I'm going to suggest that no one ever get sick because even when you're well, dealing with doctors' offices can be hazardous to your health. I've changed the names to protect both the innocent and the guilty.
On Nov. 3, I went to the suburban imaging center affiliated with one of St. Louis's major medical centers for my annual screening mammogram. I asked for the results to be sent to my ob-gyn physician and was told they would be faxed to her that day, but a letter with the findings would be mailed to me within two weeks.
As the days went by with no phone call or letter, I naively assumed my results were normal. At 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 14, a letter arrived from the imaging center advising me that one of my breasts required additional imaging studies, a possible ultrasound and an examination by my health care provider. Within minutes I also discovered a message left on my cell phone by a nurse in my doctor's office with the same information.
As both offices were closed, I waited anxiously until Tuesday morning to call the imaging center and doctor's office. The first opening for another mammogram was on Friday, Nov. 18, the day before Barry and I were to leave on a two-week trip. I wasn't happy about cutting things so close, but took the appointment.
Next the nurse in the doctor's office described the "oval mass of undetermined size." That really got my pulse racing. When I asked why it had taken Dr. G. so long to call me about the findings, the nurse said that Dr. G. had moved to Texas in June. She swears letters were mailed to Dr. G.'s patients; I'll swear I received no notice. So my test results of Nov. 3, which the nurse admitted had been received in their office on Nov. 8, sat on the desk of the new doctor randomly assigned to me for another six days until someone decided to have a nurse make the call.
I spoke to Ms. K., the office manager, but after insisting I should have known that Dr. T. was gone, she said she would investigate the delay in calling me. Has she called you back? No, me neither.
It finally dawned on me to call my internist, Dr. S., who fit me into her schedule the next day. She was unable to determine any mass during her examination, but immediately sent me to the imaging center on their medical campus, where I waited only a few minutes for another mammogram.
Both the doctor and this radiologist concluded that it was either a lymph node gone astray or an over-zealous mashing of the tissue by the first technician. Thank goodness that's all it was, but as Dr. S. said, the delay caused a complete day-long waste of adrenalin.
I was worked up enough to write a two-page letter of complaint that I mailed to the manager of the first imaging center, the ob-gyn and her office manager, asking for someone to assume some accountability. When I got no response from any of them, I called the manager of the radiology department, Mr. M., who said he never received my letter. Maybe it's on the floor of the mailroom where the letter about my ob-gyn is hiding.
I'll give credit to this fellow who took a couple of weeks to do some investigation and called me with a list of changes in their procedures as a result of my experience.
Expediting the mailing of the letters, immediately seeing patients needing retests, updating their physician database and better follow-through by radiologists should help prevent another patient's "perfect storm" of medical miscommunication.
As for my mammogram, his radiologist compared the two mammograms and all of us are convinced that perhaps he "may have overcalled it." I can relax about it now, but if it had turned out that I really did have something to worry about, all the unnecessary delays would have been unforgivable.
It's now February and I'm still tying up loose ends like getting my records transferred to a new ob-gyn office and having the bill from the second imaging center paid by the first one. Take my advice: stay well.
Sherilyn Krell, of Olivette, is a professional volunteer, who enjoys tap dancing, cooking, baking and travel. She and her husband have one married daughter.
