I do not feel like I should pay to a student doctor. I have insurance and I pay my co-pays. I want to see a real doctor and I do not like being dismissed by a student doctor. I also do not like it when an MA says, "You were referred to us, we didn't come looking for you as a patient." If you are going to have student doctors, then teach them how to listen to patients. If they can't speak English, then send them to school to learn English as a first language. No student doctor should dismiss a patient's feelings or concerns. I left the Neurology Dept. with more question than answers. When I called back, the receptionist said to make another appointment to see the doctor. Are you going to pay the co-pay for another wasted visit? I feel like my co-pay should be reimbursed to me and that the office visit shouldn't be charged to my insurance.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
My father was life-lined from North Vernon, IN to University of Louisville Hospital because a tractor trailer tire blew up on him at work. He had a broken sternum, broken broken ribs, wrist, thumb and bruised heart. He experienced multiple cuts and a concussion from losing consciousness. He was admitted and was supposed to have surgery on his wrist and thumb the next day. When I arrived at the hospital the next day around 9AM, we were told that they were running tests on my dad's heart to make sure nothing was wrong before they do the surgery. Dad's surgery was postponed, but no one came to tell us the results of his heart tests.
We asked to speak to a doctor and were told they were not available. After much complaining, they finally called an "on-call" family physician who came up at 8PM and gave me a copy of the heart test results. When we asked him if dad was having surgery the next day, he could not tell us. I was told the doctors would be in the hospital by 5AM for their rounds and to come then to speak to them. I live an hour and half away so I got up at 3AM and got to the hospital by around 5:15AM. The doctors did not come by my dad's room until closer to 8AM. I was told my dad was scheduled for surgery at 1PM that day. My dad had not been given anything to eat or drink since Monday at noon and this was now Wednesday. At 3:30PM, a doctor ran into the room and said that it was normal for surgery to get bumped 2-3 hours there.
At 5PM I requested an update on my dad's surgery status. The nurses could not get the ortho-surgeons to call them back with an answer. I asked for a patient to patient transfer to another hospital who would treat my dad faster (and better). I was told that they would not do that and if we leave, it would be against medical advice even if we transferred him by ambulance. In one breath, the doctors told me he was too critical to be moved and in the same breath, they told me he was not critical enough to keep from getting bumped. At 8PM, we were told that dad would not be having surgery that day. I asked for them to give my dad something to eat and drink then. They told me the kitchen was closed and I would have to go buy him something to eat. When I asked what he could have, they just said something "heart-healthy". I spent the night in Louisville that night and went to the hospital at 6AM to talk to the doctors.
When I arrived, I learned that the surgery was supposed to be scheduled for that morning (Thursday). By this time, my dad was getting so weak we were beginning to worry about whether he would make it through the surgery. At 11AM they finally took my dad down to surgery. At 2PM or so, they called the ** family into the consult room. We waited for what seemed like an eternity and finally, the doctor came in and said. "The surgery went well. We were able to do it robotically and she did great". I said the surgery was on my father. The doctor then left the room and went to the front desk at the surgery waiting area to let them know they made a mistake. At about 3PM, we were paged to come to the desk and they sent us back to see dad. The surgeon never spoke to us. As we wheeled him upstairs, I asked the nurse when we would be able to talk to the doctor. She said he should come up to talk to us sometime that day.
At around 6, I asked the nurses on the floor to speak to the doctor again. They called him and finally around 8PM, a physician called me (not the one who performed the surgery or even one that was in the room with my dad) and said, "we don't normally talk to our patients, the residents do. We are a teaching hospital". I was not very happy with his comments or attitude. He said the doctors would be in when they made the rounds the next morning. I did not go to the hospital at 6AM on Friday because I was running errands for my dad and mom. I received a call around 9AM from my mom stating that they were going to release my dad right then. He had not even eaten anything yet or had a bowel movement. I was shocked! The hospital wanted to know how soon I could be there to pick them up. I had left a list of questions for the doctors such as restrictions, how to treat his wounds, pain management, etc. with my mother. The doctors were not helpful at all.
In fact, they did not even write down any instructions on how to care for my dad's hand that had just had surgery on it. We were instructed to remove the splint, clean it and re-wrap it daily. It was ridiculous. They also did not give my dad anything for pain. Keep in mind that he had surgery the day before on his wrist and thumb, had a broken sternum, 4 broken ribs and a bruised heart. I had to beg them for an antibiotic, which the surgeon told me the night before that they were going to give him a 5-6 day supply of. The trauma doctors from Trauma Team 1 were very rude to my dad on Friday. They were also rude to me and my mother. We were informed that we would need to set up an appointment for 2 weeks later at this clinic for a follow-up. When I asked the ortho-surgeon on call what to expect for the amount of time it would take to get seen that day, he said "Well it is a clinic and we are always overbooked. You will need to plan for the whole day". I told him that we would prefer to do the follow-up at home, he said "that is fine. You won't hurt our feelings, we have plenty of clients to take care of, but no one else will probably see your dad because we did the surgery".
