kar743

06-08-2022

Services Used: Inpatient

I was immediately discriminated before even seeing a provider. I came to the emergency room, five days post op from a major abdominal surgery. It was a Sunday and my surgeons clinic was closed and the on call provider instructed me to seek emergency assistance to manage my pain. The provider (Zachary Muehlenbein, PA-C) failed to examine me, he did not ask about my history or even visually examine my incisions; which I had mentioned to him, one had not healed properly. Even then he did not check. He immediately told me that I was needlessly seeking narcotic pain medication and that I "should be fine". (Mind you, I also have several autoimmune disorders and a chronic pain disorder.) He gave me instructions on "how to manage pain without narcotics"; suggestions such as Tylenol and Ibuprofen regiment, which I had explained I tried the day before and was the reason my pain was now out of control. Another suggestion given was to soak in a warm bath; again, I was FIVE DAYS POST OP... I cannot soak. Physical Therapy was then given as an idea; FIVE. DAYS. POST. OP.
I screamed at this man. I will fully admit I was out of line with some of the words I chose. I was NOT out of line however with telling him that he was choosing to disregard a legitimate need for pain management because my chart has an indicator in it that says "Alcoholism; in remission."

He offered me a single dose of pain medication, orally, to be taken before I left, as if he was doing me a favor. I asked him what I should do in six hours when that wears off, he told me to call my clinic... which is how I ended up in the ER in the first place. (The after visit summary indicates to return to ER, prn.) I finally accepted the single dose of medication and immediately called my surgeons clinic, while in the ER. *It should be noted here that I was not in a room. I was in a hallway, on a hospital bed with no doors, blinds, curtains... nothing offering an ounce of privacy. Staff was walking by as if I was in the hallway to their breakroom and by a timeclock. IN A HALLWAY. So, as I sit in the hallway, my surgeons clinic called the on call provider again. I took my single dose of pain medication from the nurse and tried to leave. She started escorting me out, I've never been in this hospital before and it was a maze, she legit just walked me out of the hallway 'room' into an intersection of hallways, and walked away. I stood there for a few seconds, thinking maybe she was just grabbing something from the nurses station but then watched her sit down at her computer. So I started to walk out what looked like an exit to the outside world. Another nurse LITERALLY YELLED AT ME, "You can't go out there, that's the ambulance bay." So I responded through tears that I had no idea where I was going, I didn't see any lobby signs and (pointing to my nurse) said "and my nurse who was showing me the way just walked away!" Some staff member, who was literally the ONLY kind staff member I came across that day, was walking by and overheard me and showed me the way out.

About ten minutes after I left the ER, the on call provider from my surgeons clinic called me back. I explained the situation to her, bawling; "he ONLY treated me as a drug seeker. He offered me one dose. He denied me any real care and did not even examine me." Her response: "He didn't even give you enough to get by until you can get into clinic in the morning?!" Me: "Nope." I could hear the change in the on call providers tone when she simply said "I am so sorry. I'll call the ER and get back to you."

About 30 minutes later, I received a call from the PA at the Buffalo Allina ER that I saw. This was what he had to say: "I just talked to the on call provider from your clinic, sorry for the confusion but I have a prescription here for you to pick up whenever you're ready or able." No apology for his treatment or discrimination towards me, didn't offer to send it to a pharmacy, no remorse whatsoever. I explained I was already home and he agreed to send it to a pharmacy.

**I am a person in long term recovery. I have been judged and discriminated a lot on my journey to get and stay sober. But in all my life, in the hundreds, probably over a thousand meetings of recovery that I've been to and people I've met, stories I've heard in the rooms, I have never heard such a disgusting example of discrimination. Here is what your provider failed to take into account: not only am I a person in long term recovery; I am a medical assistant (even worked for Allina for five years!), studied psychology, I am a volunteer peer recovery specialist working with addicts and alcoholics, I am a sponsor, and I am a human being with real, valid feelings and emotions.

My response to the ER PA was something along the lines of "Thanks but, you owe me an apology. You judged me and discriminated me before you even saw my face. You saw one diagnosis in my chart and that was the only one that mattered. You completely disregarded my reason for the visit. *As previously mentioned, I have autoimmune stuff and a pain disorder, among many other things. My diagnosis list is long; I'm a complicated case but I manage my health and I have appropriate providers/specialists as needed. I am an EXCELLENT patient; historically, I've had around 13 or 14 surgeries in the last 18 years. I am well versed with how to manage my pain; with and without narcotics. I do not use opioid narcotics on a regular basis, even with suffering from chronic pain all day, every day. I ONLY use it pre or post op, as needed, and have no history of abuse of narcotics, excessive refill requests or anything that would be a red flag for a drug seeker. I also told him that when he discriminates against people like me, he is limiting my health care. He was telling me and people like me, that our pain doesn't matter because I was once an active alcoholic. When you're put in that box, it limits the chances for a good outcome. And, if I WERE a drug seeker, at that point I probably would have gone to the streets to find opioids and had a good chance at being killed by Fentanyl or some other drug that it's been laced with. (And more realistically, if I were a seeker, I wouldn't have been at the ER paying ungodly amounts of money and wasting an entire day for ten pills in the first place... I'd have gone straight to Hennepin or Lake St and picked up from some stranger for a fraction of the time and cost and not cared about the potential for laced drugs ending up with me dead from an OD.)

I have been an Allina patient for longer than I can recall. Maybe 15 years? I feel like I even went there as a child... My primary care physician has been an Allina provider for at least 12 years. And as I stated earlier, I worked for Allina PROUDLY for about five years. I will never set foot in an Allina owned clinic or hospital again. I have never been treated so poorly in my life, and that's saying something! I'm a retired blackout artist, a former felon and I've spent a total of 8-9 months behind bars for various reasons in my drinking career. There were a lot of opportunities to be treated like crap. But this? This one takes the cake. It is my personal goal that NO ONE ever feel the way I did leaving the ER on June 5, 2022.

There is a time and a place to limit pain medication; this was not it.

Allina needs a MAJOR overhaul in their system. I am probably more aware of the crisis of the opioid epidemic than 90% of your staff. Not only is it my line of work, it is a lifestyle choice and my passion to educate, share my experience, strength and hope and to continue to do the next right thing. Your provider picked the wrong person to go up against.

0 stars.

• Date Visited 06-2022
• Overall Satisfaction
• Explanation of diagnosis and Treatment Plan
• Trust in Provider
• Procedural Skills