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I'm sure there are smart people here who have ideas on how to make the procedure of taking care of patients better for both the patient and provider.
I recently saw a pcp for what I knew was a ulcerative colitus flare up. They had no idea of my history because the last flare up was 20 years ago in a different state where the records were not transferred. ( my fault I guess but thought my word would suffice).
So they start from the beginning. Hydro Cortisone cream, then, Sent to a surgeon to check for fissure or hemis. Then sent for a ct scan. Then sent to a GI, schedule a colonoscopy, now waiting for pathology results with no treatment until they come in (1to2) weeks.
You can imagine the time this is taking from the first appointment to waiting for results of the pathology.
While I am staying home next to the bathroom.
Does everyone think that is the correct way to approach my situation ?
I expected them to take my word on what worked last time and I asked for one regiment of steroids with a maintenance regiment of 5-asa mesalamine type sulfa drugs. But they started from the beginning and I guarantee will end with what I originally asked for. Regardless of what the pathology results reveal. CRC or not.
They could've save a lot of money and patient suffering by skipping the procedure of starting from scratch.
Do you,agree?
They don't know you from Adam and you might have mental illness or a serial killer and they won't know. That's like asking somebody what their blood type is and then taking their word for it. It won't happen.
Even if you had all of your medical records with you it is still up to the doctor as an independent medical practitioner to either agree with that diagnosis or come up with his own via his own referral. They are legally culpable to any legal consequences. They can't say that doctor X from Alaska came up with the diagnosis and don't blame me because I went along with their opinion. The state medical board in whatever state you live in does not have access to that doctor in Alaska but they do have direct access to your doctors license.
Each state has an independent medical review board that oversees the practice of medicine and every state licensed medical doctor. The standard of care is regional and not interstate. What somebody does in Alaska is not relevant to somebody in Texas. Even within a state it can vary between urban and rural.
You will have to go along with the ride unless you have federal care like with the VA or military.
Doing it your way would need legislation in tort reform from lawsuits.
When I diagnosed myself with infectious mono in my early twenties I was seen on three separate occasions with one being an ER list but they never did blood work. I did my own blood work and saw atypical lymphocytes consistent with infectious mono and did a mono spot test which came out positive along with liver enzymes that were elevated. I went back to the clinic where the doctor told me I ate something causing the urticaria and showed the doctor my blood work. All of a sudden he starts calling all the nurses over and shows them what a classical IM looks like. He also never took my word for any of the labs because I had done them myself and so he had me go to their lab and repeated all of the same labs. Yikes.
I totally understand why they did what they did from your explanation. Though I have been in all the doctors systems for the 20 year period. I also believe, since you mentioned it that tort reform in some form should take some liabilities off of providers. But it should be the patients call. Hungry people probably try to take advantage of these laws daily. And it is causing different choices in procedure that may or may not hurt both sides,, the patients health and the providers margins. I just hate waiting I guess.
I totally understand why they did what they did from your explanation. Though I have been in all the doctors systems for the 20 year period. I also believe, since you mentioned it that tort reform in some form should take some liabilities off of providers. But it should be the patients call. Hungry people probably try to take advantage of these laws daily. And it is causing different choices in procedure that may or may not hurt both sides,, the patients health and the providers margins. I just hate waiting I guess.
I think your idea as a whole is a good one and it exists in national healthcare systems through out the world that obviously have already set Tort reform with regards to suing the government.
They tried to make some sort of national system information inquiry capabilities of medical information so doctors could view stuff like allergies and medical history through out the nation. Almost immediately there was opposition because of the venerability to private medical information. People out there hacking information that made people nervous in setting up such a system.
You can see the obvious advantages of such a system and it would help reduce medical errors which are quite high and efforts are being made in reducing such errors which is why it was being proposed.
I totally understand why they did what they did from your explanation. Though I have been in all the doctors systems for the 20 year period. I also believe, since you mentioned it that tort reform in some form should take some liabilities off of providers. But it should be the patients call. Hungry people probably try to take advantage of these laws daily. And it is causing different choices in procedure that may or may not hurt both sides,, the patients health and the providers margins. I just hate waiting I guess.
There are a few issues. In your case, the standard of care might have changed between flares. You changed between flares. My mom had a flare of an issue she had 25 or so years prior. The medication that worked for her the first time brought her white blood cells down to a dangerous level the second time.
In your case, they need to check to make sure there is no other problem. It could be cancer or something serious.
When I diagnosed myself with infectious mono in my early twenties I was seen on three separate occasions with one being an ER list but they never did blood work. I did my own blood work and saw atypical lymphocytes consistent with infectious mono and did a mono spot test which came out positive along with liver enzymes that were elevated.
Doing your own blood work. That is so cool.
