Thread: whats the best way to motivate a Dr to do their job?

My grandma's Dr is useless but at the moment we need to keep her because grandma has a chronic problem, and the ER Dr told us we shouldn't switch until things are under control. the doc isn't returning calls or letting us know about test results. the only way to get the care we need, we have to go to the ER weekly so my gram can get her fluids removed from her abdomen ... we have tried to call the Dr so we can get this procedure scheduled instead of taking up a bed that someone might need for an actual emergency but we don't get any response... and you need your primary to either make the appointments or a referral, we can't just call the liver doc ourselves. the issue is the whole family either worked with this Dr or had her and dropped her because she was horrible. now we can't really report her to a superior because of all of our pasts. she can just lie and say we are bitter. personally i don't care about her as a person all i want is for her to do her job and take care of my grandmother properly until we can get a REAL primary. there are many people who agree when it comes to this Dr however nothing gets done. i just want to know the best way to ensure she will start to do her job before its too late!!!

You need to call and talk to the real person in charge. If saving someone's life isn't enough motivation to be a dr, then they need to go to a different field.

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Time for you to request a new doctor
Complain to his employer.

A primary doctor is not good for all things. You don't say why your grandmother needs drained all the time, but I'm guessing it could be cirrhosis since this is what happens in end stage liver failure. It's common for people to need drained pretty frequently when drugs no longer do the job of removing the fluid.

I think you need a specialist for her ASAP who really knows about her problem. When I had cirrhosis, the first thing my primary doctor told me was that she could not handle this problem and put me in touch with a specialist which is a gastroenterologist or hepatologist if she has liver failure. Maybe your primary doctor isn't even doing all that could be done to keep the fluid under control in other ways besides physically draining it. I don't know what kind of meds they put her on, but diuretics such as Lasix and Spironolactone is often used. I had to take both in big doses to keep my fluid under control. They don't like to drain (paracentesis) unless they have to. There is a procedure called TIPS that is sometimes done to help control fluid. She should also be monitored for a number of other problems such as high ammonia levels and internal bleeding.

I would contact her primary care doctor once again and explain that you and your family talked it over and decided that your grandmother needs a specialist for her liver disease. If there is no answer, I would go right to her office and insist that she help my grandmother with a referral. Don't worry about your past history. We are not looking backwards here, but to the future care of your loved one. If she refuses to cooperate, I would definitely go over her head and report her if that is possible. I never heard of a doctor refusing to allow a patient to be referred to a specialist when they have a condition like your grandmother. Most primary doctors would insist on it. I have my liver doctors and my primary care doctor who all work together for the benefit of my health. This should be the case with your grandmother also. I would also seriously consider changing her primary doctor too since this gal doesn't seem like she cares about her patients much. Some doctors bite off more than they can chew and take on too many patients and don't have enough time to deal with them all. Hope your grandma can get the help she needs soon.

I did want to mention that you don't say whether or not your grandma has been talked to about getting a possible liver transplant which could save her life. I don't know her age or overall health or any of your family circumstances, but I had one which saved my life. It's not an option open to everybody for various reasons, but I wanted to mention it in case it might be an option and no one has taken the initiative to explore it. A transplant clinic would give her the very best care there is for her liver. The first step would be to get her a transplant evaluation. You might want to call the closest transplant clinic at a hospital that does liver transplants and see if they can help you. If they can't give her a transplant, they would probably at least be able to put you in touch with a good liver doctor and mabye they could even help with getting her primary care doctors approval for them to treat her. It wouldn't hurt to check it out.