Priscilla's Workshop

 The continuing saga of how bad health care is here will soon be over for me. The practice manager for the internal medicine department of PennMed/Radnor called me on my birthday (how sweet) to tell me that there was no room for me at the inn, metaphorically speaking. A year ago, I changed doctors because I was still losing weight dramatically (yes, I did believe I would get better care). I saw one physician two times. During the first visit she ordered a full body scan. During the second visit she told me that nothing from the scan showed any reason for my continuing malaise and that I had lost even more weight. She also said I needed to take Fosamax to prevent fractures. I told her that my DEXA scan that had just been done did not indicate osteoporosis but she insisted. I told her that I didn't think it was a good idea as Fosamax can cause both femur fractures and necrotic jaw bones and that I had already had necrotic bone in my jaw from a very bad wisdom tooth extraction. She still insisted.

Of course I had a bad reaction even after one pill so I went to the patient portal to ask if I should continue to take the stupid pill. Her response was to address me in third person (who does that?) and to  tell me to take extra vitamin D, one of the suspected culprits in my ongoing physical deterioration. So I complained to her superior. All that got me was nothing, though in a chaotic conference call, I asked if I could change physicians and was told they would handle it.  No response until finally I got a letter from someone who said she had been assigned to be my liaison with the system. Two days later I asked this person a question through the portal and immediately got the response that she no longer worked there and I should simply call hospital information. So for 12 months I waited to see what would happen next. 

That twelve months ended at the very beginning of October at which point the physician's assistant for the doctor who was inattentive and incompetent contacted me to tell me that I needed a physical. I asked her who my physician would be and she said it was the same person I had complained about. I told her I wasn't willing to go back to that doctor who wouldn't listen and was enormously insulting. So that's when I got the call from the practice manager who told me that I didn't need to change doctors and that even if I did believe that I needed to, there was no one available. I then asked if that also applied to my husband who had switched physicians when I did. She couldn't believe that he would leave the doctor just because I was dissatisfied but that's how it goes with us after 54 years of marriage.

Now neither one of us, both cancer survivors, has a primary care doctor and no way to get one or at least no way to get one in a timely fashion. So much for what is touted as the best medical care in the area. Their stats probably look really good if they can get rid of all the dead wood like my husband and me. And that's what we will be without medical care. I don't think bad care is better than no care but I sure don't have a clue how to get good care.