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Old 05-05-2018, 08:24 AM
 
6,283 posts, read 4,166,669 times
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I wouldn’t pretend as if it didn’t happen, I’d ask why they just couldn’t call me back first. I’m not sure I’d want to work with an office that doesn’t know how to deal with patients and just resorts to calling the police with no follow up with the patient, or no explanation.
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Old 05-05-2018, 08:30 AM
 
6,283 posts, read 4,166,669 times
Reputation: 24771
Quote:
Originally Posted by xray731 View Post
Come on people - although embarrassing that the police were called - there obviously was something in the message that caused concern - whether it be poor phone reception that distorted words or whatever. A wellness call would be much more effective in the case of a medical emergency than a call back from the dr's office.

I'm confused as the OP says she called and the police came to her home but then says that she placed the phone calls from her office and was speaking low so as not to disturb those around her.

OP what time frame are we talking about? Did you leave the messages while at work and then once you got home - the police came? If those messages were left earlier in the day and not reviewed until later by the office staff - the right call would have been immediately to call the police for a wellness check rather than a call back. If something had happened - you needed help immediately.

Be grateful someone cared enough to be concerned and call the police. I've had patients lay with broken hips for up to 5 days as no one checked on them.

If there was something in the message that caused concern then they should have the professional courtesy and decency to share it with the patient and call her. As it is they have said nothing, not even a courtesy email saying they are glad she was okay after the wellness check and why they were worried.
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Old 05-05-2018, 08:56 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,488,465 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ClaraC View Post
Yes, I do think they will do that.

If you call a welfare check in on someone, from a doctor's office, yes, they will give you the information on who made the initial call.

This isn't like someone calling to report child abuse.

This is a welfare check, made from a physician's office.

Yes. They have that, and will give that info. They already told her the doctor's office called.

And it does matter who called, IMHO. Is it the new receptionist who doesn't know that the call is transcribed to written text, if that's what happened? Does the doc even know the police call was made for one of his patient's parents?
It is not clear who you are referring to. If I call in a welfare check, I don't need to be told who made the initial call.

"They" (police?) told "her" (OP?) the doctor's office called. I don't know if they'd give any more info than that, and it really doesn't matter. You have no clue how a doctor's office works if you think the doctor him/herself is making all these calls.

You're also making several assumptions that have not been verified. You created this scenario of a call transcription system and a "new receptionist". That was not the procedure at the doctor's office where I worked. You are assuming this "new receptionist" just made this decision on her own to call the police. That is extremely unlikely, to put it very mildly.
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Old 05-05-2018, 09:00 AM
 
35,522 posts, read 17,818,962 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt View Post
It is not clear who you are referring to. If I call in a welfare check, I don't need to be told who made the initial call.

"They" (police?) told "her" (OP?) the doctor's office called. I don't know if they'd give any more info than that, and it really doesn't matter. You have no clue how a doctor's office works if you think the doctor him/herself is making all these calls.

You're also making several assumptions that have not been verified. You are assuming the call was transcribed to text. That was not the procedure at the doctor's office where I worked. You are assuming there is a "new receptionist" and she just made this decision on her own. That is extremely unlikely, to put it very mildly.
Yes, I am making the assumption about the transcription.

I've made two welfare calls in my life, and both times the person being checked on was told upfront who had made the call, and was advised to call me to touch base.

This is not something to ignore.

The possibilities are endless.

1, there is a chance that she really was completely disoriented when she made the call (unlikely)
2, there is a chance the person who made the police call has other concerns about her in general and this was the final, last straw that caused this concern to come to a head (somewhat unlikely)
3, this was a rogue receptionist who went way off the reservation and took this upon herself out of frustration with the call system (imho, highly likely)
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Old 05-05-2018, 09:05 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,488,465 times
Reputation: 35920
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spuggy View Post
If there was something in the message that caused concern then they should have the professional courtesy and decency to share it with the patient and call her. As it is they have said nothing, not even a courtesy email saying they are glad she was okay after the wellness check and why they were worried.
I'm glad you know just how a doctor's office should be run. Perhaps you could set up a consulting business. One time I got a phone call about 6:30 AM. It was my brother's doctor's office in Pennsylvania, where it was about 8:30. He had not shown up for an appointment for some type of heart procedure. I was the emergency contact. They called me to see if he was OK. I said I hadn't talked to him for about a week, so they sent out the police.

I remember one time when I spaced out an eye doctor appointment. I got a call from the office asking if I was OK. Yes, I was embarrassed. No, I did not change doctors. They have since instituted reminder calls.
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Old 05-05-2018, 09:09 AM
 
35,522 posts, read 17,818,962 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt View Post
I'm glad you know just how a doctor's office should be run. Perhaps you could set up a consulting business. One time I got a phone call about 6:30 AM. It was my brother's doctor's office in Pennsylvania, where it was about 8:30. He had not shown up for an appointment for some type of heart procedure. I was the emergency contact. They called me to see if he was OK. I said I hadn't talked to him for about a week, so they sent out the police.

