Quite a few of my friends have inquired how I am doing with my recent diagnosis of Celiac disease. Now that I've officially been diagnosed, my GI doctor wanted to see me. My appointment was this past Wednesday. The very next day I sent the following letter. I've taken out any personal, identifying information to protect this doctor's identity. Read more of what transpired (after the doctor received the letter) below.
September 17, 2009
Dr. X
Address of doctor
Dear Dr. X:
I take my health very seriously and would like you to know why I won’t be coming back as your patient in the future.
It isn’t because the two appointments I had specifically to meet with you I was kept waiting for more than 1.5 hours on my first visit (and never did get to see you) or kept waiting for 30 minutes on yesterday’s visit. I understand getting held up at the hospital and these things happen. Your whole staff was more than courteous, honest and upfront about it. In fact, it was the way the staff handled your absence the first time that impressed me and caused me to schedule the colonoscopy and endoscopy without formally meeting you.
No, the reason I will not be coming back is specifically the way I felt I was treated on my most recent office visit on Wednesday, September 16, 2009. My appointment was for a follow-up regarding the results to the colonoscopy and endoscopy. The most important aspect was being told I had Celiac disease. I had come to the appointment prepared with many questions. I was trying hard to get a grasp on this diagnosis and understand what it meant for me to have this disease. As you are aware, Celiac is a life changing condition and would mean making many lifestyle changes to accommodate it. Given your unknown return time from the hospital, Jane Doe (name of nurse) was able to assist and answer a good number of the questions I had. If we came to any questions that she couldn’t give me an answer she felt good about, she said to wait and ask you.
Upon your arrival, when it was time for me to ask you the questions I still had lingering, I was taken aback by your abrupt one or two word answers. I don’t feel you took any time to try to answer my concerns or help me understand the condition any better. In my opinion, you were bordering on being rude (and in fact were when you stopped to take a phone call in the middle of my appointment with you). Jane Doe ran circles around you in how she handled the questions I had. It is a shame my appointment wasn’t solely with her as she gives a much better impression of your practice than you do. The one question I still have and feel you completely dismissed in terms of giving me your professional opinion is, “How will I know eating a gluten-free diet will be working? How can I be confident I am doing everything right?”
In addition, I had questions regarding the findings of reflux and the hiatal hernia. However, I was so rattled by your disposition and lack of ‘bedside manner’, that I completely forgot to ask you about them. I had expected you would’ve gone through the findings of the report and wanted to discuss this, in addition to the Celiac diagnosis. Apparently I was wrong. In fact I am now wondering why you even requested a follow-up appointment.
I took this appointment with you very seriously and had arranged a babysitter so that I could give you my full attention and not be trying to juggle and entertain a 15 month old. I am disappointed by the lack of medical insight you gave me and frankly, insulted that my condition didn’t warrant your full attention.
I would like to make it abundantly clear that these reasons stated above are why I will not come back to your offices. Your staff, especially Jane Doe, is all top-notch and excels in customer service. They are a major credit to your practice and I hope you realize how fantastic they are. You, on the other hand, could learn a thing or two from them.
Sincerely,
My name
Cc: Jane Doe and the referring physician
I put the letter in my mailbox on Thursday and come Friday, at 6:00pm, my phone rang. It was Dr. X!! Boy was I surprised and not just because the letter made it to his hands in one day. I really didn't think I would hear back from him. If anything, I thought I would hear from Jane Doe. Dr. X apologized and said I was always welcome to come back. And then we talked. I brought up all my questions and this time he really answered them. We not only spoke about the Celiac, but also the hernia and reflux. It was me who initiated the end of the call. I thanked him, told him I appreciated him calling and hope he has a nice weekend. He reiterated again that I was always welcome to come back.
I've got to say, I feel so good that I wrote this letter and sent it. By Dr. X calling me, he completely did a 180 degree turn on what I thought of him. My perception of him has changed - all by the simple act of picking up the phone and calling me. He was the bigger person and I give him props for doing the right thing. Who knows, maybe he was having a bad day and was a little off during my office visit with him? But, I felt it was important for Dr. X to know the effect he had on me. This visit was a big deal for me and I wanted him to know that I matter.
I've been so fortunate my whole life to have amazing doctors. When you find a great doctor, you hold on to them and don't let go. For as long as my dentist is in practice, I will travel the 45 minutes to downtown D.C. to see her. Sure, there are dentists much closer to where I live, but she is the only one I want to see. I feel the same way about my OB/GYN and got very lucky that the house we bought 5 years ago wasn't that far away from the hospital they deliver at. Made it much easier to explain to my husband why I wasn't switching doctors.
Ideally, I would like to find a GI doctor that specializes in Celiac. But until then, I feel Dr. X deserves a 2nd chance from me. In my eyes he met me more than halfway by picking up the phone and making good.
Just to keep everyone in on the latest, I've got an appointment with a nutritionist on October 1st. I plan to make small changes and slowly ramp up to a 100% gluten-free diet. My goal is to have this accomplished by Dec. 31st. I've already found out that soy sauce has gluten in it. Oy!!
September 17, 2009
Dr. X
Address of doctor
Dear Dr. X:
I take my health very seriously and would like you to know why I won’t be coming back as your patient in the future.
It isn’t because the two appointments I had specifically to meet with you I was kept waiting for more than 1.5 hours on my first visit (and never did get to see you) or kept waiting for 30 minutes on yesterday’s visit. I understand getting held up at the hospital and these things happen. Your whole staff was more than courteous, honest and upfront about it. In fact, it was the way the staff handled your absence the first time that impressed me and caused me to schedule the colonoscopy and endoscopy without formally meeting you.
