advice on doctor's poor attitude

omega3dave

as an addendum to my previous post about my cholecystectomy


I would welcome some advice :

I met with two consultants on private medical recently. The 2nd doctor (Dr A.) took swift action and with issue of HIDA scan, established I had diseased gallbladder with 12% ejection fraction

Now, the first consultant I met with (who I had seen previously on two occasions this year for liver check ups), took the attitude and I quote 'I am a thorn in his side', his exact words to me when examining me for my chronic right flank pains, nausea etc

at the time because I was so spaced out I did not think too much about it, but then he seemed to get frustrated, not bothered to do anything about my diagnosis. He said 'we can do a thousand tests, but...' he then stopped himself in sentence, kind of put his head in his hands. I did not want to to do a 1000 tests, only one would have sufficed

essentially the vibe of the consultation was strained, he seemed to get very stressed and annoyed with me. Like I was just this pain in the rear, and I got the feeling he would have been happy if I just left him alone

with hindsight I should have demanded a HIDA scan there and then.

cutting long story short I side stepped this 1st doctor, found a specialist in gallbladders (Dr A.) at same private hospital who took immediate action. Trouble is I was referred to first doctor (Dr S.) from my surgeon who took polyp out from my colon last December

this first doctor's attitude cost me 4 weeks delay in getting diagnosis, operation. I realise in NHS world this time scale is nothing, but this is private medicine that I am paying for

1st doctors bills have arrived in now. I feel like writing to him and saying look, your inaction cost me weeks of delays, and 100s of extra pounds.

I want to say to him he can have his money, say half first, but does not get rest until I get an apology from him for his attitude toward me. This doctor is on 200k per annum, no problem with that, but his attitude was at the time unacceptable and referring to me as a thorn in his side was totally unwarranted in my opinion

if you were in my situation would you write to him as I want to and complain?

ok, we all have bad days, but this is private medicine. I had only seen him twice before for different reasons, routine MRI on liver. I did present all my symptoms to him clearly for right side pains, and my GP conducted a positive Murphy's sign test on my gallbladder which this first doctor totally ignored. This was put in writing to him from my GP, asking for swift action. I was losing weight terribly fast too, nausea, headaches, right shoulder pains, right back pains. Nausea after eating fatty foods. This Dr S.'s response was to suggest it was some kind of muscular/skeletal problem

His impertinence and lack of willingness to carry out tests I think would have bothered most people


I have no need to see this Dr S. ever again. I would not trust him now with a knife and fork, let alone a scalpel

if you say don't bother, move on, then that is fine advice, but please no heavy negative replies, I only had operation yesterday, already very bruised :j

DoubleDoors

I would put a review on their website, warning other patients about him. The good thing with private medicine, as you say, is you can choose who you see, unlike the NHS where your choice is: like it or lump it.

System

You can always put a review online, it will put other patients off paying for his services. Try phoning the clinic and speaking to the office staff and see if they have a complaints procedure. Don't worry about asking, maybe he has an attitude problem with them too lol

Primrose

The General Medical Council May have a formal complaints procedure, or the Royal College of Surgeons. Probably worth checking their websites.

omega3dave

thanks for replies thus far

leaving a review is good idea

I could look at the BMI's complaints procedures too,

some people I have spoken to, say just leave it, pay full bills, move on

I am still in two minds as what to do

Dysfunctional gallbladders can turn gangrenous and cause sepsis if left undiagnosed

iammumtoone

Sorry I didn't really follow the post fully but if its his attitude you are complaining about as others said write an honest review and pay, make sure you don't use him again. Lots of services that we pay for have grumpy/rude staff working for them, if the service is up to scratch you should pay and not return.

However if his medical advice was wrong, them complain but I would keep your complaint to that aspect, if you start mentioning his attitude you confuse things and dilute what the original complaint is about.

omega3dave

iammumtoone wrote: »

Sorry I didn't really follow the post fully but if its his attitude you are complaining about as others said write an honest review and pay, make sure you don't use him again. Lots of services that we pay for have grumpy/rude staff working for them, if the service is up to scratch you should pay and not return.

However if his medical advice was wrong, them complain but I would keep your complaint to that aspect, if you start mentioning his attitude you confuse things and dilute what the original complaint is about.

sorry my post i bit long, just wanted to get across what happened

thanks for reply, in a strange way he did me a favour, because I had to side step him and forced me to find gallbladder specialist, consultant who did the right test, diagnosis

I would not trust this doctor I am wishing to complain about with a knife and fork, let alone a scalpel

Prothet_of_Doom

I would return the bill with a covering letter, explaining that as he failed to diagnose your problem, which was obvious to a competent doctor you won't be paying him his bill, but you will be contacting the GMC and making a formal complaint based on the following facts :

I did present all my symptoms to him clearly for right side pains, and my GP conducted a positive Murphy's sign test on my gallbladder which this first doctor totally ignored. This was put in writing to him from my GP, asking for swift action. I was losing weight terribly fast too, nausea, headaches, right shoulder pains, right back pains. Nausea after eating fatty foods. This Dr S.'s response was to suggest it was some kind of muscular/skeletal problem.


If he then wants to take it further I suggest you send him a bill for lost earnings for 4 weeks, and unnecessary suffering and stress due to his negligence.

Primrose

You said you had seen this consultant privately. Presumably you paid the bill yourself rather than it being funded through some private health insurance like BUPA? If the latter, I would certainly make your health insurance company aware of your dissatisfaction. They obviously have consultants on their list and if issues are constantly flagged up with one private doctor they might consider wishing to delist him from their services.


the other body you could possibly complain to is the Care Quality Commission although I'm not sure if they cover private medical cover as well as NHS institutions.

omega3dave

If he then wants to take it further I suggest you send him a bill for lost earnings for 4 weeks, and unnecessary suffering and stress due to his negligence.

thanks, that is a good idea,

I could just roll over, and do nothing, but do nothing = no change.
This means these people carry on business as usual, unchallenged

I could understand his comments, attitude if all my pains were in my head, psychosomatic. I fainted at work, got taken to A&E with elevated white blood cell markers, and inflammatory markers. Right flank pains.

Terrible GERD, there were enough tangible symptoms to take me my condition seriously as my local GP did, and conducted a positive Murphys sign test on my gallbladder

as said, I had only seen the doctor in question couple of times previous

I have emailed the BMI hospital and asked about their complaints procedure

ska_lover

DoubleDoors wrote: »

I would put a review on their website, warning other patients about him. The good thing with private medicine, as you say, is you can choose who you see, unlike the NHS where your choice is: like it or lump it.

Things have changed with the NHS- these days you can chose your own consultants and healthcare these days under the choose and book scheme


https://www.nhs.uk/nhsengland/appointment-booking/pages/about-the-referral-system.aspx


The only real difference between NHS and private is waiting times are almost non existent if you go private - but most of the private doctors that people are paying £130 for 15 minutes of their time, they are working in the local NHS hospitals too - so standard of care and access to the same doctors, is pretty much the same - or it should be


also NHS have a complaints system if people are not happy where they are obliged to follow things up I am sure the private system have the same