I’m going to try to convey a situation that had me feeling completely mystified and confused and misunderstood. I had hip revision surgery in January of 2017. The surgeon, Dr. R, had the difficult task of repairing a botched surgery by surgeon #1 who performed the hip replacement in June of 2016. Dr. R performed the surgery successfully and I have recovered and am and always have been happy with him. I had some billing issues with his office manager, Lori, and for reasons unknown to me, they sent me to collections even though we had agreed on a payment plan. With difficulty, I paid off the collection folks before they put a ding on my credit.
I had some back and forth emails with the billing office trying to understand why they had sent me to collections. I was most likely a little mouthy in the communication. I was pissed that they were playing around with my credit when I was paying them off in the agreed upon way. A few months later, when it was time for my year post-op, I texted a number that was given to me after surgery as the way to communicate with Jonathan, the PA, as he would be following my progress.
I texted the following on January 4th, 2018: “Hello there! I was wondering if I needed to see someone for a one year post-op? This is .” That same day, I received an email from the office manager with my medical records attached and note stating that they would not be able to schedule me at this time. I was mystified as to why Dr. R wouldn’t want to see me and make sure I was okay. He presented himself as a hip, young, gentle person who practices yoga, Buddhism, and goes to Tibet every year to help people with medical issues.
Here’s the text I received back from Dr. R:
“Sorry things have turned out this way, during one of your discussions with our office you stated ‘you wanted to see someone else in town, someone who knew what they were doing.’ That statement has wrecked our dr patient relationship. I feel i helped you with your failed hip from Dr. K and that’s the response i get. Sorry but I can’t see you again…don’t feel like it. Sincerely dr R”
I was mortified. The thing is, I don’t recall saying that. I don’t recall ever thinking that. And, I wouldn’t say that to any authority figure, especially my doctor. Ever.
I’m not even sure why it upset me so much. It still haunts me because, bottom line, I didn’t say those things, but Dr. R, and his whole office, think I did.
Please advise and thanks!
LRS
