2005-06-01 - 2:00 p.m.

This takes the cake for people's personal issues affecting their professional lives:

When we first came to Syracuse I was happy to so efficiently find a local pediatrician office and schedule appointments for physicals for the children. There was a wait time of about a month- to be expected. I was very pleased that the Office Manager whom I met right away seemed so very organized, efficient and a good communicator. After having problems in the past with Medical Office managers I know how important that person is in picking a practice! (We have had LOST records in the past!)

All the medical records were requested and the ones from VA received (by me as the disorganized office personnell there mailed them directly to me rather than the Dr. as I requested!)

So all seemed in order... that is until I got a call from the office manager that an IMMUNIZATION cover form was missing for Alexy.

So I called the VA office requesting they send this.

They of course blow me off as usual. Then I got the $40 bill for records sent- $10 per child.

I then got the call from the NEW pediatric office here on WED that they can't see the children until all records are complete. (We had THU appointments scheduled for Sadie and Alexy)

So I attempted to clarify and said : "Let me get this straight: I understand you are missing one form for the baby Alexy- so you don't want to see her until you have the Immunization Cover Sheet."

The lady said "YES"

and I went on "But I will bring Sadie in for her appointment as all her records are complete."

The Office Manager said "No- The Dr will not see any of the children until all the records are complete."

And I said "That makes no sense. I could of course just call you back cold tommorrow with only my one child, Sadie, and ask if you can take her as a patient- and hand you her file and she would be seen. So what is the difference?"

She re-iterated "Its the Dr's policy not to see anyone until all records for the family are received."

I then went into the explaination that in fact ALL RECORDS for the baby Raitlin's medical care and appointments WERE IN FACT RECEIVED-- with the exception of a TRANSCRIBED cover sheet in which THE DOCUMENTED VACCINATIONS ADMINISTERED were then RE-WRITTEN on an easier to read single form. I pointed out that the information was in fact in the file- if someone cared to take the few minutes to read it. I pointed out that THE REASON THE VA OFFICE DIDN"T SEND AN IMMUNIZATION SHEET IS LIKELY THAT THEY NEVER WROTE ONE.

I didn't really want to get into a protracted battle with the VA office over getting one form.... and didn't want to deal with the Office Manager who had called a number of times already to babysit me and ask if I requested the form yet (To which my YES likely was getting more annoyed)
So at the response of
"The Dr. Will not see any children until all records are received."
I then replied
"I will be by then to pick up all of our records then. We will find another Doctor."
and I curtly HUNG UP.

That was last THU.
I picked up the records on Fri and spoke with the Office Manager and the staff there, and courteusly thanked them for all there efficient, organized work in compiling and organuizing the medical files for us. I also recommended they talk to the whole group of Doctors in the practice about this situation as they lost the business of a family with many children due to INFLEXIBILITY of the one Dr. who is adhering to an office PRACTICE to the extent of ridiculousness. I commented "There are reasons for policy, but then there are the times when a policy ceases to be functional and most people know how to recognize the need for flexibility."

I left thinking THAT DR could use some ANAFRANIL! She must be SO OCD that she is a GREAT DR in some ways and a TOTAL pain for her staff!! I felt great empathy for the secretarys! All their time and work was WASTED because the Dr. was so ANAL!! Thus the thought of how people's demons follow them wherever they are....

But then when I got home I talked with Westley and I looked at the medical records that the Pediatrician indeed HAD reviewed and realized something else:
There were highlighted areas of note - by the receiving Dr. I surmise from the notes highlighted that the issue of not accepting us as patients was one not of a POLICY, but rather that this Dr. doesn't WANT a family who doesn't BLINDLY follow EVERY recommendation given! She had clearly highlighted EVERY TIME there was a "recommendation" that it APPEARED that we had not followed up on! (LIKE A NOTE for a CBC to be re-done but no follow up. Of course on the subsequent Dr. Visit when our pediatrician AGREED we needn't bring the then baby Raitlin BACK to the hospital for blood work as SHE CLEARLY WAS WELL from a viral illness.. there WAS NO NOTATION that the DR TOO thought we needn't do additional invasive procedures on our baby unnecessarilly!)

That along with notes of my refusal of some recommended treatment along with citations from recent medical journals as to WHY (SUCH AS NOT TAKING ANTIBIOTICS FOR AN EAR INFECTION...etc)

My conclusion is that perhaps the Dr. had an issue with patients who MAKE THEIR OWN MEDICAL CHOICES regarding care and treatment and didn't like that!

