Posted by Katherine (207.121.233.3) on July 10, 2001 at 10:02:08:
In Reply to: My personal CH saga continues... A little long. Venting... Follow up... posted by Mike (B) on July 10, 2001 at 02:29:15:
Mike B,
I work for an HMO. I don't know how long you have left on your insurance, but this is what I would do.
Call your customer service department for your HMO. Complain about your PCP. Start a ruckus. Be polite to the service rep, because they are the nice people who will be able to help you get what you want, but be very specific. Try to call when you are not having a headache so you can make sense to them.
Explain the whole story. Explain that you can not get to your records in time, but that you will try. Explain that you had a headache in front of the unsympathetic doctor and that he was completely unmoved. Tell them that you told the PCP that you did not WANT expensive pain meds and that he lectured you about the dangers of pain meds after you told him you did not want them and THEN prescribed some useless freaking meds that you do not want. Tell them that your PCP was not listening to you. Tell them you want them to hook you up with a new PCP NOW, (preferably one who is in a Provider Unit who does not have a problem referring you to a neurolgist asap). Explain to them that although you are not a doctor, you feel it is inappropriate for a PCP to attempt to treat cluster headaches. This bozo is obviously of the "it's just a headache" school of thought. If you had walked in there and had a grand mal seizure in front of him he would have whisked you to an er and gotten you into see a neurologist the next day... what is the freaking difference????
Ok... calming down. Fingers typing so fast feel like they are on fire.
You want to complain about the quality of the care that you received and get a new PCP who will listen to you. A PCP who is also a neurologist (there are some....) would be key. A referral to a neurologist written by the HMO as an apology for the lack of quality of your care would be even better. You may have to play stupid HMO games to get what you want, but there is NO excuse for lack of care during this cluster. Yes, your insurance is ending, but before it does you are entitled to all the care that you can get your hands on... so start grabbing for it.
You go get 'em.