I feel so defeated. I had written an email yesterday to a clinic where a
GP that I've seen a few times work. I explained that there were some
misunderstandings in the referral he had written for an imaging scan and
that I would appreciate if it got corrected. I wrote further that I
would pay for the time spent on it and that I was available to have a
phone or video consultation about the issue.
I had originally
booked an appointment with him before this to ask for the referral for
imaging because of acute pancreatitis. I specified that my pancreatic
enzymes had increased dramatically lately and that they now were very
elevated (500% of the upper limit). I showed him the exact test results
and said that imaging taken under an acute episode might be more
sensitive to picking up exactly what is causing the pancreatitis and
maybe also for changes to the pancreas associated with acute
pancreatitis. I had previously told him about abdominal pain.
He didn't give me a copy of the referral, but sent it directly to the hospital where I were to go to get the images taken.
Something
went wrong and the radiological department never recieved the referral,
so I asked the clinic where the GP worked if I could get a copy.
I
was completely shocked if I'm going to be honest about the referral not
including the very abnormal test results on pancreatic amylase and
lipase that I had just had, since the main reason for me asking for the
images was that the values had increased dramatically, enough to suspect
acute pancreatitis.
The referral was a copy of an old referral.
Before that time my pancreatic enzymes were a little elevated (like
5-50% at most), but nothing like now. I had already been referred to
imaging because of the slightly elevated values. So, the new referral,
which was a copy of the old one, contained incorrect information about
my blood test results in that it said that my enzymes were slightly
elevated when they at that time in fact were very elevated.
This could have made a substantial difference with regards to waiting time.
The
referral also contained an old mistake about an examination. He had
written before that I had done an MRI of thorax, when I have never done
that. I have done a cardiac MRI, but that's another imaging study. I
have told him about this before, to which he angrily replied; 'well it's
sort of the same area isn't it' in a tone and manner that made it clear
that he thought I was out of line for commenting on it. This mistake
has since been copied on to a lot of other text he has written.
I proceeded to contact the clinic immediately by phone and I told them, as politely as I could, that the referral was a copy of an old referral and that unfortunately because of that it contained outdated information about my blood test results, and that he didn't include that I had upper abdominal pain which I would like to see included (because of it being an imaging scan for pancreatic and biliary disorders). I think I also said that I completely understood that he did that in order to write it quickly because we were also talking about other things in the appointment. The receptionist said that she would pass the message on to my physician who would contact me back.
I never got a phone call from him.
I therefore delivered the updated test results and a short description of my abdominal pain directly to the radiological department, trying my best to protect him as a physician by saying again that it was just because the doctor was trying to be quick and allow space to talk about other things that the referral was partly a copy of an old one.
Later my scan got cancelled, probably because they, based on the information in the referral, couldn't see that it was a pressing matter and all non-urgent appointments are being cancelled now due to coronavirus. They are giving an evaluation based on information in the referral though, so it's important that it's as thourough and correct as possible.
Because of that thought I sent that email to the clinic, the one I wrote about in the first paragraph here, and also called in to say that I had written an email to them the next day to hear if it was recieved as I had not gotten a confirmation email back, which they usually send.
In my email I wrote the same things as before, that the information about my blood test results in the referral was incorrect, that an information about a previous exam was incorrect and that I would like information about my upper abdominal and upper left quadrant abdominal pain to be included, as it seemed relevant for the type of exam to me. I didn't put it this directly. I also specified that my values had previously been the way he described and that the first part of the referral was a copy of an old one, so that it was really just because of that.
I asked in my letter that he included that I've had upper middle and
upper left quadriant abdominal pain, because I had that at the same the
values were very elevated, and because it's a very typical symptom of
pancreatic diseases. It makes sense when one is sent for imaging to
include symptoms that fit very well with diseases that can be diagnosed
with that type of imaging.
He called me on the phone the day after I had called them to ask if the email was recieved.
He had an irritated tone on the phone. He said that it doesn't matter what is written in a referral because the radiologist aren't gastroenterologists and that the important thing is that the image is taken.
He further went on to try to put me down saying that I had 'so many opinions about what is to be written in notes and referrals' in a derogatory way and manner (the context and tone made it clear it was meant as criticism).
Then he said that the appointment was cancelled because of coronavirus and that he couldn't do anything about that. By this I think he was using a manipulative tecnique to change significantly the perspective of the situation. I had contacted him because of what I felt was a significant error in the referral about my blood test results and wanted it corrected because of that one is always being told (at least here in Norway) that what is written in the referral is extremely important to the radiologist for the interpretation of the images, but it's known that they also use the information there to evaluate how long the imaging study can safely be postponed.
I had not contacted him by saying 'oh no, I'm so mad that they postponed by exam, you have to do something about it'. No, I just wanted to get corrected what I had wanted to have corrected in the first place, adding plainly and rationally that if they use that information to evaluate if my test can be postponed it's also because of that extra important that the information there is correct and thourough. But I also thought it was important in the first place because of the evaluation and the waiting time. I contacted them about this before the there were taken any measures with regards to coronavirus.
He wrote in my chart that my examination was postponed and that it was solely due the coronasituation and completely out of his hands. This was of course an entirely misleading note.
I felt awful for the entire day after that phone call, and still do today.
This doctor has behaved like this the whole way about mistakes and misunderstandings. Instead of just correcting it and moving on, he can't admit to there having been any misunderstandings or errors in the notes he writes.
I don't know what to do now. I think I will ask formally for the referral to be corrected (write a letter) and not use that doctor again, but I've been postponing contacting them due to the bad experience with the phone call.
Has anyone else had similar experiences with arrogant doctors who aren't open to discussing misunderstandings or mistakes?