So in the end I am sure it is best that we don't end up with that pediatician! I need to find one who is OK and supportive of my philosophy of medical care and medicine which is easy to sum up: An ounce of Prevention is worth a pound of a CURE. We try to live a healthy lifestyle and thus RARELY need medical care! We use medicine and hospitals in our family WHEN NECESSARY. So that means that even when I have had an infant with a fever-- I DON't RUSH off to the hospital! I don't think its a crisis UNLESS I DON'T know WHY the baby is sick! But in those instances where THE WHOLE FAMILY has a viral illness and then the baby too has THE SAME THING, I HAVE REFUSED FULL SEPTIC WORK UPS and SPINAL TAPS to rule out MENENGITIS etc.....

I LOVED the Dr. we had in Pittsford! Dr. LEVIN of PARKVIEW PEDIATRICS was SO FANTASTIC in supporting our decisions as parents and BEING HONEST about what's what! So many Doctor's have such a FEAR OF LIABILITY that they won't admit when a treatment is "RECOMMENDED" more out of a routine standard to protect the DR against malpractice in the RARE INSTANCE of something going horribly wrong! I think unfortunately its true that MUCH of medical care is administered to protect against the anomolys that CAN occur.

I have had six preganancys and had to ARGUE during quite a few of my labors to get a Dr. or a Nurse to honor my NO MEDICATION request. My hubby literally had to stop one Dr. from administering an injection once! But then again, during my last delivery of Alexy I did indeed have alot of bleeding and therefore it WAS IMPORTANT to take that shot of a hormone Petosin (however it is spelled) which prevents hemmorraging! So I am not a CRAZY anti drug/medicine person who refuses care without sound reason! But considering this drug is ROUTINELY given when I am to guess my experience is likely a good rough indicator that maybe 1 in 6 pregnancys will have the risk of hemmorrage: Well then the Doctors are in the practice of giving the drug 100% of the time so they and women are protected if they fall in the 16% of the time a woman will have a problem! It makes more sense to me to be ATTUNED to your body and wait until there is a problem to treat it with drugs when there are drugs on the market today that are so effective that bleeding to death during childbirth is unheard of!

And my view of PAIN medication is that the PATIENT should be the one to make decisions of what their pain tolerence is ! BY all means if one wishes to manage their pain by drugs THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO SO. I in fact am empathetic to Montel Williams and the medical marajuana movement. In fact I think GREATER contol over that would pull it out of the sole realm of street drugs into a regulated system which in fact might HELP the abuse problem. I mean, how many teenagers become habitual DARVOCET users? It seems NOT HIP to be taking the drug your Grannny's MD prescribes her... (Although there is a HUGE problem with addition of elder to medication such as that! I mentioned Darvocet as in High School I recall my addicted granny who lived with us! My Dad and I resorted to cutting all her pills in half and bringing her half at a time!! We then cut them into quarters in our gradual campaign to reduce her intake! She ended up in a nursing home where they cut her off completely and she soon became a much happier person!) But I ramble yet again....

Maybe this is relevant though! Perhaps that life experience of having observed my grandma who went to mutliple Doctors and didn't share the info from one to the other so got MULTIPLE prescriptions made me aware of the EVIL of even PRESCRIPTION drugs! Maybe that has informed my lack of complete and utter faith in Physicians: I never see them as REALLY knowing all that much more about any one given thing than me! I think in the AGGREGATE they clearly do! But for each illness of my child, I know I can hit the library, read journals, and research on the internet and in a few days be quite knowledgable in any area. I have researched Menengitis, Infant SEPSIS, LYME DISEASE, RABIES, ADD (HA HA!!!), EAR INFECTIONS, the effectiveness of antibiotics, among other concerns that have cropped up since being a parent.

(Oh- and on the topic of menengitis: The test of a spinal tap has about as much risk of causing paralysis as THE RISK ITSELF of a child having menengitis!! Hmmm... So think about it: Both are devastating. But one CAN BE TREATED WITH A SIMPLE ANTIBIOTIC and the other results in LIFELONG DEBILITATING DISABILITY... Hmmmm... So WHY WOULD IT FREAK OUT MEDICAL PERSONELL WHEN I HAVE REFUSED THE INFANT SPINAL TAP??? In that case, if there were OTHER indicators of possible menengitis it would be one instance I'd say JUST GIVE US THE DAMN ANTIBIOTIC ALREADY! Even if it is not needed- that is less risk than an invasive procedure of a spinal tap on an infant!)

OK - menengitis may be on the rise.... I think it actually is on the rise in VA, but STILL... I was always so surprised that the invasive procedure is so strongly encouraged (It was for Katerina when she was ill as an infant, and then again ten years later when Alexy was sick and our whole family had a viral illness! )

Well, in conclusion, all this writing was procrastination in facing the last task on my TO DO LIST TODAY: FIND A PEDIATRICIAN-- AGAIN.

Hmmm... How far is that Drive to Pittsford from Syracuse???? I REALLY LIKED PARKVIEW PEDS!

But back to the Insurance CO site to search locally!

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