Dr. Thomas Mann's review: Misleading & Rude 1

Dr. Mann is an excellent doctor, and generally a caring physician... but I must question his judgement on who is best to oversee his patient's experiences with office staff. His "office manager" named Rebecca R., has proven multiple times that she is "trigger-happy" to tick patients off and seems to love presenting herself desensitive to patient's care. My mom is very sick & had an appointment today. Prior to the appointment, she called and the "goddess Rebecca" answered.. and my mom explained that she was short on cash and wanted to know if an exception could be made to her not having her office visit copay along with her and pay later. Of course, Dr. Mann's Office Manager "Rebecca R." said NO. I was sitting with my mom when she made the call so I heard it all. My mom told her that she would get someone to lend the money to her and come on to the appointment, but it might cause her to fall a little behind schedule. The Rude Rebecca said... "ok, come on." I wasn't with mom when she arrived at the doctor but only 20 minutes after her appointment time she called me coughing severely and crying. Mom told me that Rude Rebecca, loudly disregarded her privacy and stated that she was too late to be seen and quote "the fact that you had to borrow your copay causing you to be late is not my problem." When I heard my mom say this and crying at her whit's end.. I asked mom to go back and meet me at Dr. Mann's Office. I went inside, asked for Rebecca.. and told Rebecca that mom must be seen today. Rude Rebecca proceeded to state policy on late arrivals and I interrupted her to inform her that I happened to hear the entire conversation when she told mom to come on, even after mom told her that gathering up the copay would cause her to run behind. She denied it... and told me that I was making a bogus claim. I proceeded to restate that I in fact heard every word and while being very sick she worked very hard to get the required copay and come on.. only to be turned away.. and this is unacceptable. I also stated the question... "does patient care mean anything here?" The last thing we cared to do was play cat and mouse... I just want mom better since she seemed only steps away from a progressing respiratory infection of some type.
So I wonder... "why is the customer always right... but the patient is not." And would it have killed them to at least have a Nurse Practioner or PA to at least listen to her lungs in a side room... a closet or something.. long enough to evaluate and prescribe. Her mom, my grandmom... had no cardiovascular history ever, and in the day after thanksgiving had a major heart attack. Was hospitalized and a few days later while in the hospital, a second heart attack. She was diagnosed 9 years ago with malignant lung cancer in the very early stages and never smoked a day in her life. God blessed her by allowing them to see the mass by accident during a routine mammogram and removed it with no recurrences... but 9 years later, just about a month ago.. when they were xraying her chest to look at the heart they located 2 more masses, one in each lung. She was transferred to a nice, huge hospital and underwent a QUAD BYPASS SURGERY, then after the surgery she had 2 light strokes and another more moderate stroke... damaging her speech portion of the brain and making it impossible for her to retain ANY short term memories. On top of this stress my mom was going through with HER Mom... just about 2 months prior her husband of 32 years left her with no reason given and hasn't looked back. Just about a half hour ago I had to calm my mom down as she experienced symptoms usually associated with a panic attack.. shortness of breath, numbness/tingling in arms, and disorientation. THIS IS ALL, RIDICULOUS! It's terrible when a person can't even be shown empathy and concern from their primary doctor. I know I can't cause them to change... but I believe I can cause them to think twice before they allow "THE GODDESS" up there to bark at another patient that's in dire need of medical attention. Regardless of who you are out there, OR who your doctor is... take a stand! This should not become an acceptable trend with healthcare providers in this nation. If you need ideas on how to cause that practice to spend 10 times more time trying to clean up their mess than they would've if they'd just held a 10 minute appointment with their patient like they should have from the start then here are some things you can do that I am already starting on this one... oh, and.. be considerate and speak up for those who can't or don't tend to speak up for themselves.. it's our civic duty! File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau under the category titled: Medical Malpractice and Deficiency. File a complaint with the American Medical Association. Write a letter addressed to your doctor and be sure to mark it "PERSONAL" on the outside to prevent the mail from getting screened. Launch a Facebook Cause Site and encourage like-minded people to subscribe as fans. Write a Letter to the Editor in your local newspaper. AND, depending on each individual case, you may be able to file a suit with Small Claims Court for circumstances like I'm about to plead: In my mom's case, she had no other resort but go the the ER and pay a $100 deductible when it would've only been $10 if they'd seen her... and I fronted her the money. Plus, a later episode of panic attack onset largely due to the harsh embarrassment they caused her today. Who cares if you get a hundred bucks back out of the suit or not... you'll have nothing in it but a very minimal fee and your time. The investment is worth it to me, just knowing that the practice will then only have 3 options: show up for the case and lose half a business day out of it and possibly still be liable for your claim, they can settle for what you're asking and dismiss the suit, or do a "No-Show" in which case they automatically have to pay out your claim. Do this and I guarantee they'll move their bulldogs from the front office to the back office or possibly even fire them... and/or change that beloved office policy that previously held NO EXCEPTIONS. Think of the others you will be helping by taking this stand yourself. AND IF you're reading this and you have a similar complaint regarding the same Dr's office, email me and we'll broaden our voice. email to: loveisinthehouse at live dot com