A Tale of Incompetence: The Adventure Continues

 

I just got off the phone with the (incredibly kind) woman at the spine center who SHOULD be scheduling my father's procedure.  In case you haven't been following along, let me fill you in (if you read my blog post on Saturday, you can skim this):

My father has spinal stenosis, along with a variety of other issues.  This means he is in pain when he moves, but when he sits he is okay.  For a LONG time (years) there has been no clear path to resolving this.  This year a spine doctor was recommended who thinks he can help alleviate some of the pain (which will also help him walk since this is all affecting the use of his right leg) by putting in what is called a Minuteman spacer so that bone is no longer pressing on bone and nerve.  (At least that's how I think it works).  Procedure was scheduled and tests were done.  Then at the last minute, the cardiologist pulled the plug and would not give clearance without a nuclear stress test (why this came up at the last minute when my parents saw the cardiologist weeks prior and he saw the EKG results I don't know.)  So instead of the procedure, my father had a nuclear stress test:  https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2021/12/stress-test.html.   We waited for the requisite three days I was told it would take to get the results written up: https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2021/12/waiting.html.  I TRIED to get those results on Friday: https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2021/12/beware.html (first bullet point).  As I concluded in that paragraph, if I didn't have any answers by Monday, I'd call on Tuesday.  

Here we are on Tuesday.  Late yesterday afternoon (just before 6 PM), my father got a call from the cardiologist's office (Kim) saying they would be faxing clearance paperwork to the spine doctor's office that night.  I did believe this when my father said this?  I did not.

This morning, I called the spine doctor's office to confirm receipt of the fax.  Deborah (the great lady I've been working with there) did not see it.  She looked in several different places and I was getting ready to call the cardiologist's office when she went to check with the nurse on duty since it had come in overnight.  Deborah came back and confirmed that they HAD received a clearance fax.  A fax that said my father could have KNEE surgery.

That was not a typo.  They sent over clearance for KNEE surgery to the spine doctor.  I could say a lot of things right here, but I think Deborah said it best (and I am paraphrasing here):  I have never seen such incompetence.  

She couldn't believe it.  I can.  I shouldn't, but I can.  It's so wrong on so many levels, but that is what I have experienced at this cardiologist's office.  Transcriptions not done.  Old paperwork sent. Paperwork for the WRONG procedure sent.

Supposedly a nurse from the spine doctor will be handling this today.  Since the spine doctor's office seems to have some level of competence (after all I was originally able to schedule the procedure), I'm hoping that she will have some success and that I (or my parents) will get a call saying that this is being handled.  If not...I'll be back on the phone to the cardiologist's office.

The adventure continues...keep us in your prayers. 

(NOTE:  I am purposely NOT naming the cardiology practice at this point.  Feel free to ask, but I will not publically share the name of this practice  until everything is resolved…after that I just might shout it from the rooftops so that no one else has to go through a similar nightmare.)