A True Tale of Three Dirtbag Doctors
It is with some trepidation that I tell my personal experience with the following three doctors and one PA
S. Rastogi handed over test results without problems but in thinking about why a patient would want copies of his test results, two things may pop into his mind: one, is he looking to find fault with me, and, two (more likely), I spent 12 odd years learning this trade and this patient thinks he can do better, if so, I think I'll hold back and let's see how well he can interpret his results without my help.
Here's the malpractice: I have kidney stones, S. Rastogi knew this. My test results started showing diminished kidney function. I saw it and he saw it. I did not question him about it because I thought it must not be a big deal plus there were no unusual symptoms. After nearly a year had gone by, I started to think that maybe prudence should dictate a closer inspection. I told S. Rastogi that I was feeling a little back pain to one side. He then does the only thing he could--he orders an ultrasound. Turns out S. Rastogi may have allowed a staghorn kidney stone to form that completely filled the kidney pelvis (the hollowed out central part of one's kidney). I went to have it taken care of (another horror story for another time) and never went back for more visits with S. Rastogi. Now, was this an honest mistake on the part of the good doctor? If that's the case, then why is it that , in subsequent times when I accompanied my wife to her appointment with him (she has OCD and wouldn't think of changing doctors), he never asked me how I was doing and whom I was seeing?
I picked a doctor I like to call the pretty pussy Doctor because he proudly has a certificate hanging on his wall saying something like "cosmetic gynecoplasty" but that apparently may have been something of a fly-by-night because he now calls himself an internist. After the first blood test and prior to my next appointment which I had already made, I dropped by the office to get my test results. I was told that I had to wait for my visit (policy, they said). I put up somewhat of a stink and said that that was my data and that I wanted it to prepare the questions that I might have prior to my visit. They gave me a copy but the very next day I received a "Dear John" letter: don't come back; no reason given. I complained to some bogus Trenton bureaucracy that told me the doctor of pretty pussies was well within his rights to dump any patient for any reason. I totally believe that Md's have some sort of blacklisting going on. The reason I say this is that between the Pussy Doctor and the Nazi, I went to a doctor who after the first visit sent me a notice that I should come by his office to get my records because he was moving his office to another town. At no point did he ask if I wanted to follow him there and 6 months after picking up my records, he was still there at the same office. Obviously, the Pretty Pussy Doctor had more balls than this clown; yet, both unscrupulous.
Before Brandt the Nazi, I had found a doctor that I used just to get my HBP medications. This doctor however, sent me to a laboratory for routine blood work but failed to enter the codes that were required by labcorp. It was then that I decided to see a specialist for my gout attack--enter the Nazi doctor Brandt who, as it turns out, had an office in the same building as the Pretty Pussy doctor. I figured they were independent of each other but I was wrong.
I have always had veins that only the most experienced venipuncturists could get at. Dr. Brandt told me that his girl, Jessica, was the best. At her first attempt with me, she confidently went in in a single confident attempt. I was so pleased that I had found her and that I wouldn't have to go to Labcorp for blood work.
However, I then made the mistake of asking for copies of my test results. Dr. Brandt told me that he couldn't give me a copy because--get this--he had received the results on his phone and had no means of getting a printout (little did this asshole Nazi know that I had worked with computers since the first days of the Apple Computer (II+)). No problem, I could afford to wait. I waited about 2 weeks and then decided to come in to ask for my copy. Jessica provided me with one. There were some irregularities with the printout and with what the Nazi had told me verbally in the first visit but I didn't complain.
My next experience with Brandt was when I returned for a followup in which he would test me again to see if the allopurinol prescription had lowered my uric acid sufficiently. The lower the amount, the less chance there was that I would have another gout attack. I go to the office, Jessica takes my blood pressure, leaves, and I await the Nazi. I'm coming to why I have a right to call him that.
When he comes in, he mumbles something under his breathe about copies of blood results. Now, at the previous visit, I had asked him to write down the aberrent results which he had done at that time but I had wanted the complete results for my records, and, as I said, I got them. But here I am at the second visit and he takes one look at me and doubles the dosage saying that I was "probably" not there yet. He had said "probably" because, remember, the point of me being there was to get more blood work done. Allopurinol is not exactly a benign drug; from Wikipedia: Allopurinol is one of the drugs commonly known to cause Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis, two life-threatening dermatological conditions. He left the room to send in Jessica. She then comes in and takes out a butterfly needle and proceeds to take blood from the elbow of my left arm. But instead of inserting the needle parallel to the arm which is the correct way, she inserts it perpendicularly to the arm and jabs several times in different directions but still at generally right angles. Needless to say, she doesn't succeed. This is a woman who had worked for a hospital before coming on board with the Nazi who probably saw the sociopath in her. If I ever hire a lawyer, I'd find out why she left the hospital (she told me it was because she never got to know the patients there--apparently, they came and went--unlike those at a doctor's office who would return again and again allowing for more bonding I suppose. I asked Jessica to stop what she was doing, that I would go to Labcorp.