Quote:
I went back to the clinic where the doctor told me I ate something causing the urticaria and showed the doctor my blood work. All of a sudden he starts calling all the nurses over and shows them what a classical IM looks like. He also never took my word for any of the labs because I had done them myself and so he had me go to their lab and repeated all of the same labs. Yikes.
He was probably embarrassed you showed him up. Good work.
The idea of carrying a health smartcard with health records on it, has been around for many years. At one time, Europe was the leader of the pack. Unfortunately, there are so many issues associated with it, it hasn't taken off outside of a few countries. Here, the closest thing might be your health portal if you use one health care system for many years. Some places allow you to access 20 years of data. Health Information Exchanges have been trying to make their mark in the US, but have been very slow in implementation and widespread use by healthcare professionals.
I'm sure there are smart people here who have ideas on how to make the procedure of taking care of patients better for both the patient and provider.
I recently saw a pcp for what I knew was a ulcerative colitus flare up. They had no idea of my history because the last flare up was 20 years ago in a different state where the records were not transferred. ( my fault I guess but thought my word would suffice).
So they start from the beginning. Hydro Cortisone cream, then, Sent to a surgeon to check for fissure or hemis. Then sent for a ct scan. Then sent to a GI, schedule a colonoscopy, now waiting for pathology results with no treatment until they come in (1to2) weeks.
You can imagine the time this is taking from the first appointment to waiting for results of the pathology.
While I am staying home next to the bathroom.
Does everyone think that is the correct way to approach my situation ?
I expected them to take my word on what worked last time and I asked for one regiment of steroids with a maintenance regiment of 5-asa mesalamine type sulfa drugs. But they started from the beginning and I guarantee will end with what I originally asked for. Regardless of what the pathology results reveal. CRC or not.
They could've save a lot of money and patient suffering by skipping the procedure of starting from scratch.
Do you,agree?
You say the bolded/underlined above.
Yes that is 100% your fault, and no, your word does not suffice. You are not a physician, you are not a diagnostician.
In addition, just because your last flare-up was 20 years ago doesn't mean the last time you had ulcerative colitis was 20 years ago. Haven't you been to a doctor during the past 20 years? Have they not checked up on you to ensure that nothing has changed? Haven't you had a colonoscopy in the past 10 years? You should've signed off on permission for your new doctor to request and acquire the records of the last doctor.
You know you have a chronic condition, so it's your responsibility to stay on top of it. That includes making sure that the medical professionals you hire to take care of you, have every tool they need to do exactly that. And that includes access to your records.
Yes that is 100% your fault, and no, your word does not suffice. You are not a physician, you are not a diagnostician.
In addition, just because your last flare-up was 20 years ago doesn't mean the last time you had ulcerative colitis was 20 years ago. Haven't you been to a doctor during the past 20 years? Have they not checked up on you to ensure that nothing has changed? Haven't you had a colonoscopy in the past 10 years? You should've signed off on permission for your new doctor to request and acquire the records of the last doctor.
You know you have a chronic condition, so it's your responsibility to stay on top of it. That includes making sure that the medical professionals you hire to take care of you, have every tool they need to do exactly that. And that includes access to your records.
I agree I should have paid the 125 bucks to take my records with me back in 2000 when I moved. As far as the time since then, my insurance, probably a common type where you go through your PCP first, increased the time to get anything done. The primary always tried to take care of issues first and then when I finally got to a specialist the flares were subsiding on there own and colonoscopies didn't show anything. The GI's would always tell you what they found right after anesthesia where your not able to pay attention. The PCP would never talk about the procedure at my next physical and when I ask, everything was fine. Mesalamine, the go to drug for maintenance never helped without a steroid kicker, so it alone made life bearable but no restaurants or trips for me. Covid lockdowns didn't change our lifestyle one bit. Still waiting for pathology results 7 days now. Hopefully, without CRC, I can try biologicals even if I have to pay cash for them. I feel more for my wife than me, kinda ruined her life, and I'm tired.
While waiting for pathology results, was told to go to the er if it was excruciating so I did. They got a hold of the GI and were told to continue me on the mesalamine, a worthless drug except for maintenance, and believe it or not, to meditate. So 9 days for pathology 5 days for consultation appointment now waiting for them to call in bloodwork so she can determine a treatment plan. 2 week old ago bloodwork was not recent enough. Now how long to call in bloodwork, wait for results, then how long to determine a treatment plan. So all in all, close to 3 months from the first contact, to waiting for a treatment plan. If it wasn't for the old steroids I had that the doctor is adamantly against, I would cut my own colon out by now. The risk of damage to the colon from short term steroid use is worth it to me and I have lost all trust or faith in any doctor i've seen in the last 30 years.
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