Just pick one
In my last post, I wrote, “My next dilemma– do I make an appointment for Betty with one of the doctors who have ignored my faxes? Or do I just make an appointment with someone I haven’t contacted and hope for the best? If I choose to bypass those that have ignored me, then I’ll give them the impression that if they ignore the problem of deaf people, we will go away. I don’t want to reinforce that idea. But I really don’t want to go to a doctor who doesn’t want me.” I received a fax today from Betty’s old doctor that made me decide on a course of action.
I had sent a fax saying that Betty had been out of a medicine for over two months and wanted to know if it was more important to take the lab test to monitor her liver function, or to continue to take the Tenormin until a new doctor could order the test and make the determination to continue or change her medication. The fax I got back didn’t answer my question– it simply said that they were no longer Betty’s primary care provider and to find a new doctor. I have told Dr. Fedec and the folks at City Line Family Medicine several times to read this blog, but don’t know if they have or not. If they had, they’d know I’d been searching and have been ignored.
So, guess that now I know Keystone 65 will provide interpreters upon request of the patient, and we don’t have to go through the doctors (which I think is a bad idea, but I’m still mulling that one over), I will just pick a name from the list and make the appointment. I’ll pick someone I haven’t contacted before and see what happens. The recent experience with City Line Family Medicine has convinced me that I don’t want a doctor who doesn’t want me.
Still don’t know what to do about the doctors who have ignored me, though. Don’t want them to think that ignoring deaf people makes them go away.
