I hate Military Contracted Doctors

April 16, 2010

I know hate is a strong word, but I feel strongly about this! I hate Military contracted doctors (not service members who are doctor’s in the Military, but the civilian contractors that the Military hire). I have had nothing but bad experiences with them (other than the one and only pediatrician to ever listen to me about my youngest son).

I had a gallbladder that was going “bad”. I lived in pain for 2 years, spent many nights in the hospital and countless visits to these so-called “doctors”. The hospital doctors (they were off post) those 2 years let me know that they believed it was my gallbladder and that I needed to have a HIDA scan.

The problem was the Military insurance would NOT cover the outrageous price for this procedure unless my PCM called and got authorization. So every time after a hospital visit I would take my discharge papers to my PCM (military doc) and each time I was told I was too “young” to have problems with my gallbladder and was basically told to F off.

Finally, my husband at the time (who was in Iraq at the time) called the Tricare rep on post and proceeded to let them have it. Needless to say within a week I was given permission by the command of that clinic to have a PCM off post.

2 weeks later I was going under the knife as my gallbladder was only functioning at 2%. Now that military contracted doctor could have saved me 2 years of pain by just ordering the HIDA scan. @$hole.

Now to present day. About a year ago I got bit by a tick and apparently left a part of it in me. Since then (who knows if it is related or not) I have gained a lot of weight, I am extremely tired all the time, and have severe joint pain. And since we have since moved I have to see a military contracted doctor again on post.

I have refused to go up until last week when the hubby talked me into it. I arrived 15 minutes early and checked in. Waited in the waiting room for 35 minutes and once I got to see the doctor (before I could even say hi to him) he rudely said: “well hello Mrs. Carlson, glad to see you could make it” (in a sarcastic tone).

I said, “excuse me”? He said your appointment was at 10 AM. I said yes I know. He said, “you’re 20 minutes late”. I said, “no I’m not, I arrived at 9:45 AM”. He said sarcastically “if that were the case then they should have sent you back to me sooner since I have had no other patients”.

He told me to sit in a chair and he went and sat behind his desk. That’s right ladies and gentlemen there was NO KIND OF EXAMINATION!!! I was lucky if I even got to speak. He asked what brought me in today. I said well about a year ago I was bitten by a tick and I would like to be tested for Lyme disease.

He said no, just because you got bit by a tick doesn’t mean you have Lyme disease. I tried to go into the symptoms I have been having just to be cut off time and time again. He literally would not let me speak. I finally got him to write a thing to the lab so I could have blood work drawn. This whole process took 5 minutes!!! And he talked for all but 10 seconds of it. He did however rudely tell me as I was leaving that even if the test comes back positive he will not treat me for the disease as it doesn’t mean I have it.

Now here is what is funny, right behind him is a HUGE poster about Lyme disease and how widely spread it is here in Maryland and urging us to get tested if we have been bitten by a tick!

So it’s been over a week and he still hasn’t called me with my results (not like I really expect to hear from him) so next week I will go get the results myself. And yes I did report him. I filled out that nice survey the DOD sends after an appointment and let them know exactly how I was treated.