1.09.2012

NASTY Nason Medical Center

First off, I am going to apologize for the length of this post.  It's a lot to share...so stay with me!

My entire life I have had battled with asthma.  It has been a tremendous handicap in my life.  I remember sitting in the emergency room with my mom and dad several times when I was little in the middle of the night because my medicine was not strong enough for the attacks that would come over me.  It is TERRIFYING to gasp for air and struggle with no relief. 

I ALWAYS keep an inhaler in my purse.  Never leave home without it.. This morning I was on my way to a dental appointment and reached for my inhaler to do a puff and realized it was only half full. I immediately called my pharmacy.  If you have asthma then you understand why I freaked out and hurried to call in a refill.  My pharmacist informed me that my prescription expired January 1st and that I needed an up to date script. 
My primary care doctor could not get me so I stopped by Nason Medical Center after my dental appointment to have one of their doctors assist me.  I have been to their facility a few times in the past and had pretty good customer service so I figured my visit today would go smoothly.  When you go to a place like this (Urgent Care) they demand pay up front.  Which is understandable.  I paid the $150, no questions.  Sat back in the waiting room and waited two hours before being seen.  Thank goodness I had my phone to keep me entertained.  One of their staff members pushes around a snack cart.  Yes, a snack cart.  In a doctor's office.  She had cold beverages and freshly popped popcorn.  Weird, right?! Popcorn and snacks is the last thing I would want in an office where people are sneezing and coughing all over me but whatever. 
They finally called me back to see the doctor *ahem* p.a.  The physician's assistant came in as I was going into my 3rd hour being there.  She was very nice.  Very understanding of my asthma.  I explained to her that my doctor always writes me a script for 10+ refills so I am not constantly having to pay office visits to get refills.  She said, "I totally understand.  Asthma is not something to take lightly.  I will write you a script for 10 or more refills and go grab you some samples."  I thanked her before she left the room.  Ten or so minutes later a young girl, returned with my prescription. The prescription was written for 6 refills. And she did not bring me samples. What?
    side note: my inhaler is $48 so doctor's usually give samples since they are so pricey!
I asked her if there was a mistake on my prescription.  That it was supposed to be for 10+.  Her response, "this is all she is going to give you." I was stunned.  But did not make a big deal out of it.  As she was leading me to the check out desk, I saw the P.A. sitting at her desk.  I walked up to her and asked why she changed my prescription to only 6 and she said, "I am not your pcp, I can only give you 6." So I simply (and by simply I mean, no tone in my voice, I spoke to her with respect!) asked her, "why did you tell me one thing and do another?"  I honestly wanted to know why she would be so kind go on and on about giving me 10+ refills was no problem then be so rude to me.  She shot back, "you can go back to the room you were in, someone will come talk to you."
So...thinking that a doctor would come in and speak with me and explain to me why I was only given 6 refills or to correct the P.A.'s mistake, (which by the way would only last me 2 or 3 months) I obliged.  I'm sitting there and I can here a lot of chatter in the hall way.  No clue it was about me.  I had done NOTHING wrong so it took me by huge surprise what came next.
A young girl, walked into the room.  Handed me a credit card receipt.  Took the prescription out of my hand and said, "we have refunded you yo money and cancelled your prescription. At dis time, I need to escort you out the building."  She was very forceful.  Spoke very broken, ghetto English.  And was in my face as she was saying this.  I said, "excuse me, why are you refunding me and asking me to leave. I thought the doctor was going to come speak to me and assist me." Her response, "at this time, I need to escort you out da building." She repeated it three times.  In shock I just stood there.  UNTIL she stood behind me and walked me out of the room.  Once we were out of the room, she walked next to me with her hand behind my back.  EVERYONE that was working there was watching me with mouths open.  When we got to the front door of the building she said, "your money will be back in yo account in 2-3 buzness days.  there is a lot of doctors in this area that I suggest you use from now on."
I stood there in the parking lot for a few minutes trying to grasp what just happened.  Never in my life have I been so embarrassed.  Or treated so horribly.  To say I was moritifed would be an understatement!!  Once I got into my car I cried my eyes out.  I got so upset and worked up from the mistreatment, I had an asthma attack in the car. Fabulous, right?!
I was treated like a LOW LIFE CRIMINAL!!!
I have been in the medical field for eight years and could not imagine treating a patient the way they treated me.  How does this office do such a big business when their customer service is so poor. I am still so shaken by what happened there today.  Why would a doctor allow a person with such poor grammer and manners interact with patients in this way?? It is just pitiful.

26 comments:

  1. Blair, I am SO sorry to hear this! That is just awful! How terrible you must have felt, ugh, I am heartbroken for you! That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! I hope the rest of your day improved dramatically, and I hope you can do something to rectify the situation!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my god Blair! I thought this was going to be funny when I saw what you wrote on twitter, but this is anything but! Man, what assholes!!! I suggest you write a letter complaining. That is ridiculous. Maybe they should spend less money on buying snacks and more money on paying for competent employees. I am so sorry that happened, I'm sure it was embarrassing for you :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is just awful. You should call and complain to the Practice Manager. Was this a private office or part of the hospital? If it was the hospital you can file a complaint with Risk Management and they are required to open a full investigation. I would especially point out that you were escorted out by someone who is not Security. That is a no no. And if I were you I would look up every Dr. Office review site and leave this story and a poor rating. I would even be tempted to contact the local news. I would be soooo mad. I am all about customer service. Did you know starting this year Medicare and Medicaid rates that hospitals collect depend on patient satisfaction rates? So pretty much that means those people on government healthcare will be treated better than those of us with private healthcare. Nice, right?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my Lord that is CRAZY! I hope you call the BBB as well as the medical board of SC and complain that is just ridiculous!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So sorry you were treated so unfairly. If you were told one thing and given another you deserved a respectful explanation by the PA herself, even if she made a mistake.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm so sorry for the unfair treatment you received today. There has to be someone you can complain today. Do they have a patient liasion ? I would definitely contact them until you get a response. I would make calls and send emails.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is so horrible! I am so sorry! I will never go there!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. that is terrible and there is NO EXCUSE for them treating you like that... so sorry you had to go through such a terrible ordeal

