Letters to the Editors

Doctor: Frustrated patient is 'misinformed'

Re: Doctors don't provide for our basic needs, letter by Anne Stengle, Dec. 23.

I read this letter with interest and concern. Ms. Stengle has some issues that are common to patients in Florida but also is quite misinformed in several respects.

First of all, she has noted that doctors in Florida do not work on Saturday and feels that this is unfair to patients who work all week. Let me point out that we physicians also work all week, and we work long and grueling hours. I do not fault my colleagues who feel it is their right to spend time with their own families on the weekend.

Despite this, my own office is open every Saturday throughout the year for both adults and children who have acute medical issues. Unless I am mistaken, North Pinellas Pediatrics, the largest pediatric practice in the area, also is open Saturday.

My partners and I frequently meet patients at the Mease Emergency Room after hours and on weekends to evaluate and treat acute problems. There is in fact a fast-track system at Mease that allows doctors to see patients without the need for the normal emergency room triage and wait.

My practice also has 24-hour coverage, and all calls are returned in a timely fashion by me or one of my partners at any time of the day or night. I am unaware of any medical practice in the area that does not offer such call coverage. I would suggest to Ms. Stengle that if she is a patient in such a practice, she needs to talk to her friends and neighbors and find a practice more in tune with her needs.

Despite the difficulty in accessing some busy specialists, in the event of a true emergency none has ever refused to see one of my patients immediately after I have picked up the phone and made a personal plea.

Unfortunately, as Ms. Stengle has suggested, there are shortages of many specialists in parts of Florida and this may be especially true in the Palm Harbor area, which is so densely populated. I am surprised that she had some delay in finding an obstetrician, as these particular specialists are usually eager to find new patients. But I also must add that pregnancy most certainly is not an emergency (I believe I could not even classify it as a disease state), and I am not surprised that an office would not feel a need to schedule an "immediate" appointment.

To address the issues related to physician shortages in Florida and quality of care would require far more space than I am sure your paper would allow for this response. But let me point out that the degrees of involvement that the insurance companies have been permitted in this state and the subsequent low reimbursements to physicians are issues which we cannot continue to ignore.

As long as physicians recognize that this state is dominated by managed care and as long as they also feel that this will adversely affect both income and ability to practice quality medicine, it will be difficult to recruit capable new physicians.

I hope that Ms. Stengle will look further into this matter and continue to question the status quo. It is quite easy to write a letter to the editor; but having recognized the need for change, it is far more difficult to set aside the time and energy to bring about those changes. Managed care is not the answer to any of our mutual problems; and until we work together and decide to elect public officials who are willing to respond to our needs, these and many more medical care issues will remain.
-- Joseph A. D'Ambrosio MD, DMD, Palm Harbor

Writer made 'foolish comparisons'

Re: Doctors don't provide for our basic needs, letter by Anne Stengle, Dec. 23.

It is 3:15 a.m., and I am just coming home for the first time since 7 a.m. yesterday. It was Sunday; now it is Monday.

I have been at the hospital caring for patients already admitted, answering more than 100 pages and seeing acutely ill people in the office or in the emergency room. I have not had lunch or dinner or seen my family. I will be at my office by 8 a.m. Monday to see patients and answer pages and go to the hospital again.

Ms. Stengle is not the only patient in Palm Harbor, and it is her attitude that is selfish and uncaring. There are many doctors in the area who work long, dedicated hours. Doctors have nothing to do with insurance rates, although it certainly is prohibitive to open offices during off-hours and pay for staff when reimbursement is minimal if anything at all.

I would almost safely bet that her job does not require her to work 20 hours a day on a few hours of interrupted sleep. I cannot believe she scientifically surveyed every physician office in the metropolitan New York area and the Pinellas area to make such foolish comparisons.
-- Gary M. Goldstein, MD, Palm Harbor

Unhappy with doctor? Find another one

Re: Doctors don't provide for our basic needs, letter by Anne Stengle, Dec. 23.

Evidently, the writer hasn't heard of the adage, "Take charge of your own health care," which basically means that if you are unhappy with your health care professional, tell them; and if it doesn't change, you change to another doctor, hospital, etc.

Most insurance companies give you a choice of who/what/where to go for health care and have caseworkers to help you find doctors on your plan.

From my experience, most of the problems come from the office staff and not directly from the physicians themselves. A short note to the office manager with copies to the physician and insurance company usually does the job, but you have to be aggressive and vocal; and if you are still unhappy, move back to the New York City and New Jersey area.
-- C.A. Gleason, Tarpon Springs

Fed up with attitude of doctors

Re: Doctors don't provide for our basic needs, letter by Anne Stengle, Dec. 23.

This letter made my day. I could have written it myself, and probably should have, a long time ago. I have lived in Florida for six years and have found everything Ms. Stengle said to be true, and then some.

I have waited in the doctor's office for three hours (for an appointment that was scheduled one year earlier) only to find out that she wasn't even in the building while I was waiting.

I have taken blood tests -- tests that were to determine what medication I should be given -- and was never called by the doctor's office with the results.

I have had the doctor tell me, after waiting several hours to see her, that she only has 10 minutes to give me.

I have had the doctor's office refuse to fax my prescription to the drug provider because they "didn't have time" to dial the number and push the send button.

I wish I could say that these incidents all occurred with the same doctor, but unfortunately all were with different doctors during my six-year-long quest to find a physician who has the slightest clue about good medical care.

I just fired my fifth doctor last week, after she had twice canceled appointments with me because (her assistant says) she wasn't feeling well. Well, neither was I, which was the reason I needed to see her. Her suggestion: Go to the emergency room. Unfortunately, my insurance company doesn't agree and won't cover emergency room charges unless they result in a hospital admission.

Ms. Stengle asks why the system operates this way. Are there not enough doctors? Oh, there are plenty of them. Just drive up and down U.S. 19 and you'll see their billboard advertisements all over the side of the road. That is something I have never, ever seen up north. Doctors there know the meaning of a good reputation, something that makes billboard advertising unnecessary.

Why are there not longer hours or Saturday hours available? Because there don't have to be. They all operate the same way here, meaning that if you don't like the system, they know you can't go down the road and get better care from somebody else. Do they not care? You bet they don't.

It's interesting to note that my veterinarian provides better service to my cat than I can get from a doctor. What does that say about the quality of medical care in Florida?

Maybe a group of us should form a committee of sorts to get the word out that we are fed up with the attitude of the doctors here and some changes need to be made. We can't be the only two people who feel this way.
-- Candace Bailie, Dunedin

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright