ITS NOT A STROKE !
I had a recent ER experience. Every physician should be required to have one annually. What an eye opener it could be.
I first visited an urgent care. I had been experiencing some visual anomalies for several hours – not really floaters, but flashes of light and a scimitar shaped area of darkness in the periphery. Retinal detachment eventually came to mind so I trotted off, in the ice and snow to a nearby urgent care facility.
The good news – the wait was fairly short and the physician pleasant.
The bad news – after a very cursory exam with an opthalmoscope, the doctor stated ” I don’t know much about eyes but I want to be sure you aren’t having a stroke.” Ok, I”m not exactly a spring chicken but I’m fit and my blood pressure was 118/68 in spite of my anxiety over the current health event – so why even go there? ITS NOT A STROKE ! No mention of calling a squad to transport me. Even though I might be having a stroke I was sent back out into the winter squall of snow and ice to take myself to the nearest emergency room 5 miles away.
After the ER admission clerk finished visiting with the two young people ahead of me about their terrific boots and plans for the weekend I was deemed insured enough to see the triage nurse, a very pleasant woman, who at a random part of our interview asked if I felt safe in my home – I have to admit- a good way to sneak in an intervention if a patient is being abused but afraid to bring it up.
At the end of the interview I was bundled into a gown and placed in a room for the next chapter. A nice physician’s assistant was my new “care giver”. He hooked up an IV and a monitor, did an EKG, scheduled a CAT scan and a myriad of blood tests, looked in my eyes with an opthalmoscope, ( I think every health care worker is now issued one), and said, “I don’t know much about eyes…..but we are going to do some testing to make sure you aren’t having a stroke. ITS NOT A STROKE !
Several hours and many expensive tests that proved I wasn’t having a stroke later ,I was seen by the ER physician. She announced YOU’RE NOT HAVING A STROKE……. then took out her opthalmoscope, looked into my eyes and said “I don’t know much about eyes …..so I think you need to come in to the clinic tomorrow to see our ophthalmologist. The attending who was on earlier is now gone for the day. By the way the “attending ” was the doctor I as given an appointment with for the next morning.
So…………at 8 PM after 8 hours of “medical care”, I drove myself home from the ER, eyes dilated, with a hospital bill of over $2000 and an appointment to see the eye doctor the next day. Could I not have initially been seen by the ophthalmologist on duty when I got there at 1PM? IT WAS NOT A STROKE and being seen immediately by the eye guy would have proved that out. It was something called PVD -posterior vitreous detachment, something I was assured was very common in “older patients”.
My point in this rant…………Is all of this really necessary? Is it about CYA against law suits? Let’s get real. Doctor’s heal thy self and thy practice and save us all some time and money.