I marched over to registration and demanded to speak to the manager. Of course the manager wasn’t there, but the registration supervisor was acting in his place. To her credit, she was understanding, sympathetic and helpful. I explained the financial strain this inconvenience placed on me in terms of missed work and travel costs (the hospital is in a county other than the one in which I live), and I detailed my dissatisfaction from the first attempt at my CT scan. She took the complaint with a promise to forward it to the manager, and came up with the idea that since I was still having chest pain that I may be able to get the test done in ER. I explained to her my high ER visit co-pay, and she assured me that the hospital would eat it. At this point I was ready for anything.

The walk was long from Imaging to the ER, so imagine my disappointment when the attending physician refused to treat me, since my doctor had already scheduled the test. After explaining that the main hospital was refusing to service me, the ER nurse assured me that they were. I just snatched my paperwork from her and began my trek back to the parking lot. Along the way, the Imaging triage nurse and found me and was almost as irate as I was. She said she’d heard that I’d come and basically dressed down everyone who had sent me away, since she agreed that what I’d been telling them was the truth. Finally, I was able to get the test done. It took all of twenty minutes (at this point I’d been at the hospital for three hours).

In case you’re wondering, while the actual test was performed without a hitch, the hospital’s ineptitude did not end with this experience. When visiting Dr. B. for my results, he informed me that I’d had a minor stroke. I looked at him, bug-eyed, and he returned the expression (I told you he had a sense of humor). He began reading from the chart he’d been sent, telling me that my results read like those of an 80-year-old woman. He then began to wonder aloud why they’d even scanned my head in the first place – I was there for a chest and neck scan. He then read the patient stats, and sure enough they were for an 84-year-old woman. The hospital had sent over the wrong results!

They immediately faxed over the correct results, which were negative for TOS. I have to admit to being disappointed – we were back to square one. Dr. B. informed me that he no longer had any other options, and was going to refer me to a neurologist.
If you all think that the aforementioned hospital was low on concern for patient care, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!