Doctor Availability in Sarasota/Venice

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

Thx for all the info. This medical stuff is waaay too complicated. Almost as bad as doing tax returns

Leave it up to govt to screw things up through over-regulation.

Your post makes me want to move to another country. I see the entire medical care & insurance industry as quasi gov't, & I hate that.

There seems to be no real competition, so the customer (patient) comes last. It all sounds very broken to me.

Oh geez, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to leave you feeling that way.

It IS a bit overwhelming when you encounter the vicissitudes of healthcare and health insurance/Medicare issues, for sure.
But even so I've found it possible to navigate the systems by taking charge of my own health issues, and learning as many of the ins and outs of the system as I can. It also helps to know who can help, who to contact, when to fight and when to leave things alone.

I think I get good medical care here. Granted, I'm realistic and not very demanding, and I always express my appreciation to the healthcare providers for what they do for me. I think that helps.,
/

[tinytrump]

Originally Posted by wondermint2

I've been in both Venice Hospital and Sarasota Memorial hospital within the past 2 years. Frankly I wasn't impressed with either one.

When I was admitted to Venice Hospital I told the admitting person that I live in a home in Nokomis. Next day a doctor comes in my room looking at my chart and says: "I see that you're homeless". Apparently the admitting person has some kind of dyslexia and she mistook Nokomis home for homeless.

Also I constantly get calls from bill collectors and other nonsense because some guy had my current number like 10 years ago. Venice Hospital never updated his file with his current phone number. And just about 2 weeks ago I got a call from Venice Hospital (thinking that I was that guy) -- saying that his car had been there since October - and it had to be moved or they were going to tow it away.

Also several months ago I went to the emergency room at Venice Hospital. I had to sit there for about 8 hours before I was looked at. This was when Covid was still pretty high in our area - but still seemed like a long wait.

When I was at Sarasota Memorial Hospital they were always bringing me the wrong meals, bringing the meal late or forgetting all together. They also scheduled tests at such time that I couldn't eat dinner or lunch - so went hungry half the time.

The cardioligist there over-did it and prescribed me like half a dozen blood pressure meds. And then when I got home all of those meds made me so dizzy I could barely stand up.

Also at that time I was very weak and wanted to go to a rehab facility to gain some strength back before I went home. SMH tried for like 2 days to find a rehab facility that had an opening and would accept my insurance. When they couldn't find anything they literally kicked me out of the hospital when I was barely strong enough to get out of bed - and told me to go home.

They are very short staffed in all areas hospitals and anything relating to medical. The employees have moved away. Between Covid and no daycares and now unaffordable houses or apts. good luck.

[tinytrump]

Originally Posted by Floridaman777

I moved here last year and i got a doctor i like a lot. It took 4 month to get the first appointment - but once i got in i am good. His office always leaves space for patients that need emergencies so its just the initial wait that is long.

Please stop the baloney scare-mongering. Sarasota has a lot of really good doctors....

They do, but the staff is struggling