HELP re HORRIBLE doctor

[Spiky Bugger]

As usual, my BIL has been hospitalized for about a week. He will have a procedure this morning and most likely be discharged this afternoon.

Their medical group uses (employs?) Hospitalists, most of whom are good, but one is an obnoxious horse’s ass. She was SOOO out of control on one occasion, that my sister...who doesn’t do such things...filed a complaint with the hospital and the medical group. The hospitalist repsonded by calling my sister, using inappropriate language, yelling and hanging up on her.

Unfortunately, she is the hospitalist on duty today.

Is there a way to have someone else, like maybe the doctor who does the procedure on BIL, issue discharge orders or do what is necessary to get BIL out of there this afternoon without dealing with that woman?

A family RN says that if I try to video the interaction, the hospitalist can walk out of the room. And, she can probably order everyone out of the room. It’s a holiday, so the Hospital’s Risk Mgmt office isn’t open.

The family would prefer to have someone else involved. Failing that, we'd like an uninvolved 3rd party present, so that the bitch just does her job.

(Is is possible that hospitalists are MDs with such lousy social skills that they can work only with a captive audience...many members of which are on drugs?)

 

[Larra]

In any field or speciality, you will encounter the occasional crappy one while most are just fine (as has been your experience). Even on a holiday, there should be some administrator or other on call. You can ask BIL's nurse to contact such a person. If the nurse won't, you can get the nurse supervisor (again, there is always someone covering, even on holidays) for the hospital to contact the admin for you. I suspect that the doc doing the procedure is not accustomed to doing discharges, esp for someone not on his service, but you could request that a different hospitalist, if there is more than one around, take over. Even if that isn't possible, i.e. there is only one on duty today, you have put the hospital on notice that there is a problem with this doctor, or maybe have the nurse supervisor present for the discharge... maybe nothing is possible but at least try.
And if it were me, I would also complain about the phone call your sister got from that doctor, which means not just that the doc has a bad attitude but also that the hospital didn't handle the complaint appropriately. IMHO someone from admin should have contacted your sister and told her that the complaint had been conveyed to the hospitalist and that they were working with her on improving her interactions with patients, or some such thing. IMHO that phone call should have generated a second complaint, though I get that your sister isn't one to take this approach.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

In any field or speciality, you will encounter the occasional crappy one while most are just fine (as has been your experience). Even on a holiday, there should be some administrator or other on call. You can ask BIL's nurse to contact such a person. If the nurse won't, you can get the nurse supervisor (again, there is always someone covering, even on holidays) for the hospital to contact the admin for you. I suspect that the doc doing the procedure is not accustomed to doing discharges, esp for someone not on his service, but you could request that a different hospitalist, if there is more than one around, take over. Even if that isn't possible, i.e. there is only one on duty today, you have put the hospital on notice that there is a problem with this doctor, or maybe have the nurse supervisor present for the discharge... maybe nothing is possible but at least try.
And if it were me, I would also complain about the phone call your sister got from that doctor, which means not just that the doc has a bad attitude but also that the hospital didn't handle the complaint appropriately. IMHO someone from admin should have contacted your sister and told her that the complaint had been conveyed to the hospitalist and that they were working with her on improving her interactions with patients, or some such thing. IMHO that phone call should have generated a second complaint, though I get that your sister isn't one to take this approach.

Thank you. Problem temporarily solved. They are keeping him another day.

He’s in horrid shape. Heart functioning at about 35% level. He needs a quadruple bypass and an aortic valve replacement. They are referring him to a cardiac surgery specialist at a nearby hospital in a nearby city...to see if he is a candidate for such a big procedure. If not, he can get ONE more stent...if they can find a path there.

It ain’t pretty.

 

[Larra]

I'm sorry he's in such bad shape (again, or still) and glad the problem is resolved, at least for today. I still think your sister should speak up about how her original complaint was handled, though from what you've said about her it's unlikely she will. She should not have been subjected to that phone call.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

I will talk to her about that.

 

[Larra]

And she should do it in writing.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Yes, Ma’am.