In continuation to the previous blog, since it became TLDR (Too Long Didn't Read) candidate, here is the letter we intend to send to the hospital chief after our encounter with their medical team.
Dear Dr. CHIEF:
Greetings!
I would like to bring to your attention our encounter with the doctors of Vicente Sotto Medical Memorial Center early this month. We were treated rather unprofessionally by Dr. PRO-OPERATION and Dr. CHILDISH and we would like for you to look into the matter. Please find the details of our interaction below:
On April 3, 2011, at around 5 am, we brought an intoxicated patient by the name of PP, 37 years old, who was involved in a car accident along Mandaue City.
We initially brought him to the Mandaue District Hospital but we were told to transfer the patient to Sotto since he needed to undergo CT scan due to a wound on his forehead.
When we got to Sotto Hospital, we were attended to by the GS. After which we were referred to the junior resident of neurosurgery, DR. NEURO, who ordered for a CT scan, skull x-ray and chest x-ray, which we complied.
When we got the results, DR. NEURO informed us that everything was clear. He then referred us to the EENT, DR. EENT, for the suturing of the lone wound on his left eyebrow. During which, my family was there in your hospital since 5am to await any update regarding our patient.
When the patient was brought back to the emergency trauma room, the wound was already clean and sutured. When PP came to, I immediately asked the doctor who was present that time, DR. CHILDISH, if I could already feed the patient. He asked me who the patient was and I told him my patient’s name. He just told me that he did not know about my patient and that his case was not referred to him. Considering that I have been there waiting for updates since 5am, I wanted to know why he did not know and why it was not referred to him. I told him, I‘ve been here since early this morning waiting for updates and now you tell me, you do not know about my patient? To this, he raised his voice at me in front of all the patients and the nurses, and shouted that he has a lot of patients to attend to and that my patient is not the only one.
I was more than surprised by the way he treated me. Does he treat all his patients and patients’ watchers this way? His lack of professionalism is very disturbing. He even let out a loud grunt while I stood there in shock! He then went to the nurses and asked about the patient. The nurse then checked the charts and saw that there was already a release order for PP from the EENT doctor, DR. EENT. The nurse then gave me a discharge slip (which is still with me) for my patient. But DR. CHILDISH told the nurse that the patient cannot be released since he has not checked him yet.
Why does DR. CHILDISH have to re-check the patient since DR. EENT already gave the release order? Is DR. EENT not efficient enough? After reviewing the CT scan results with DR. NEURO, DR. CHILDISH said that there was a fracture on PP's forehead. I was confused because DR. NEURO was the one who cleared him in the first place. He was the first doctor to attend to my patient and the first one to clear him and now they tell me they had to refer again to the EENT, who also already cleared us earlier as evidenced in our discharge slip.
Why didn’t DR. NEURO coordinate with DR. CHILDISH? Why was I not told that the patient may already be discharged?
Instead, DR. PRO-OPERATION informed us that the patient has to undergo another procedure involving plates to fix the fracture on his forehead. My patient is a driver from OUT-OF-TOWN with an expired license and a problem with alcohol. Why do we have to go through an aesthetic procedure? Because DR. PRO-OP knows an agent who can provide metal plates at a “discounted price?” He said that if the patient does not undergo surgery, he might have sinusitis and infection – which are one and the same and since he is a doctor by profession, he should have known that. Unbelievable!
How can we entrust the life of our patient to doctors who clearly do not communicate and cannot even correctly read the charts and the lab results and cannot even convey in a professional manner to the watchers and relatives the state of the patient?
I am sorry but we find your hospital staff incompetent. I am also a medical practitioner. The first couple of hours I was willing to empathize because I know the grueling hours in ER. But after awhile, making excuses for them became very tiring.
We brought the patient in on Sunday. We explained to him the pros and cons of having reconstructive surgery done on his forehead and he was willing to forego the operation. He even signed the waiver and DR. PRO-OP instructed us to bring him back on Friday for a follow-up. This was at around 7pm. By the time we got back to the hospital at around 830pm, the tables turned again for the second time in one day. The immediate family of our patient wanted to have the procedure done. And despite the fact that the waiver was already signed by the patient himself, DR. PRO-OP was all too willing to offer the operation again. Isn’t it the patient’s prerogative if he wants the procedure done or not? This does not give a nice impression of your doctors. The patient clearly does not want to take advantage of us and yet DR. PRO-OP was all about the money! And to think Sotto is a government-owned hospital.