No, the reason I will not be coming back is specifically the way I felt I was treated on my most recent office visit on Wednesday, September 16, 2009. My appointment was for a follow-up regarding the results to the colonoscopy and endoscopy. The most important aspect was being told I had Celiac disease. I had come to the appointment prepared with many questions. I was trying hard to get a grasp on this diagnosis and understand what it meant for me to have this disease. As you are aware, Celiac is a life changing condition and would mean making many lifestyle changes to accommodate it. Given your unknown return time from the hospital, Jane Doe (name of nurse) was able to assist and answer a good number of the questions I had. If we came to any questions that she couldn’t give me an answer she felt good about, she said to wait and ask you.
Upon your arrival, when it was time for me to ask you the questions I still had lingering, I was taken aback by your abrupt one or two word answers. I don’t feel you took any time to try to answer my concerns or help me understand the condition any better. In my opinion, you were bordering on being rude (and in fact were when you stopped to take a phone call in the middle of my appointment with you). Jane Doe ran circles around you in how she handled the questions I had. It is a shame my appointment wasn’t solely with her as she gives a much better impression of your practice than you do. The one question I still have and feel you completely dismissed in terms of giving me your professional opinion is, “How will I know eating a gluten-free diet will be working? How can I be confident I am doing everything right?”
In addition, I had questions regarding the findings of reflux and the hiatal hernia. However, I was so rattled by your disposition and lack of ‘bedside manner’, that I completely forgot to ask you about them. I had expected you would’ve gone through the findings of the report and wanted to discuss this, in addition to the Celiac diagnosis. Apparently I was wrong. In fact I am now wondering why you even requested a follow-up appointment.
I took this appointment with you very seriously and had arranged a babysitter so that I could give you my full attention and not be trying to juggle and entertain a 15 month old. I am disappointed by the lack of medical insight you gave me and frankly, insulted that my condition didn’t warrant your full attention.
I would like to make it abundantly clear that these reasons stated above are why I will not come back to your offices. Your staff, especially Jane Doe, is all top-notch and excels in customer service. They are a major credit to your practice and I hope you realize how fantastic they are. You, on the other hand, could learn a thing or two from them.
Sincerely,
My name
Cc: Jane Doe and the referring physician
I put the letter in my mailbox on Thursday and come Friday, at 6:00pm, my phone rang. It was Dr. X!! Boy was I surprised and not just because the letter made it to his hands in one day. I really didn't think I would hear back from him. If anything, I thought I would hear from Jane Doe. Dr. X apologized and said I was always welcome to come back. And then we talked. I brought up all my questions and this time he really answered them. We not only spoke about the Celiac, but also the hernia and reflux. It was me who initiated the end of the call. I thanked him, told him I appreciated him calling and hope he has a nice weekend. He reiterated again that I was always welcome to come back.
I've got to say, I feel so good that I wrote this letter and sent it. By Dr. X calling me, he completely did a 180 degree turn on what I thought of him. My perception of him has changed - all by the simple act of picking up the phone and calling me. He was the bigger person and I give him props for doing the right thing. Who knows, maybe he was having a bad day and was a little off during my office visit with him? But, I felt it was important for Dr. X to know the effect he had on me. This visit was a big deal for me and I wanted him to know that I matter.
I've been so fortunate my whole life to have amazing doctors. When you find a great doctor, you hold on to them and don't let go. For as long as my dentist is in practice, I will travel the 45 minutes to downtown D.C. to see her. Sure, there are dentists much closer to where I live, but she is the only one I want to see. I feel the same way about my OB/GYN and got very lucky that the house we bought 5 years ago wasn't that far away from the hospital they deliver at. Made it much easier to explain to my husband why I wasn't switching doctors.
Ideally, I would like to find a GI doctor that specializes in Celiac. But until then, I feel Dr. X deserves a 2nd chance from me. In my eyes he met me more than halfway by picking up the phone and making good.
Just to keep everyone in on the latest, I've got an appointment with a nutritionist on October 1st. I plan to make small changes and slowly ramp up to a 100% gluten-free diet. My goal is to have this accomplished by Dec. 31st. I've already found out that soy sauce has gluten in it. Oy!!
I am amazed that the Dr. took the time and effort to call you and make it right.
ReplyDeleteI feel the exact same way as you, Robyn. We are lucky enough to live in an area with a HUGE number of doctors to choose from (and not just in sheer numbers; we have many, many highly qualified ones), so we don't need to suffer at the hands of drs. who treat us rudely, are dismissive, etc.
I left my GYN years ago for several infractions:
1. She would regularly keep me waiting 30-60 mins.
2. She scheduled appts for every 12 mins (which explains why I was always waiing so long).
3. I would call 3+ months prior to when I was due for my regular apt. and still could never get the time of day I wanted (i.e., 1st appt of the day).
4. The final straw: she stopped carrying my health insurance. Do you think the office called, emailed or wrote me a letter? No, they just told me when I showed up for my appt. (they could have even told me when I made the appt, but no). It had been FOUR MONTHS since they dropped my carrier. They flippantly told me that there had been signs posted in the dr. waiting room. Um yeah, I'm there once a year, so how does that help me?
Anyway, you totally did the right thing!
Thanks Rebecca. I can't believe how inconsiderate your GYN or their office was. OMG!!! I would've been outraged. Keeping the waiting to a minimum for the dr to come in the room is HUGE with me. How come their time is more valuable than mine?!?!? I understand some stuff is out of their control and I give them slack every now and then, but when the waiting becomes the rule and not the exception, I'll switch drs.
ReplyDeleteI hope you like your new GYN. If you ever want a recommendation for one in the Fair Oaks area, I've got a fabulous one.
:), Robyn