I remember one time when I spaced out an eye doctor appointment. I got a call from the office asking if I was OK. Yes, I was embarrassed. No, I did not change doctors. They have since instituted reminder calls.
Do you notice, Katarina, in NEITHER of your stories did the doctor's office call the cops as a first resort?

You're agreeing with Spuggy. The docs in your cases didn't resort to the very last resort, which is to call the cops to do a welfare check immediately.

They did what was expected, in your case, to call you. In your brothers case, to also call his next of kin before calling 911.
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Old 05-05-2018, 09:15 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,488,465 times
Reputation: 35920
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClaraC View Post
Yes, I am making the assumption about the transcription.

I've made two welfare calls in my life, and both times the person being checked on was told upfront who had made the call, and was advised to call me to touch base.

This is not something to ignore.

The possibilities are endless.

1, there is a chance that she really was completely disoriented when she made the call (unlikely)
2, there is a chance the person who made the police call has other concerns about her in general and this was the final, last straw that caused this concern to come to a head (somewhat unlikely)
3, this was a rogue receptionist who went way off the reservation and took this upon herself out of frustration with the call system (imho, highly likely)
Last things first:
Having worked in a doctor's office, #3, as you agree yourself, is highly unlikely. Doctors run their offices the way they want them to be run. All the people on this forum and IRL who are always blaming nurses, receptionists, and the like for incidents that happen at the front desks of doctor's offices need to keep that in mind. A poster who is I believe a doctor's wife agreed with me earlier about this earlier in the thread.

#2 is unlikely due to the above. My office never made welfare calls, though I can't say it would never be done; depends on the situation. See my previous post about my experience with my brother.

WRT #1, it is probable that something that was said in those two lengthy calls (per the OP's report) that was concerning. So either the receptionist who took the call, transcribed or otherwise, either spoke with the doctor or went by office protocol (less likely since this is not likely to happen often, especially at an orthopedist's office) and called the police to do a welfare check.
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Old 05-05-2018, 09:20 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,488,465 times
Reputation: 35920
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClaraC View Post
Do you notice, Katarina, in NEITHER of your stories did the doctor's office call the cops as a first resort?

You're agreeing with Spuggy. The docs in your cases didn't resort to the very last resort, which is to call the cops to do a welfare check immediately.

They did what was expected, in your case, to call you. In your brothers case, to also call his next of kin before calling 911.
No I'm not agreeing with Spuggy. Spuggy said "they should have the professional courtesy and decency to share it with the patient and call her", calling into question their "professionalism" and "decency".

YOU don't know what was said on these two lengthy calls, but something was alarming enough to call the police.
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Old 05-05-2018, 09:23 AM
 
35,522 posts, read 17,818,962 times
Reputation: 50529
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt View Post
No I'm not agreeing with Spuggy. Spuggy said "they should have the professional courtesy and decency to share it with the patient and call her", calling into question their "professionalism" and "decency".

YOU don't know what was said on these two lengthy calls, but something was alarming enough to call the police.
And you don't either.

And somehow, you've made this personally about you and your personal medical experience. And you've extrapolated through all your "expertise" that a situation you have no personal knowledge about couldn't possibly be unprofessional behavior by medical staff.

This merits a pretty harsh response to the doctor, IMHO.

Your idea that doctors know what goes on always with their front desk staff is incorrect. I've certainly seen behaviors by the front desk staff that were reported to doctors and corrected.
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Old 05-05-2018, 09:50 AM
 
Location: The analog world
17,077 posts, read 13,316,143 times
Reputation: 22904
Oh, COME ON, people! This thread is starting to look like watching my Scotch-Irish Appalachian family threaten to shoot each other in the kneecaps over a perceived slight. (Don't ask. ) The receptionist clearly over-reacted in this particular situation, but let's not assume any ill will. And let's also stay focused on the OP's need for understanding, consolation, and perspective. If things really had been wrong, the OP would have gotten help. I think this is what she needs to remain focused on and to communicate very clearly to her children. Even though it was a false alarm, someone cares about them and was willing to send an emergency responder to check things out. A minor embarrassment is all this is. We're all so hyped up and looking for reasons to be offended. Encourage the OP to laugh it off for both her own and for her kids' sake. And if a neighbor asks what happened because they saw the officers arrive, she should just say, "You won't believe it..." with a big smile and tell the story. It will get around quickly and everyone will think it's funny. It's all in the presentation.

Last edited by randomparent; 05-05-2018 at 09:59 AM..
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