PATIENTS OF THE WORLD WIDE KAISER PERMANENTE, UNITE! WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE, EXCEPT OUR INSURANCE!

     

     Have you ever been in a position when you were neglected and forgotten and couldn't even make fuss over it? To me and Hanah it happens almost every time that we go to Kaiser. 
     Today I called and asked to talk to Hanah's doctor, because I was not at all satisfied with the level of care she received from another physician there. I always have an impression that Kaiser's doctors are like harried veterinarians. They finish with a cow (a patient), slap her on the rear and shout: "N-e-e-e-x-t!" 
     A lady-doctor called me back, listened and told me that her nurse will call and give me the time when we could come by and have a couple of tests done. By the way, those tests sounded like something that is routinely done in case of suspected asthma or fungal lung infection. The previous doctor didn't even try to do his job!
     I had an appointment in the same building at 1:30. The nurse didn't call before we had to leave, so I took Hanah with me, told her what to say to the nurse that we were supposed to see and went to do my own stuff. After I was finished, I went to meet Hanah. She was sitting in the waiting room, waiting, because that's what the receptionist told her to do. We did a crossword puzzle, looked at out watches a couple hundred times and, finally, I went to talk to the receptionist.
- "Oh, my God, she is still waiting? Nobody called her?!"
My eyes left the confines of their sockets. What?! The receptionist was on the phone to the nurses' station:
- "Didn't anyone get a message about Hanah T.? Please come out and straighten it out!"
     A few unrelated people came and talked to us. We had to repeat our story to each of them. Then one of them said:
- "The doctor is not here until later. Did you do the tests already?"
- "What do you mean?! She came here to do those tests, as we told you repeatedly!"
- "Well, what do you want to do? The nurse that you need is busy now. We've been swamped! Do you want to make an appointment for tomorrow?"
     There was not even place for the outrage. The longer I argued, the longer we'd have to stay in the accursed building! 
     If it was the first time that Hanah or I got forgotten in the Kaiser's waiting room, I would laugh it off. As it happens, this is the third time it happened! Have you ever heard of such a thing?! They know that, with that insurance we can only go to them, so they don't put much thought or effort in the patient care.