Patient Relations Department
patientrelations@bidmc.harvard.edu
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
330 Brookline Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
To Whom It May Concern:
I’m writing this letter to make a formal complaint regarding care I received at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Emergency Room on August 16, 2009. I am copying Blue Cross of Massachusetts, and, I am posting it to my Facebook page and my blog. I have been billed $50.00 as a copayment for this care, for which I have not currently paid.
I’m going to make it as short as possible, but equally descriptive of a simple situation that, in my opinion, could have been taken care of in a much better way. On Sunday August 16th, 2009 I was having difficulty with my ears, having the sensation of being really clogged. I had the feeling already for a few days, and I was planning to see my primary physician on Monday, however, it got to a point that I felt I couldn’t wait (as I normally would), so I went to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s emergency room for treatment.
At the reception everything works fine, typical check in process, name, address, insurance card, of course, primary care doctor’s name, social security number, if I am allergic to any medications, and any other medications I’m on, etc, etc, etc. This is going to be the first time I have to go through this questionnaire. The waiting process before I got called by a nurse, about 20 to 30 minutes. I get taken inside the ER to one room; there the nurse, Patricia Lydon, basically goes through the questionnaire: name, address, insurance company (still, Blue Cross?), primary care doctor’s name, if I am allergic to any drug or medication, and any other medication I am on. Then, let’s take blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and other vital signs. The doctor will be with you soon, the nurse said. How soon? I asked myself, who knows these days, which is fine as long as it is something like 15 minutes, I don’t know. The fact is I waited for more than 15 minutes, BUT, I did receive the visit of another person, an administrative assistant to ask me, guess what? Yes!!!! Pretty much the same questionnaire I have already been asked twice, so let’s review it, your name, your address, your social security number, primary care doctor’s name, any allergy to any medication? I kept wondering how much could I have changed between the times I arrived here and now. I thought, I’m still living on XXX XXXXXX Street, my social security number is the same, and yes, I still have Blue Cross of Massachusetts, and I have not found any allergic reaction to any medication in an hour and a half that I have been here. Three people to do, in my opinion, the same job? Their reason? Safety and security. I found out about their reasons when I contacted them to complain about their quality of care, but I will get there soon.
The doctor, Daniel C McGillicuddy, MD finally arrived, checked on me, checked my ears, and basically said I had accumulation of cerumen in my ears, or as it stated on my discharge instructions and follow up information, preliminary diagnoses: Cerum impaction. I’m trying to put it in plain English since I’m a regular patient, trying to tell a story, and make my point. The fact is he did proceed to “clean” my ears, or as my bill from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center says: Cerumen Removal, which for me it looked more like he used a long q-tip to “clean” my ear, and that was it. He didn’t do a procedure called ear lavage, which I thought he was going to do it in order to really remove the cerumen accumulated in my ears. I question the effectiveness of what he did as I needed to go to my physician’s office the very next day as my ears were still bothering me.
The physician noted that I could have saved my co-payment just by simply using some kind of ear drops I could get at CVS, which I had done it, but obviously, didn’t work for me. On the discharge notes, he said to get colace drops from CVS and place them in my ear twice a day. Upon going to CVS, I was told by the pharmacist that colace was used in hospitals and weren’t ear drops, but usually used for stool softening. Upon receiving this news, I called the ER, per the discharge notes, if I had any questions and spoke to a nurse. I informed her of what CVS told me. She stated, after checking with the physician, that the doctor meant wax softening drops. I inquired why it said differently on my discharge notes. She didn’t have an answer.
Ultimately, I went to my primary care physician on Monday morning August 17, 2009 as I was still having the uncomfortable feeling in my ears, and therefore, I had to go visit my doctor for the very same issue I went into the ER for care. Upon visiting my physician, I had a procedure called ear lavage performed, and since then I have felt well. I question why this wasn’t done at the ER, particularly where the physician seemed to minimize my issue.
My disappointment with the quality of care I received at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center made me to sit down, and contact them to express my dissatisfaction with the service. After several phone calls, I finally got the right number to call, 617-632-0364, where I left a message, and within 24 hours a staff member named Heidi Jay got back to me. I explained the entire situation to her, and she said that she would look into the matter, find out more details, and get back to me.
A few weeks passed, I received the bill from the hospital, having a copayment of $ 50.00 from a final bill of $644.00 (EU Level 3 visit…$ 508.00 among other things). It bothers me to see the amount of money charged, particularly for a POOR service. I do not mind paying whatever I have to pay, for good products or services. However, when it comes to bad service or product I want to raise my voice, and say how much I’m bothered by the situation.
Another week passed, no word from Ms. Heidi Jay. I decided to contact the department at Beth Israel that manage all the complaints, and got Ms Heidi, again. When she talked to me, she said that according to the ER personnel and records they had done everything properly, and because of the nature of my problem there was not guarantee that my illness wouldn’t reoccurred.
I was not informed of that they felt the issue would reoccur within a day. I would have thought I would have received the procedure that I received the next day in my PCP’s office, which did the trick in really unclogging and cleaning my ears. I am not a doctor, but I trust that they will provide the best care possible. This didn’t seem so on that day. I thought after my trip to the ER, I’d be somewhat better. I thought the instructions that I left with would be accurate (which clearly they were not), and I thought that upon calling back with questions (as noted on the discharge form), there would be logical answers (when asked “why did he put colace drops when they are not available at the pharmacy” – to receive “well, he meant…”. Give me a break why didn’t he write what he meant?).
Throughout the process, I felt demeaned. It seems like both Ms. Heidi Jay and the physician Daniel C McGillicuddy at the ER said to me that it was my fault I did not get better, it was foolish of me to show up at the ER (“you could avoided the co-pay if you simply get drops at the pharmacy” – which I had done), and it was my fault they did not provide good quality of care. It was my fault I had to go through 3 people to check if my address was XXX Street Apt. XX, and my SS# didn’t change between the time I arrived to the ER and the time I finally saw the doctor (hour and a half). Of course, safety reasons, but nobody told me there was a chance of not getting better; I am puzzled how you can consider a $644.00 charge is fair for a visit that didn’t work – not to mention a visit that left with inaccurate instructions.
I have not doubt I’m going to have to pay the $ 50.00 copayment for this bad service I received at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, but I still want to raise my voice, and make a statement, so other people are aware. It makes me feel sick to go a place and receive bad service, and still have to pay for it, and not say anything. At least I can say something to you, hoping you fix what it needs to get fixed in order to provide great quality of care. Also, I have to say it to my friends of Facebook, and my followers on my blog.
Sincerely,
Juan Carlos Pinedo
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