Patient Grievance

You arrive at your doctor's office for an appointment. You arrive at the scheduled time. You make your co-payment. You wait for 45 minutes before you are taken into the exam room. The doctor enters in a frenzied panic about 15 minutes later. He tells you that you must reschedule because there is not enough time for him to see you. After persistent banter back and forth, your "official" doctor visit begins.

Once the visit starts, there are multiple interruptions from the staff. The doctor does not have the results of your tests. He fumbles persistently through the chart ignoring your presence. You look over your list and move on to the second item while test results are being located. Another interruption puts these results in your doctor's hands. Since you have not heard about these tests done a month ago, you assume all is okay. You assume wrong again.

As the doctor comes to his senses and recoups his professional demeanor, you continue with your list of items to discuss. After 30 minutes you have it all together - copies of test results, prescriptions, and a plan for follow-up on all that is necessary. You are asked to schedule your next appointment in one month at the doctor's convenience. There is no one at the front desk to give you an appointment.

Doctor visits like this are far too common to ignore. In this instance, the patient had an abnormal test that would have been ignored for a longer time. The unprofessional encounter amplified the patient's stress and blood pressure. It may have been easier for the doctor for the patient to reschedule, but would it have been the right thing to do, and the best thing to do?

Doctors would you?
1) keep arguing with the patient until blood pressure reaches 160/120
2) blame the patient for waiting one hour to be seen
3) see the patient
4) see the 2 drug reps and make the patient reschedule
5) apologize for unprofessional rudeness.

Patients would you?
1) reschedule appointment
2) let the doctor know you were on time - deal with it
3) continue talking with doctor instead of wasting time
4) stand up for your rights
5) file patient grievance with insurance company, state medical board.

Filing a patient grievance/complaint is a smart thing to do. A grievance is a request for an investigation of a complaint about a possible risk to the health, safety, or well-being of a patient; or a situation where the patient is unnecessarily at high risk. Check with with your health insurance provider to find out the details for reporting unacceptable medical services that may threaten your life. In addition, it may save other lives as well since about 15% of JCAHO sentinel events reported are from responsible patients who speak up.

by J. L. Richardson, M.D., family physician, patient advocate (specializing in grievenace process and medical record review), patient, and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide, and upcoming Patient Handbook to Surgery: Surviving Your Operation.