We have consulted other doctors already. In fact, DR. CHILDISH already spoke with one of our doctors and told her that he will be keeping the patient until the swelling subsides. But then again on April 5, when we visited PP, we were surprised to see that he was prescribed medication in preparation for the surgery when we, the patient and I, clearly expressed our unwillingness. See? No communication! Is it legal for your doctors to force surgery on a patient who does not want surgery and has already signed the waiver for it? Is it also legal for your doctors to hold our patient when the discharge slip has been issued and the waivers have been signed? Is it also proper that one doctor says until swelling subsides and the other prescribes medication for surgery? Again, inefficient and incompetent.
On April 6, the patient told me that DR. PRO-OP wants to meet with us to show us the size of the plate needed for the patient’s forehead. Does DR. PRO-OP even know what NO means? Which part of no operation does he not understand? He even gave a deadline of 12 noon for the pre-surgery medication. The impression that DR. PRO-OP is giving us is very unbecoming of a professional physician.
Another alarming information our patient gave us was that DR. PRO-OP said the operation, initially to be done on the left eyebrow which was the affected part, was now to be performed on the bridge of the nose which confused both the patient and us. The patient’s relatives also told us that PP went for another x-ray again because when they asked about the x-ray results they thought we brought it with us but we did not. Should we be paying for that, too, since they could not find the x-ray results which were supposed to be under their care?
On April 7, PP informed us that he was being discharged already. And since we were all working, we were only able to get to the hospital on the 8th. And again, our patient disclosed lot of information about the way he was being treated. When PP told DR. PRO-OP that he was not getting any procedure done, DR. PRO-OP told him since he does not want to be operated on, he can already leave and was issued another discharge slip. To this, PP replied that he would have to inform us because we were the ones paying the hospital bills. DR. PRO-OP then told him to go wait at the Billing Section. PP informed him that we will process everything the day after (April 8) and DR. PRO-OP replied that he can just skip without paying since there were a lot of patients who go out of the hospital without paying anyway. Here we are trying to do things correctly even when we are clearly being taken advantage of, and yet we get this from DR. PRO-OP. Where can you find a doctor who encourages his patient to skip/escape from the hospital without settling the bill? One minute he was all about selling his plates, the next minute he was driving the patient away.
All we wanted was for our patient’s release since we all could see that he is stable and in fact, good condition. He has been up and about since Sunday (April 3) afternoon and has been raring to go home to his family OUT-OF-TOWN. The other physicians we have consulted, obviously not in your employ, has advised us that surgery is unnecessary and for fear of having a botched operation, we would rather have our patient get home safe and sound with forehead intact and untouched.
Dr. CHIEF, we were only trying to help PP because we believe it was the right thing to do. And now we are fully regretting bringing our patient to your hospital. The logical thing to do then was to allow us to find doctors we could trust, doctors who do not change their minds every so often. DR. PRO-OP even had the nerve to tell PP not to follow our instructions but only listen to him since he is the doctor. Is that even the least bit proper? DR. PRO-OP also told PP to tell us to prepare at least PhP 30,000. We have informed him almost every day that we do not approve of the operation.
I have attached a copy of the discharge slip that they initially issued on April 3, 2011. We have already settled the medical expenses -- both necessary and unnecessary. Unnecessary because technically, the patient was already discharged last April 3 but DR. PRO-OP insisted on holding him captive for the operation which he also explained to us was to happen on PP'S forehead and eventually moved to the bridge of his nose without further explanation; and the x-ray that they ordered on April 6 because they lost the results. He was even told by the doctors there that he was just confined so that he could “pangwarta” (extort money) from us. We are very fortunate because our patient is also God-fearing and stands by his own values -- something that some of the doctors in Sotto lack. It is very alarming that instead of explaining the actual physical state of the patient, they are more concerned about encouraging the patient to extort.
I am bringing up this matter to you because not only was I humiliated and belittled but also because I am truly disturbed by the demeanor of the physicians. I hope this would merit your attention and concern as well so that DR. PRO-OP’s actions can be corrected. I am definite that my family and I would appreciate if you could give us a feedback with regards to our concern.
Sincerely,
FAMKADA
*** Names have been withheld pending feedback from the hospital.
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