Know Thy ER Physician??

[Granny]

Several months back I was having some severe chest pains and finally decided it might be a good idea to call someone instead of playing the guessing game: What's My Problem?

Anyway, EMS came and took me to the nearest hospital (even though it was not my hospital of choice). Apparently, it's the rules to go to the nearest hospital. After about 2 hours or so a doctor came in apologizing for the delay as he had a heart patient in another room. I did not like this guy. I didn't like his looks, didn't like his eyes, didn't like his attitude - I didn't like anything about him. I guess you could say he gave me the creeps.

So, I was reading the paper a week or so ago and saw this name Dr. LaPaglia and thought, "Mmmm ... ." Well, it was the same creepy doctor who saw me in the ER. Seems he had a federal civil rights suit brought against him by a former inmate at the county jail. The police were positive this guy had drugs hidden up his butt and since he wasn't being cooperative they took him to the ER. This doctor gave the guy some kind of shot that temporarily paralyzed him and there was, in fact, some crack cocaine up his butt. A federal appeals court reversed the lower court's decision and said the search was unconstitutional and violated the prisoner's civil rights. Just recently, the police took a second guy up to the ER for a rectal search ... and the doctor complied. This second guy finally consented after being threatened with the paralyzing drug. No drugs of any kind were found and the guy had to be released altogether. Now, the good doctor has two federal suits filed against him.

Drugs, signs of marijuana grow operation found in medical director's home | wbir.com

Yesterday's paper came up with the new story of a domestic disturbance call from the doctor's house and when the police responded they got a good whiff of marijuana and the doc let them search a small part of his house and they came back with search warrants.

Knoxville doctor arrested for drugs, let go from medical duties

The story got a little better in today's headlines. This guy is some kind of psychopath. Turns out the domestic disturbance call was because he had been threatening his girlfriend and said he was going to use his medical knowledge to kill her and do away with her body and nobody would ever know about it. Also, while he has no medical board complaints against him in TN, he did have a disciplinary action in NC over marijuana and some kind of unidentified "inappropriate behavior" with a 16 year old patient while he was working in the psych unit of one of the teaching hospitals.

I was talking to my daughter about it this morning and she knew nothing at all about all this stuff going on but she expressed her dissatisfaction with the doctor when I was in the ER. She said, "Oh my God, Mom!! That guy wanted to do all kinds of procedures on you that night! I'm so glad you told him you'd discuss it with your PCP!"

 

[Surfer]

Don't go to the ER if you can help it. You may get some inexperienced intern. If you do have to go ask for the attending. Most people do not know the rankings. If you go in for a cut always ask for the head of plastics--especially if it's your face. Always go to the best doctor you can afford. Cheap/free/county/government doctors are usually crappy.

 

[Granny]

My ER visits are very few and far between. I live in a somewhat rural county and the hospital is a small one not necessarily equipped to handle all situations. They called me a couple days after I was in the ER to ask me about my experience and level of care. I told them. They have a terrible reputation among the locals. I've heard so many people say not to ever go there as an inpatient ... more people come out dead than alive. I also told the woman about my opinion of the ER doctor.

In "defense" of the hospital, there IS a large elder population in this area and there are a lot of people who don't come out alive.

 

[Flopper]

I guess it depends on the doctor and the ER, but I've found ER's the best way to get things done fast, that would take weeks working through your PCP. Recently I had to carry my wife into the ER. She got a CT-SCAN, X-ray, EKG, blood tests, a shot for nausea, fluids, and prescriptions. After 6 hours she was able to walk and return home. It took all day with a cost of $3400. We paid $200 after insurance. In about 4 days she was on her feet and doing fine. If we had gone to our PCP, she would have had to spend all weekend sick as dog before even seeing a doctor, then wait days for tests, and may have ended up in the hospital.