentist's appt monday at 11. Meep. No more ostriching.

But I'm still not telling my mom how long it's been nor how bad it is.