Sunday, July 19, 2015

Broken Leg and 4 wks of Drama

On mon June 29, my husband passed out and broke his leg (fibula) in the fall.  He didn't know at the time it was broken, thought he sprained it.  The next day after running some errands, he felt around and something was poking that shouldn't be so decided better have it looked at.  Went to one of the new "hospitals" that isn't a hospital or minor emergency place.  They x-rayed and confirmed it was broken.  Did a temp "stablize
the area" abd gave him some Rx.  He called an orthopedic guy the next day, then found out he had to go
to his primary care dr first and get a referral from them.  The x-rays and dr confirmation didn't count. Mind you this was fri by the time he found out he needed to go to pcp.
  He called the PCP that ins assigned to us back in jan.  We never go to the  dr so never saw this person to become patients.  When he called "not accepting 'new' patients"  but the nurse practitioner would see him.
SHE confirmed the break and gave it over to the woman that does the referral work.  THAT took until fri
for her to call with the name of an orthopedic dr he could call.-of course it was too late fri to contact them AND it was July 3-holiday wkend.  He calls on mon (now wk 2 of break) and office closed for holiday.
Calls tues.  Leaves his info.  Calls back on wed.  yes, dr can see you on Aug 2.  "do you not realize I have a broken leg, that's been broken for 2 wks now?"  so she re-checks.  They will see him the following wed.
July 15. 
  3 wks go by, he goes to dr (still in the temp binding) where dr says "we normally like to set these 7-10 days after the break."  Well, he tried to get in sooner. duh.  Said there will be complications for waiting so long.
They will re-break the bone then put screws in.  Will more than likely have arthritis in that joint after waiting this long.  HOWEVER, dr will be out of town the following wk so surgery will be mon JULY 27...
The dr said the stuff he had on his leg was probably too tight.  Well, no shit, it was meant to stabilize his leg until he saw the dr-NOT be there for 3 weeks.  They gave him an Rx for a boot.
 Fri, july 17th rolls around and they call to say, can't do surgery on the 27, hospital is booked so she (the woman who schedules) will get it as close to that date as she can....
so it will be 5 wks + by the time leg gets repaired.  FIVE weeks.  His collar bone is hurting badly too.
It was fractured yrs ago and healed.  Reading online found out that using crutches can re-aggrivate a fracture like that (or re-fracture)  He told the dr this 3 times.  3.  and it was ignored.  I guess you are supposed to call your PCP and see them and get a referral for a separate "item" than the original.  WHAT the hell happened
to health CARE?  it's all about pleasing the ins company.
 And the INS company...BCBS.  I wrote on their facebook page as this was all going on.  They first said, you need to see primary care physician.  (duh)  then when they saw not taking new patients "we'll be glad to help you find a new PCP if you give us all your info"  (NOT a word about we'll find you a dr to set the leg)
When she saw he had an appt w/the ortho dr.  "so sorry you had issues, glad he has appt"
He even called BCBS directly and the girl tried to find a dr who could see him sooner-nope. seems a broken bone doesn't matter anymore.  You have to go through "channels" ~yet they ideally want it set/repaired in 7-10 days.
   Can you say "lawyer?"...

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