Maddening, absolutely maddening. Every where you go, every city every state, unless you are really rich and can afford the very best, it is nothing but maddening incompetence and it can ruin your life.
Just today for instance, I was waiting for the laundromat people to drop off my clean clothes at `10 a.m. as agreed, since I have no way of getting my clothes there.
No one showed up, and I have nothing clean to wear to my next appt! So, I call them and say "you agreed to do a drop off at 10 a.m."
"well, the clothes not dry yet" "plus our delivery driver already left for vacation!"
me-What? You should have called me then.
them-you'll just have to call back to arrange another appt!"
(no tip for you baby)
Then, I heard via word of mouth that medicaid will pick you up for drs appts. So I arranged it, but since I no loger trust anyone, I figured the van would never come.
1130 came and went. I called Medicaid, and they said "Oh let me see why they didn't show up" (put me on hold for 10 min or so)
"OK we called you a cab." (oh no I thought, the cabs never can find me)
He did indeed get lost.
I showed up to the pain management clinic where I've fought to get in for almost 3 years. But i figured based on how poorly his receptionists have been operating, that it would likely be a nightmare. It was.
The door said
Pain Management "We'll SHOW you the meaning of pain!"*
So, I come in the door, and I see that neither of the staff speak english, just Japanese!
Ironically, in the more then an hour I was on hold with Medicaid, they ran ads that said
"make sure your dr. speaks your language" I thought that's a joke, nobody speaks English!
So, the waiting room is a disorg. mess and I can't find where to check in. The secr. tells a patient "sorry you been discharged"
"What does that mean" he patiently asked.
"Discharged you been discharged" She turns to the other Japanese woman and they try to find an English word that fits what they mean.
Eventually the man figured out they were saying that his insurance was cancelled! He said "Well, can't i just pay cash" He went outside on his cell to discover his insurance had not been cancelled.
They give us many sheets of paper to fill out the print is so tiny I can barely see. An autistic kid is screaming because his mother doesn't have the skills to deal with his behaviors.
The form asks me "what is your best pain?"
WTF?! I asked another patient he had no idea, so I asked the Japanese woman, they didn't know either. So, some man from the back (the so called doctor) says "That means the least amt of pain you feel!"
They take me to the back and I see the electronic bp cuff. I said "Please use the manual"
"What?"
"Please use the manual cuff"
"Don't understand"
She tried 5x and it's excruciating with the electronic cuff, she can't get my bp. Other arm, another worker, no luck.
Then doc runs in makes no eye contact puts papers on a desk and runs out saying "back in a minute"
comes back 10 min. later, get's the papers and says "just one more minute"
he comes back again, spends 15 min. reading papers never looks at me never smiles and never introduces himself.
I will share now some of what he said but not all.
Dr.-"How do you KNOW you have neuropathey, who told you that?!"
Dr.-"How do you KNOW YOU have arthritis who told you that"
Dr.-"Well, if you think you are just going to walk in here and I'm going to put you on pain meds you have another thing coming."
Dr._I need to have a long talk with your psych provider first!"
Me-What? I have no providers in Mountain Town, no one is serving me in any way.
Dr.-"Well, then who am I supposed to talk to about you?"
Me-(Isn't that your job to figure out if I have no health care in Mt. Town?)
He dismisses me and I clearly understand why people self medicate.
I call the cab company, he pulls into the plaza then leaves instead of calling me to tell me he's lost!
EXHAUSTING!
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