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Maybe the OP really was slurring or sounding incoherent to the point that someone in the office was concerned. Perhaps they called the police more so to avoid liability if the OP really was having a stroke or something.
Maybe the person who heard the voice mail is nuts and went way overboard calling the police.
We really don't know. We don't know if 1 single person in the office made the decision, or if it was run by higher-ups like the office manager or the doctor. We don't know what the voice mail sounded like.
I don't think the OP has anything to be embarrassed about unless she really was rambling, but who hasn't done that before?
OP, I think you should ask to listen to the voice mail and find out how they came to the decisions to call the police. Perhaps they need to revisit their policy, or perhaps the doctor and office manager need to be made aware that this happened.
I am worried about people's tendency to call the police for every little thing, before they take the time to assess the situation and take it up with people in charge first. First there was the Starbuck's thing. Then, this week some woman called the police on 2 Native American students who joined a college tour in the middle, instead of asking the tour guide if they were on the list or whatever. Now this.
That's not exactly what happened, and I would be happy to point you toward additional information about the incident that will help shed light the matter. I have a student at the university, so I've been receiving the email updates, which have included police reports, the 911 call, and video from the police body cams that are not being addressed by the media. I don't believe the university mistreated the young men at all, and I think the woman's behavior falls in a gray area. It's complicated.
While I agree that in this situation it probably was just a misunderstanding or miscommunication due to variety of factors (the OP talking quietly with a bad cold, etc. etc.) but I am surprised at how many people are genuinely angry at the doctor's office calling the police to do a wellness check. If something like that happened to me I would be glad that someone was concerned enough about my health to follow through and check on me.
Perhaps, I am taking this too personally since several of my relatives have died due to strokes, or complications from strokes, but I am surprised at the attitude of some, not all, of the posters.
I'll share a story. My rather cantankerous cousins called our 85 year old aunt one evening at 6 PM. They later told us that she was slurring her words, talking "goofy" and then abruptly hung up on them. All three of those things were very uncharacteristic of her but instead of being concerned my cousins assumed that our aunt was "mad at them". It wasn't until they called her the next day at 8 AM "to yell at her" (their words) and she did not answer the phone that they got concerned that perhaps something was wrong.
They called another cousin, who lived two blocks away and had a key to our aunt's house. That cousin found our aunt laying on the floor next to the phone, where she had apparently laid since the previous evening. She had had a massive stroke. The doctors said that it was likely that our aunt was actually having the stroke during the phone call the previous evening. Even after months in the hospital and in rehab she never fully recovered from that stroke. The sad thing is that if our aunt had received prompt medical treatment (such as the clot-busting medication that hospitals can give within three hours of a stroke) and not laid on the floor for over 10 hours the outcome could have been much different for her.
I am glad that the OP did not have any medical issues.
I'll now step off my soap box.
Quote:
Originally Posted by germaine2626
I once called in sick, because of a severe migraine, and I left a detailed voice mail for my teacher's aide. Apparently when they heard it they were pretty concerned because I was not making sense, got a lot of information incorrect, etc. etc. But since they knew that I was calling because of a migraine, and my husband was home with me, they did not do anything except let me know the next day.
I was completely shocked as I had thought that I was perfectly clear and coherent when I left the message.
If your message was so incoherent that they called the police, thinking that it was a medical emergency I would not ignore it. I would ask them for more details and then contact my primary care physician. Actually since it is a Friday night, I would try to get more information from the police and maybe even go to the Emergency Room. Was there anyone at home when you made the calls? Did they notice anything unusual in your speech or behavior? Are you having any problems now?
I remember when my husband had a TIA/mini-stroke and was incoherent for a few minutes. I called the ambulance within five minutes and by the time that he reached the ER he sounded perfectly fine (even though I had clearly observed the symptoms of a stroke). He did not remember that he was incoherent nor did he remember having the other symptoms (slurred speech, drooling/weakness on one side, unsteadiness on his feet). He was hospitalized for six days.
BTW, my husband also could be incoherent if he missed taking his potassium medication. At least one time (the first time before we realized the importance), it was a life threatening emergency.