    ReplyDelete
  9. Blair,
    I am sorry you had to go through that. I don't understand how they think you questioning what you were told deserved such treatment.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Blair, I am so sorry that this happened to you!! I totally agree w/ Allyson! I hope you file a complaint and take it as far as you can. If this is an independent facility, there must be a Practice Manager and/or Medical Director. if it is affiliated with a hospital, you can file a complaint with their Compliance department or with Patient Advocacy. Working in a hospital previously, I also know that mailed letters to the attention of the VP/CEOs office are usually handled ASAP

    ReplyDelete
  11. What in the world!? That is absolutely nuts. I will not be going there EVER. I am so sorry!! What a nightmare.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Shut the front door! I'm literally sitting here with my mouth open. That blows my mind. No shit you had an asthma attack.

    Everyone else seems to have smart advice. But if you need some tires slashed, I'm your chick.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh my goodness!! I have asthma, so I TOTALLY understand! Your request was very reasonable! I hope everyone reads this and that word gets out NOT to go there. What a horrible day. I am so so sorry!

    ReplyDelete
  14. That is ridiculous!!! I would DEFINITELY stay on this & take it as far as you can... There is never any reason to be treated the way you were, especially when the PA should have been honest with you in the first place. That's crazy. I hate that you had to deal with that today!

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is the craziest thing I've ever heard. I would complain, complain, and complain some more until I got some answers!

    ReplyDelete
  16. One word.. GHETTO facility that only wants to help people on Medicaid.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I have asthma too, and I always understand that a pharmacy HAS to give you a refill if necessary. Kind of like heart medication. I would definately write management a letter. Geez, you were not wanting narcotics. So sorry for this experience:(

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am totally shocked and SO angry for you. They would've had to escort me kicking and screaming, I would've been SO angry!!! There has to be someone you can complain to. A place like that with those kinds of employees shouldn't even be in operation. I'm really sorry you had to go through that and that you're feeling better today!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow, that is so rediculous! Unfortunately, this is not the first time I've heard negative remarks about Nason. I will definitely not ever be going there.

    ReplyDelete
  20. This is so horrifying. I'm so sorry. This is what I think happened:
    The PA offered you something that was not allowed by the facility or as a PA. The PA may have gotten reprimanded by a total jerk & then claimed you were getting hostile to deflect. Never a nice thing to do and especially unacceptable when you have taken an oath to do no harm.
    I know it must have really hurt your feelings. It takes a lot to share a story like this.
    oxoxox

    ReplyDelete
  21. That is absolutely horrible customer services and completely rude to boot! Please call the BBB on this company. If you reacted in the tone of voice you wrote about, then you did nothing to deserve that kind of reaction. That's horrible that you had to deal with that, when worrying about going into another asthma attack and not having the meds! They should be ashamed of themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  22. That is definitely not the proper way to treat a patient. There is a serious communication problem. I can't help but wonder if maybe the PA wasn't up to date on the current asthma guidelines and realized her error in offering you so many refills. In my opinion, based on knowledge of the asthma guidelines, no one should be given 10 refills of an inhaler. The reason for this is that if your asthma is well controlled, it is likely that 10 inhalers would last you a year and that is way too long between doctor visits for someone with a chronic lung disease. Also, there are now many new regs about the number of refills one can give or the pharmacy can dispense within a given timeframe. Back to the more important issue, your health. If you are using more than one inhaler a month, your PCP needs to step up your preventative meds. Albuterol is meant to be a rescue drug. It doesn't prevent exacerbations like Singulair, Advair, etc. Because of this, it is not a good idea for you to go to an urgent care for your meds. You will be better off going to your PCP because he/she knows your history. It's in your best interest to do so. A copayment is cheaper than a funeral. I say that because I have seen otherwise healthy people die from an asthma episode due to poor control of their asthma & running out meds. I do hope you are feeling better. Xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  23. I was eating lunch out one day with a friend & 2 of the NM employee's (they had on their name tags) were eating lunch at the table next to us & were talking some major smack about the patients they saw that morning & their fellow employee's.
    I've been in the healthcare field for going on 25 yrs now & if those were my employee's I'd had fired them before they could finish their lunch/smoke break. No, I take that back, first off I'd not have hired them to begin with. Both of them were smokers! Jesus H. Second, it sounded as if those 2 were just working this job until something better came along - like a waitress gig.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'm so glad I've found your blog! And as I'm catching up on it, I read this post (I realize it's been a while since the incident) but, as you know, I work in health care (I'm a nurse) and anyone with that attitude does not need to be in the healthcare arena. That attitude and behavior is uncalled for, rude, uncaring, and I could keep listing adjectives for people like them! I hope you have your meds now and all straightened out!

    ReplyDelete
  25. MY HEART GOES OUT TO YOU. I WAS TREATED LIKE SHIT BY NASON TOO. NOT EVER GOIN BACK.

    ReplyDelete

 
Blog designed by Jamie.