I never went to Labcorp to get the blood work done because they would send the results to the Nazi and I would have to deal with him again. Another doctor would have asked Brandt for the results but who knows what lie he would tell that doctor about the results having been lost, for instance.
At the beginning of this blog, I said I was writing it with some trepidation. If a person who took the Hippocratic oath doubles my dosage without good cause and gets his staff to jab me with no intention of drawing blood, you have to suspect that there are many other dirtbags along the way who would stop at nothing to keep their cash cows flowing. I may have to go to Mexico for my next doctor visit and get a year or two of my meds to bring home. Or, I may just lower my weight, exercise, and eat properly and be done with doctors for the treatment of common illness.
[Notes]
Collection of blood should not be allowed to take place in a doctor's office for there is absolutely no guarantee that an unscrupulous MD would not tamper with the blood possibly spiking it for an aberrant result that would have the patient coming back for more "treatments." Can't happen, you say? Where's the guarantee that it won't? Fear of government action? They don't fear a government who has insufficent resources to check up on every malpractice complaint. What patient automatically gets an autopsy just because he was being treated by a doctor? It doesn't happen, doctors bury their mistakes and their acts of revenge.
Another important and final point I'd like to make is that every patient should be given a copy of his/her testing results so they can look out for number one because, God knows, doctors mostly look out for themselves. I've read idiotic specious arguments that it is best to keep this policy in place. The reason the medical profession offers is along these lines: We wouldn't want the patient to get alarmed over findings that may be of no consequence to their health. The counterargument that I offer is that I would rather get alarmed than have the doctor's office misplace my results or overlook something--because MD's are human, they are not the gods they think they are. As I've stated elsewhere, what they fear is either that the patient will have handy lawsuit fodder to show a lawyer or, more benignly but still disadvantageous to the patient, there will be too many questions to answer at the next visit over the implications of the results.
- Surender Rastogi, MD of dubious competence
- Kamalesh Shah, the Pretty Pussy Doctor
- Frederick W. Brandt the Nazi doctor
- Jessica the PA/ venipuncturist for Brandt
S. Rastogi handed over test results without problems but in thinking about why a patient would want copies of his test results, two things may pop into his mind: one, is he looking to find fault with me, and, two (more likely), I spent 12 odd years learning this trade and this patient thinks he can do better, if so, I think I'll hold back and let's see how well he can interpret his results without my help.
Here's the malpractice: I have kidney stones, S. Rastogi knew this. My test results started showing diminished kidney function. I saw it and he saw it. I did not question him about it because I thought it must not be a big deal plus there were no unusual symptoms. After nearly a year had gone by, I started to think that maybe prudence should dictate a closer inspection. I told S. Rastogi that I was feeling a little back pain to one side. He then does the only thing he could--he orders an ultrasound. Turns out S. Rastogi may have allowed a staghorn kidney stone to form that completely filled the kidney pelvis (the hollowed out central part of one's kidney). I went to have it taken care of (another horror story for another time) and never went back for more visits with S. Rastogi. Now, was this an honest mistake on the part of the good doctor? If that's the case, then why is it that , in subsequent times when I accompanied my wife to her appointment with him (she has OCD and wouldn't think of changing doctors), he never asked me how I was doing and whom I was seeing?
I picked a doctor I like to call the pretty pussy Doctor because he proudly has a certificate hanging on his wall saying something like "cosmetic gynecoplasty" but that apparently may have been something of a fly-by-night because he now calls himself an internist. After the first blood test and prior to my next appointment which I had already made, I dropped by the office to get my test results. I was told that I had to wait for my visit (policy, they said). I put up somewhat of a stink and said that that was my data and that I wanted it to prepare the questions that I might have prior to my visit. They gave me a copy but the very next day I received a "Dear John" letter: don't come back; no reason given. I complained to some bogus Trenton bureaucracy that told me the doctor of pretty pussies was well within his rights to dump any patient for any reason. I totally believe that Md's have some sort of blacklisting going on. The reason I say this is that between the Pussy Doctor and the Nazi, I went to a doctor who after the first visit sent me a notice that I should come by his office to get my records because he was moving his office to another town. At no point did he ask if I wanted to follow him there and 6 months after picking up my records, he was still there at the same office. Obviously, the Pretty Pussy Doctor had more balls than this clown; yet, both unscrupulous.
