I went to a minor emergency clinic for a really bad sore throat and my blood sugar was 300 when I woke up. So I gave my medical history to the lady and the doctor came in. When he saw that I was a type 1 diabetic and my weight (201lbs) and he said that since I was over weight there was no way I could have Type 1! Do what! He said that Since I was over weight I had to have Type 2; that is if I had diabetes at all! It was all I could do not to yell at that idiot! And to top that he gave me PCN even though I told his I was allergic to it! I called my insurance company hopefully that doctor will no longer be covered by our insurance
Silly question what is PCN?
I got a call about blood work from my doctor’s office a few years ago. The woman calling asked, “are you a known diabetic.” I answered yes. I should have answered, “I am now.”
I was giving my history to a Health Insurance nurse and told her I was taking Novolog. Her question:
“Okay. What are you taking the Novolog for?”
Doh!
penicillin
What would have been better is start crying and go with “What I have diabetes am I going to die?” Something of the sort… But that is just what I would of done. But I like screwing with people (well people who should be somewhat smart).
It just proves that you do not have to be smart to be a health care professional
I went to the doctor for a sinus infection. My regular nurse practitioner (NP) wasn’t available so I saw a guy who is supposedly very knowledgable about diabetes. He asked me whether I was taking metformin. I said no, that I am Type 1 and am managing just fine with low carb eating, exercise and small amounts of insulin. I also am very underweight and the last thing I need is to take a medication which can help with weight less by supressing hunger! The NP was fairly insistent that I should be taking metformin. Go figure.
Emily, I do recommend that you contact the hospital administrator. Explain what happened. However; the next time you experience problems,request to speak to the administrator on duty. NOT the charge nurse or someone else who is keeping you from getting your problem solved.
The reason is by talking to the admin on duty, all problems will get resolved. Hospitals do not like to get poor ratings which reduces federal funding. Just calmly state your problem and that staff will correct the problem as best as they can. This orks everytime. Unfortunately the sqeaky wheel gets the grease!
He was the administrator as well as the lead doctor!
Oh for pity sake. Don’t get me started! I do not get along with stupid doctors and nurses but since they are a part of my life, I am trying really hard.
I think the staff at the emergency clinics (here we call them “Urgent Care”) are below the line anyway. One time I was telling the nurse I took 4-8 insulin injections per day and she said, “ok - 48 - that’s about 2 per hour, right?”
Give me a break. Db is hard enough to manager properly - we don’t need to use up a lot of energy being our own proactive patient advocates.
Then there was the time when I had some minor day surgery. I was about 30 minutes from going home and my bg was 375. I asked the nurse to hand me my bag so I could take some insulin and she said “oh no you don’t - no outside drugs allowed here”. I wrote letters to the nurse manager of the shift, the Patient Relations Department of the clinic and the endocrinology department of the clinic and never heard a reply from anyone.
I think that your action with the insurance company was a great idea. Hope they folllow through. Also hope you’re feeling better by now.
I had one give me an antiobitic that says do not give to diabetics, can cause death. The FDA was researching into it because it had caused so many diabetics to go into DKA. I am on 3 different insulins. Hello big clue I am diabetic. I went to the administrator and state health board and the Dr. lost her license.
Oh please. My exsister-in-law is a nurse. A nurse that was working in the hospital where she was working read a patients chart and it said IV fluids only. The doctor prescribed Pepto Bismal, Guess how she administered the Pepto Bismal?
I have come to the conclusion that doctors do not read charts. I have been prescribed so many drugs that I have told them that I am allergic and have had reactions to that it is not even funny. I have also been told by a doctor that if you do not go into shock then you are not actually allergic to the drug. I do not go back to these doctors.
A doctor only gets one chance with me. If you make me mad or you screw up and that is including your staff, your history. At my doctor’s office I will only deal with one nurse over the phone. Now if I am in his office I will talk to the other one, but anything major that is discussed on the phone is always with the same nurse and she knows my medical history and knows what the doctor will allow her to call in for me and what he won’t without his permission. I have been with him for almost 2 years and I have seen him go through about 7 nurses besides the one I deal with. He has a very high bar set for his nurses and if they don’t meet his standards then he says bye bye to them. I had one nurse take a message wrong on my insulin and if my doctor and I weren’t vigilant about it, it could have seriously hurt me, which is why I will only deal with Shannon now.
I’m sorry to hear about your experience at the emergency clinic. That doctor doesn’t sound very educated in the medical field. I think I would have reported him to the clinic administrator or something. That just doesn’t sound right at all. Are you feeling better now?
yeah i went to the er the next day and got several medications. so i am on my way to feeling better
I have that issue too…the eye doc always asks me how long ive been diabetic (11 years) i tell him “well how long have i been coming here?” and hes like…“ok um, yeah i think our records are inaccurate, 11 years with no damage is almost impossible” LOL
oh what really gets me, when im in the ER for something they automatically assume they need to start an insulin drip on me. obviously when they are not looking, i disconnect my pump. when they come back and tell me to put my pager away, i tell them that its an insulin pump. WATCHING THE PANIC ON THEIR FACES IS PRICELESS!