sco959

11-04-2023

Services Used: Outpatient

This lady gave me the worst experience I’ve ever had with a medical professional in my life. Three weeks ago upon arriving home from a vacation in Europe I tested positive for Covid. I quarantined for 5 days and felt pretty good, so I returned to work. A day or two later I started developing some sort of sinus or upper respiratory infection, which from what I understand is pretty common post covid. It gradually got worse and turned into a nasty chest cough. The hack gradually got worse over the next week until I had eventually completely lost my voice, developed a sore throat that radiates pain to my ears, and inflammation / irritation in my lungs. The cough was producing yellow / green phlegm and mucus, I was lethargic, and had swollen lymph nodes. All the classic signs of a sinus or respiratory infection. So, two days ago I scheduled a visit. My first visit was with another doctor. I share my symptoms and asked him if he would prescribe me a steroid like prednisone to help alleviate the nasty cough and inflammation in my chest and throat. He declined and said he doesn’t like to prescribe steroids for respiratory issues. He said it sounded like I had maybe developed a secondary infection post Covid and said he would be happy to prescribe an antibiotic. I declined because I don’t like taking antibiotics not knowing for sure if there’s an infection. Paid my $50 for the visit and decided I’d take a natural homeopathic approach. I Purchased a vaporizer and humidifier and drank massive amounts of water to stay hydrated, while also resting my voice as much as possible and taking OTC ibuprofen as needed. Two days pass, the symptoms barely improve at all, if any, and I start to regret not taking the doc up on his offer to prescribe antibiotics. At this point I’m beyond frustrated and desperate to get better. I schedule another visit, pay another $50, and this time my clinician is Jennifer McMillan. My wait time was nearly two hours. She was extremely rude, unprofessional, inconsiderate, and clearly lacked any type of compassion for my situation. I shared my symptoms which were a chest cough going on 3 wks now, a sore throat that radiates pain to my right ear, swelling and pain in lymph nodes, yellow / green mucus and phlegm, lethargy, and the most frustrating thing is I haven’t had a voice in 2 wks. I tell her I’m desperate to feel well, and ask her if she would please go ahead and prescribe the antibiotics that I was previously offered by her colleague. She asks me what I mean by lethargy. I told her I’m lethargic like I feel tired, sick , body aches at times and just not quite myself. She asks do I have tightness in my chest, am I struggling to breathe, feeling like I need to pass out after standing too long, or feeling like I’m lacking oxygen in my lungs? I tell her NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. She took no real medical approach to confirming my symptoms. She simply told my to wait while she review the notes from my previous visit. When she returns she proceeds to rudely tell me that due to my ongoing symptoms and lethargy, she’s not going to prescribe an antibiotic and that she wants to refer me to the local urgent care or emergency room to have my lungs checked and ensure it’s nothing more serious. Huh?!?! I was dumbfounded. My immediate response was, “No, I’m sorry, ma’am. But, that’s not gonna work. Are you insinuating that lethargy is not a symptom of an upper respiratory infection? Her response was “no, not typically.”

Mrs McMillan, if you’re reading this, here are the symptoms of an Upper Respiratory Infection (URI). This comes from a medical article and is written by Melissa Conrad Stoppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor.

“Depending on the site of the infection, upper respiratory infections can cause sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, inflammation of the tonsils, sinus headache, cough, and sneezing. Other possible associated symptoms can include fever, chills, lethargy, fatigue, loss of voice or hoarseness, enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, watery eyes, bad breath, and body aches.”

Please feel free to validate the link: https://www.emedicinehealth.com/upper_respiratory_infection/symptom.htm

Becoming increasingly agitated, I continue asking her in 100 different ways, to please prescribe the antibiotic. She refuses and tells me she can refer me somewhere else as if she’s doing me some type of favor.

I literally thought it was a joke.

So, in summary, here’s my current situation, yet according to her I’m over reacting and have no reason to be upset.

1. I’m out time and money for my $50 visit 2 days ago, at which time I received no treatment.
2. I’m out time and money for my $50 visit today, and again, I’m refused treatment.
3. She refers me to another location where I’m now going to be out another several hundred dollars, potentially even $1000 or more.
4. I’m treated like a patient who’s falsifying or exaggerating his symptoms in order to “force my way into a prescription.” Why would I do that? So that I can abuse an antibiotic?!?! That mind you, I initially declined. SMH.
5. I’ve been out of work over two weeks now with no Paid time off and after all that I’m still stuck at square one, right where I started.

So, out of frustration, I lost my cool and I cussed her out. I’m not longer welcome back and she threatens to send her legal team after me. What a complete joke.

Ma’am, You pursued a career in the medical field with an obligation to treat your patients as help them feel better. Grow up! Get out of your feelings, and act like a medical professional. DO YOUR JOB! You should be ashamed of yourself.

• Date Visited 11-2023
• Overall Satisfaction
• Explanation of diagnosis and Treatment Plan
• Trust in Provider
• Procedural Skills