Waited 11 months for Second Opinion Vent

Posted by hungrybirder @hungrybirder, Jan 29 5:45pm

Last March I scheduled an appointment with the Houston Methodist Osteoporosis "expert" (LT) to see if she could provide confirmation that my treatment plan incorporated the latest thinking. The appointment was on My Chart through the month of November when I left to visit friends in Australia. Returned 10 days ago and the appointment is gone. Explanation goes: well she wasn't going to be in the day of the appointment AND unless I transfer my treatment to her after she reviews my records and deems me suitable, she's not interested. Apparently I have to give up my perfectly fine endo in the Methodist system to be seen by this "expert"! Really? They couldn't have mentioned this 11 months ago or called when they cancelled the appointment? I'm so pissed! So do I let her review the records and become her patient for 1 month before returning to my perfectly fine endo or just give it up? And should I discuss it with my perfectly fine endo?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Osteoporosis & Bone Health Support Group.

hungrybirder | @hungrybirder | Feb 12 3:38pm

Wanted to provide an update, the outcome of which is relatively positive. Another week, another series of calls to the doctor's contact phone. This week's response was similar to the one I received last Thursday: we'll send a message to the doctor and they will call. However this week I also had visits with my PCP and Cardiologist both of whom were surprised at my tale. My PCP sent a message to the "expert" as well, but she didn't hold much hope of a response. Then I called the hospital's Guest Services and ran through my story again. They were the wrong group but would forward my message to the outpatient office. Finally I wrote a long message on Facebook. I decided I would follow through for several weeks and become a pain in the butt.
Imagine my surprise when I received a call telling me the doctor would be out of the office (information I was aware of from my first call) and they were rescheduling her appointments. That was exactly what the cardiologist's office did a week earlier. So the big day is March 3rd, 2 weeks short of a year from when I attempted to make the first available appointment.
How easy it would have been to send the affected patients a message telling us the doctor was out and they would be contacting us with a new appointment shortly. My husband assures me that I would never have gotten in had I not made such a stink. He's probably right.
The lesson learned here is that the squeaky wheel gets the attention and this doctor has incompetents manning her office.