Of course, it could have just been a very bad phone connection or something like that, but I really doubt if a doctor's office would call the police unless they were truly worried about you.
Hello all I was able to pop back in thank you all for the advice. It is true that waking up this morning I started to feel better. Now with some time away from the situation, I think I can start to see how I might be able to laugh at this one day. I am also curious to hear the calls. My recollection was the calls lasted probably one minute each to me that is lengthy. It was basically birthday, phone number, secondary phone number, spelling of names, times when I would be available for call back, and a discussion briefly left on voicemail about why I needed to reschedule which I'm sure I didn't have to leave there, maybe it confused the message. I believe I said on the phone there is a conflicting surgery in the family and this is why I need to reschedule my daughter's if possible. Maybe this somehow is misinterpreted. Also I do not sound great on the phone I have a stuffed up nose and a deviated septum which always makes me sound wonky. I casually brought this up to my kids again today about how nice it was for the policeman to do a little checking on us for the weekend. They seem to be pretty nonchalant about it at this point.
My embarrassment level has gone from a flaming fire to a dull steam so that is good.
Glad to know that you're starting to see the humor in all this and that your embarrassment is subsiding. At some point, this will become a hilarious family story that will take on mythical proportions and provide great entertainment for your kids. You'll be sitting down to a holiday dinner years from now, and one of the children will say, "Does anyone remember the time when the doctor thought Mom was crazy and called the police?" A little exaggeration in the form of family lore is good for the soul!
Hello all I was able to pop back in thank you all for the advice. It is true that waking up this morning I started to feel better. Now with some time away from the situation, I think I can start to see how I might be able to laugh at this one day. I am also curious to hear the calls. My recollection was the calls lasted probably one minute each to me that is lengthy. It was basically birthday, phone number, secondary phone number, spelling of names, times when I would be available for call back, and a discussion briefly left on voicemail about why I needed to reschedule which I'm sure I didn't have to leave there, maybe it confused the message. I believe I said on the phone there is a conflicting surgery in the family and this is why I need to reschedule my daughter's if possible. Maybe this somehow is misinterpreted. Also I do not sound great on the phone I have a stuffed up nose and a deviated septum which always makes me sound wonky. I casually brought this up to my kids again today about how nice it was for the policeman to do a little checking on us for the weekend. They seem to be pretty nonchalant about it at this point.
My embarrassment level has gone from a flaming fire to a dull steam so that is good.
Glad you are not feeling embarrassed . Hopefully you are able to find out why they were concerned,which seems pretty important as a doctor/patient relationship.
While I agree that in this situation it probably was just a misunderstanding or miscommunication due to variety of factors (the OP talking quietly with a bad cold, etc. etc.) but I am surprised at how many people are genuinely angry at the doctor's office calling the police to do a wellness check. If something like that happened to me I would be glad that someone was concerned enough about my health to follow through and check on me.
Perhaps, I am taking this too personally since several of my relatives have died due to strokes, or complications from strokes, but I am surprised at the attitude of some, not all, of the posters.
I'll share a story. My rather cantankerous cousins called our 85 year old aunt one evening at 6 PM. They later told us that she was slurring her words, talking "goofy" and then abruptly hung up on them. All three of those things were very uncharacteristic of her but instead of being concerned my cousins assumed that our aunt was "mad at them". It wasn't until they called her the next day at 8 AM "to yell at her" (their words) and she did not answer the phone that they got concerned that perhaps something was wrong.
They called another cousin, who lived two blocks away and had a key to our aunt's house. That cousin found our aunt laying on the floor next to the phone, where she had apparently laid since the previous evening. She had had a massive stroke. The doctors said that it was likely that our aunt was actually having the stroke during the phone call the previous evening. Even after months in the hospital and in rehab she never fully recovered from that stroke. The sad thing is that if our aunt had received prompt medical treatment (such as the clot-busting medication that hospitals can give within three hours of a stroke) and not laid on the floor for over 10 hours the outcome could have been much different for her.
