I'm just sayin'

...



While all of our experiences with the doctors and nurses at Kaiser have been wonderful, I'm not impressed with some of the support staff we've had to deal with.

Both our emergency room physician and the doctor we met today told us to "be aggressive" with the office that will be ordering Robb's back-supporting brace.

We were warned.

But I really wasn't prepared for snotty lecture I got, when I called to ask about the time-line for getting this brace. The woman on the phone treated me to a tirade about how all the people with broken backs think they're so much more special than anyone else, and how we won't be getting any special treatment from her office. In fact, she hinted darkly, our "request" for this brace might not even be approved.

All I'm saying is this: If you are the kind of heartless bitch who lacks the Empathy Gene, maybe you shouldn't be working in rehabilitative healthcare in the first place.

Comments

Unknown said…
oh my god! i cant believe that, if i acted that way i would get a painful bitch slap from karma, i'm just sayin'
CrescentJoy said…
Oh lord.... that is truly heartless... I know I haven't been applying for jobs in healthcare, but I'm still relatively sure that it's not a field that attracts the heartless. Here's hope that that bitch won't actually have anything to do with your order
Lisa said…
Don't worry. I gave her quite a piece of my mind, telling her that she had no right to give me that lecture.

I learned from a Master of the Art of Dealing with Medical Fools, our former Nurse Case manager, Linda Gizzi.

I'll never forget the time that Linda (who looks as sweet as you could imagine) got into it with a Reception-bitch, who threatened to call the police, and have us thrown out of the hospital. I was in awe of her fury and fearlessness. It was hard not to laugh as we watched this unassuming grandmother put that sassy beast in her place, and not lose any dignity in the process.
Anonymous said…
I'm sorry you have this witch as an opponent on top of everything else. I know the situation. My dad had a van driver who was rude to him. This man would often show up fifteen minutes early "because he could" than demand that we have dad out to the van instantly. When we called the company to complain about the driver, the dispatcher told us to back off or they would simply not come get him any more...despite the fact that the van was the only way for Dad to get to his dialysis appointment, without which he will die.

We get similar static from the company who fixes Dad's wheelchair. They act like they're doing us a fovor, instead of us being their customer who pays their wages.

Here's a big HUG for you!

Romana
Megan W. said…
I'm really having trouble with this line: "The woman on the phone treated me to a tirade about how all the people with broken backs think they're so much more special than anyone else, and how we won't be getting any special treatment from her office."

You would think a medical caseworker was familiar with the idea of triage...and, maybe I'm crazy, but I'd think that a broken back rates pretty high on the "important" scale. Moreso, a brace that allows a person with such an injury to be both safe and mobile. Hmm. Important AND treatable. Aren't those things that would signal expedited care?

So, what you're saying is...she's both cruel AND incompetent. Great.
Blackvelvetrav said…
I am a Human Resources Manager for outpatient rehabilitation services for a major hospital in Boise. If our company ever had an employee treat a patient and their family with such disrespect and distaste I would personally drive to their site and terminate them on the spot. As a patient and consumer I am also the first person to send kudos for great service but watch out if I have been treated poorly. You might want to take pen to paper on this one and start working your way up the command ladder. That is completely unacceptable!
Anonymous said…
I am SO GLAD that if the GOP wins all these elections this will become the norm, as I would far rather go through this type of shit rather than get treated quickly and well under NATIONAL HEALTH CARE. MAY I say here that Gary's BRITISH Aunt is in her late 80's and is still trucking along quite well, considering her age, and she gets URGED BY HER GOVERNMENT to go to her Docs for regularly scheduled check ups. Gary still holds British citizenship, and we have discussed moving there when older because I am completely disgusted at having American PAID health care that turns me down for necessary treatment because they "retroactively denied it". Then Give me back my money, bitch! Don't stand for this treatment, and record all calls with her, or write this stuff down (like you have time and energy to do this on top of everything else, right?) Sounds like this jerk has an overworked god complex. She is PAID to help you, and if she cant... the company she works for has to get rid of her. I've seen my share of behavior like this, and do NOT stand for it- you have the right to be ALIVE and treated like a human being. Trust me, they make enough money to afford to have MANNERS... I suspect her company wants her to act like this so THEY can save money, and your docs want YOU to be aggresive, because THEY dont want to deal with that office- its a giant circle jerk and you are in the middle of it- CALL YOUR LAWYER- trust me, its the only thing that works, they dont know you or care about YOU.

This is written with a plethora of experience.

Signed, Annalisa Gojmerac
Christine said…
Well, at least it looks like you have an army of tiraders to back you up! I find it odd that the doctors "warned you" about this office. As if they've just accepted how rude and slow they are. It sucks because you have more to worry about right now than to spend time figuring out who her boss is.

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