Quote:
Originally Posted by JiriHrdina
The only reason I got one finally was because I paid for it. I couldn't get a doctor to authorize the test.
It's a lottery - if you get the right doctor you are taken care of. If you don't - you're screwed.
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A good part of that is true. When I needed some minor surgery a few years back, I asked my doctor when he thought I might be having the surgery.
He said, well let me see, he got on the phone himself, phoned the RockyView and said, you are booked on such and such date, which was 5 weeks from then. My doctor obviously had connections to the OR room.
Now the other thing consumers have to do is be their own advocates.
Last year my sister was having a problem with her hip and it seemed to be getting worse. She saw her doctor and he agreed to arrange for an MRI for her. She went to the front desk where the nurses booked appointments and told them all dates would be ok except for a 3 week time frame when she had some personal travel arranged. They made a note of that and said the MRI clinic would contact her directly and make the appointment.
Well, 2 days later, she got a phone call from the MRI clinic and when they told her the day and time, my sister started to get quite upset saying that was within the time frame she would not be here for the scan. They told her to calm down, that the appointment was for a year from now, not this year!!!
Well, my sister is her own advocate and told them up front that a year from now simply would not do, it was completely unacceptable and they would have to do better than that. The clinic said they would see what they could do and call her back. They called her back the same day, and miraculously her new appointment would be within 7 weeks.
So sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the oil too.