Before Brandt the Nazi, I had found a doctor that I used just to get my HBP medications. This doctor however, sent me to a laboratory for routine blood work but failed to enter the codes that were required by labcorp. It was then that I decided to see a specialist for my gout attack--enter the Nazi doctor Brandt who, as it turns out, had an office in the same building as the Pretty Pussy doctor. I figured they were independent of each other but I was wrong.
I have always had veins that only the most experienced venipuncturists could get at. Dr. Brandt told me that his girl, Jessica, was the best. At her first attempt with me, she confidently went in in a single confident attempt. I was so pleased that I had found her and that I wouldn't have to go to Labcorp for blood work.
However, I then made the mistake of asking for copies of my test results. Dr. Brandt told me that he couldn't give me a copy because--get this--he had received the results on his phone and had no means of getting a printout (little did this asshole Nazi know that I had worked with computers since the first days of the Apple Computer (II+)). No problem, I could afford to wait. I waited about 2 weeks and then decided to come in to ask for my copy. Jessica provided me with one. There were some irregularities with the printout and with what the Nazi had told me verbally in the first visit but I didn't complain.
My next experience with Brandt was when I returned for a followup in which he would test me again to see if the allopurinol prescription had lowered my uric acid sufficiently. The lower the amount, the less chance there was that I would have another gout attack. I go to the office, Jessica takes my blood pressure, leaves, and I await the Nazi. I'm coming to why I have a right to call him that.
When he comes in, he mumbles something under his breathe about copies of blood results. Now, at the previous visit, I had asked him to write down the aberrent results which he had done at that time but I had wanted the complete results for my records, and, as I said, I got them. But here I am at the second visit and he takes one look at me and doubles the dosage saying that I was "probably" not there yet. He had said "probably" because, remember, the point of me being there was to get more blood work done. Allopurinol is not exactly a benign drug; from Wikipedia: Allopurinol is one of the drugs commonly known to cause Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis, two life-threatening dermatological conditions. He left the room to send in Jessica. She then comes in and takes out a butterfly needle and proceeds to take blood from the elbow of my left arm. But instead of inserting the needle parallel to the arm which is the correct way, she inserts it perpendicularly to the arm and jabs several times in different directions but still at generally right angles. Needless to say, she doesn't succeed. This is a woman who had worked for a hospital before coming on board with the Nazi who probably saw the sociopath in her. If I ever hire a lawyer, I'd find out why she left the hospital (she told me it was because she never got to know the patients there--apparently, they came and went--unlike those at a doctor's office who would return again and again allowing for more bonding I suppose. I asked Jessica to stop what she was doing, that I would go to Labcorp.
I never went to Labcorp to get the blood work done because they would send the results to the Nazi and I would have to deal with him again. Another doctor would have asked Brandt for the results but who knows what lie he would tell that doctor about the results having been lost, for instance.
At the beginning of this blog, I said I was writing it with some trepidation. If a person who took the Hippocratic oath doubles my dosage without good cause and gets his staff to jab me with no intention of drawing blood, you have to suspect that there are many other dirtbags along the way who would stop at nothing to keep their cash cows flowing. I may have to go to Mexico for my next doctor visit and get a year or two of my meds to bring home. Or, I may just lower my weight, exercise, and eat properly and be done with doctors for the treatment of common illness.
[Notes]
Collection of blood should not be allowed to take place in a doctor's office for there is absolutely no guarantee that an unscrupulous MD would not tamper with the blood possibly spiking it for an aberrant result that would have the patient coming back for more "treatments." Can't happen, you say? Where's the guarantee that it won't? Fear of government action? They don't fear a government who has insufficent resources to check up on every malpractice complaint. What patient automatically gets an autopsy just because he was being treated by a doctor? It doesn't happen, doctors bury their mistakes and their acts of revenge.
Another important and final point I'd like to make is that every patient should be given a copy of his/her testing results so they can look out for number one because, God knows, doctors mostly look out for themselves. I've read idiotic specious arguments that it is best to keep this policy in place. The reason the medical profession offers is along these lines: We wouldn't want the patient to get alarmed over findings that may be of no consequence to their health. The counterargument that I offer is that I would rather get alarmed than have the doctor's office misplace my results or overlook something--because MD's are human, they are not the gods they think they are. As I've stated elsewhere, what they fear is either that the patient will have handy lawsuit fodder to show a lawyer or, more benignly but still disadvantageous to the patient, there will be too many questions to answer at the next visit over the implications of the results.
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