My husband says we met the real life Dr. House today. I disagree. That would be putting it MILDLY.
At Logan's 4 year check-up back in March, I brought up some concerns that I had about him. I mentioned toe walking and the pediatrician was going to send him to a muscular specialist to make sure nothing was wrong with his legs...until I mentioned all of the other things he was doing. I brought up my concerns about Logan possibly having autism. After everything we discussed, the pediatrician agreed it would be good for him to get checked out and made a referral to a neurologist.
Logan's appointment with the neurologist was this morning. Let me tell you....that was by far the worst, most horrendous experience I've ever had dealing with a doctor in my entire life. There are literally no words to describe how this "doctor" behaved toward us. Dr. P started out by making fun of Logan (he has some speech issues and sometimes can't articulate very well). He didn't even examine Logan or do any sort of tests. He asked me why I was concerned and when I brought up everything I had mentioned to the pediatrician, Dr. P proceeded to make fun of me, put down the pediatrician and me, dismissed every single concern I had and made me feel like I was an inch tall, and basically said we were idiots.
I'm a very sensitive person and can take things the wrong way, so to be sure I wasn't over reacting, I glanced over at my husband. Nothing ever bothers him, and he had the same look on his face that I did.
Logan even picked up on how the doctor was acting toward us. Every time Dr. P would say something to Logan, he'd put his head down like he was being scolded.
I bolted out of the door as soon as the appointment was over and made it into the hallway before the tears started. I'd never in my life felt so humiliated. As a parent, you worry of course, and if you have concerns you do everything in your power to make sure your child gets the help they need. To be ridiculed like that is absolutely ridiculous.
The lady at the checkout counter thought I was upset because we'd gotten bad news about Logan or something. I explained to her (the best I could since I was so upset) what had happened and on our discharge papers, she wrote down the name and number of somebody and the office and told me to get in contact with her and explain what happened.
I plan on doing that first thing Monday morning. I will also be reporting him to the State Medical Board. Nobody should *ever* be treated that way, much less a child!
After talking to several of my friends this afternoon, I found out that Dr. P has a history of being a jerk. Even the lady at the checkout desk didn't seem all that surprised when I told her what happened.
Have any of you ever had a bad experience with a doctor or other professional?

Someone who sees your kid for 5 minutes, knows 5 minutes of your kid...if you honestly believe there is something wrong take him to another doctor. I had an experience like this with my daughter with a rheumatologist... He said my two year old was crying and couldn't move because she didn't want to listen. I looked him right in the face and called bs. The kid couldn't hold a conversation let alone concoct a plan to be a brat... I literally wouldn't leave the room until another doctor came in. I wound up going to a completely different doctor and they figured it all out. I called the hospital and after several hours talked to the main person. I called my pediatrician and she told all her colleagues and what do you know, the jerk isn't working in st Louis anymore... Too bad!
ReplyDeleteI am appalled! I'm sorry you had to go through this, that is no cool. We had a neurologist for my son who was very...dismissive of all of our concerns, basically brushing us and our son off, but he wasn't outright ridiculing, just obnoxious - and that was bad enough!
ReplyDeleteFirst let me give you a :::big hug::: because I've been there done that. With my husband, we've dealt with all kinds of doctors. Some great, some down right awful. At first we just let it go, and moved on to the next doctor. It wasn't until we had a doctor tell us that if it was up to him, he'd just let my husband get sicker and die, that we stepped up and complained.
ReplyDeleteYou're your own, and your son's, advocate. Make sure this person you call listens, and ask what will be done. If you're not satisfied with that, find the next person in line.
There are still some really great doctors out there, unfortunately you have to weed through the nasty ones first.
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I'm sorry you had to go through that. It's even worse to go through that when it is dealing with your child! Some people are just plain rude... I hope you find a good dr for Logan :)
ReplyDeleteAnother big hug Jackie, I hope you have called about that jerko! it still makes me mad knowing that he acted that way and made you cry. Customer care at CHS would really like to know about those kind of things (he is a CHS doctor or works in a CHS clinic), I work for CHS now and they are all about "excellent" care
ReplyDelete