Is it acceptable practice for your Dr. not to return your calls personally, ever!
Question: I was sent to the emergency room by an asociate of my doctor's after she examined me for chest pain and found my EKG to be dissimilar to previous ones. My G.P. was not available to see me, so his associate saw me and contacted a cardiologist.who met me at the E.R. I had several tests and was told everything was normal.I was released the same day. I received a letter from the hospital 1 week later informing me that I had a nodule on my thyroid and should follow up with my doctor. The hospital cc,d my PCP. I never heard from my doctor, and since I know it is his policy not to call his patients himself, I took matters into my own hands and scheduld an appointment with an endocrinologist. So far everything looks good as far as the nodule goes, but I have lost trust in my PCP. Shouldn,t he have notified me? He claims that the reason he didn't notify me was because it was an" incidental insignificant finding". How could he have known that?
Answers: I was sent to the emergency room by an asociate of my doctor's after she examined me for chest pain and found my EKG to be dissimilar to previous ones. My G.P. was not available to see me, so his associate saw me and contacted a cardiologist.who met me at the E.R. I had several tests and was told everything was normal.I was released the same day. I received a letter from the hospital 1 week later informing me that I had a nodule on my thyroid and should follow up with my doctor. The hospital cc,d my PCP. I never heard from my doctor, and since I know it is his policy not to call his patients himself, I took matters into my own hands and scheduld an appointment with an endocrinologist. So far everything looks good as far as the nodule goes, but I have lost trust in my PCP. Shouldn,t he have notified me? He claims that the reason he didn't notify me was because it was an" incidental insignificant finding". How could he have known that?
A thyroid nodule is not an insignificant finding. Thyroid nodules have to be investigated, to rule out cancer.
The incidental insignifant finding would have been on a report that was sent to your PCP for review. It is VERY rare to ever get a personal phone call from your actual doctors. Nurses and receptionsist take care of that duty. The only time you can talk to your doc is during an office visit with most facilities these days, and it is usually for less than 5 minutes. If you are fed up with your doc, you can ask friends and co-workers for any suggestions on a more personable physician.