I am glad that the OP did not have any medical issues.
I'll now step off my soap box.
If they had been concerned they would have called the other cousin to do a wellness check . Such a shame.
Not sure why you feel posters are angry. More like it’s confusing they didn’t call back or contact someone on the emergency contact list first ( and the op hasn’t indicated they did any of that), or do any follow up the next day.
First, I'm glad to hear, OP, that you're feeling better about all this. I have some advice for you-when you call to leave a message, or even to talk to the office, be concise. If all you need to do is change an appointment, just say that. You do not need to go into all the "whys and wherefores" of it. Now if you need medical information, that is of course a different story.
****
Now I will say what I came back here to say originally. I had a "Eureka" moment, not in the bathtub but in the laundry room. I was thinking about what stan4 said "I am super impressed they cared enough". I got to thinking, this is a pediatric orthopedist office and peds care about kids. Then the epiphany happened. Pediatricians are mandatory reporters for child welfare. If they thought something was going on, they were required to call the police. In this case, they may have made an error in judgement, but how many times are doctors and other health care providers criticized for ignoring these kind of concerns? http://www.aappublications.org/content/36/5/1.1
Interestingly, this thread is taking place against the background of a friend going back to the Midwest for her mom, who didn't answer the phone a couple days ago so a relative went over to the house. When the mom didn't answer the door, the relative called the police who broke in the screen door to get in and found mom lying on the floor sick. She was admitted to the hospital.
OP, I would talk to the doctor about it, the next time I was in a consult with him. Clearly, there was nothing wrong, because you were calling from work, and your co-workers didn't notice anything unusual. There should be a protocol for such cases; staff should try to call the patient back, to determine if there truly is a problem or not. I don't think you're the one who should be embarrassed. It's the staff that somehow screwed up.
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClaraC
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.
That would be me. Yes, DH is a physician, Ortho coincidentally, and my background is healthcare as well. I know he is always on top of issues with his staff and has counseled (and in some cases terminated) staff before when he's had valid complaints or observed things himself that needed to be addressed. A good doctor realizes he/she is running a business and customer service is very important. I do think ClaraC makes a good point that not all doctors are attuned to this and/or aware of what's going on with their Front Desk staff, which is very unfortunate, since they are the "face of your practice", so to speak. I'll also add that complaints do need to be taken with a grain of salt, because some have no merit and the issue is with the patients themselves. You just learn how to navigate those and go about your business, as you would in any service industry.
OP, let us know what happens, we are all curious.
Last edited by Texas Ag 93; 05-05-2018 at 12:01 PM..
OP, I would talk to the doctor about it, the next time I was in a consult with him. Clearly, there was nothing wrong, because you were calling from work, and your co-workers didn't notice anything unusual. There should be a protocol for such cases; staff should try to call the patient back, to determine if there truly is a problem or not. I don't think you're the one who should be embarrassed. It's the staff that somehow screwed up.
Yep, always the staff, trying to do their jobs, and screwing up. What did the OP being at work have to do with anything? See the post above this. I will say the docs at the peds office where I worked were pretty "hands on" WRT the front desk, and also took patient complaints seriously. However, as Texas Ag 93 said, sometimes the problem is not with the staff.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 05-05-2018 at 12:10 PM..
That's not exactly what happened, and I would be happy to point you toward additional information about the incident that will help shed light the matter. I have a student at the university, so I've been receiving the email updates, which have included police reports, the 911 call, and video from the police body cams that are not being addressed by the media. I don't believe the university mistreated the young men at all, and I think the woman's behavior falls in a gray area. It's complicated.
Is any of that available to the public? I'd like to know the whole story. Message me, if you want.
Edit: to be clear, I'm not blaming the university, but the woman who called. In this case the police handled the situation appropriately. What I'm concerned about is that a parent on the tour thought it was worthy of a call to the police without first using other avenues to get answers.
Last edited by Kibbiekat; 05-05-2018 at 01:16 PM..
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. Hopefully you are able to find out why they were concerned,which seems pretty important as a doctor/patient relationship.
