Blind trust: Don’t assume you’re seeing a doctor — even at the Mayo Clinic

This is happening everywhere. My husband was diagnosed with spinal arthritis and 2 herniated disks by a private practice neurosurgeon in Phoenix. He immediately underwent three epidurals which really helped him a lot.

Fast forward to living in another state. His back was really acting up again. We made an appointment at the local University Hospital with a reputable neurosurgeon. When my husband arrived, he was see by a physician's assistant and never got to see the neurosurgeon and then was sent a HUGE bill that was much higher than the bill from the private practice neurosurgeon in Phoenix. The 'almost a doctor' didn't order an MRI, Xrays or a CT scan or anything. Just some anti-inflammatory medicine.

We wrote a letter to the University's Medical Center and told them that we were not paying the bill... that we did not get the doctor whom we made an appt. with. And that we would go to the press to warn others of this vaunted University's standards of practice.

They voided the bill.

Fast forward another year. This time he made an appt. with a neurosurgeon in private practice here after checking credentials etc. Turned out to be a great doc who said that perhaps if he had seen a real neurosurgeon a year earlier that something actually might have been possible to be done. The 'almost a doctor' didn't order an MRI, Xrays or a CT scan or anything.

We were the lucky ones. My husband's back problem is severe but now we have a private practice neurosurgeon who is working to help him be less in pain.

My advice to anyone who reads this: Do NOT go to a clinic at the Mayo or any other research or University hospital. Find yourself a well-respected doctor or surgeon who is in private practice. When making the appt., confirm that you WILL be seeing the actual doctor. If they say 'maybe not' then find another doctor who will be the one seeing. Cattle Call Clinics, as we call them, are exactly that. Mooooove em in and mooooove em out. And if you need surgery or whatever, you can have it provided at one of the good hospitals by your own private doc because most of them have privileges at them anyway.

Unfortunately, that's typical of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. I will never walk normally again after going in for what I thought was a bad ankle sprain. The "doctor" who examined it said it was a minor sprain and wouldn't even put an ace bandage on it. Sent me home and told me I was fine.

Two weeks later, after the pain only grew worse and I was no longer able to put any weight on it, I called to ask for another appointment and was told by a nurse I didn't need to come in -- just wait and I'd get better. I had to call repeatedly just to get someone to agree to even give me an appointment. The same nurse greeted me and insisted I was imagining things - said I was fine. My foot was swollen to twice its normal size and nearly black and I was fine?

Fortunately, I saw a real doctor that time. She walked in, immediately told me I had a fractured foot and sent me to x-ray. I limped to the other end of the clinic, on another floor, and was xrayed by someone who kept taking xrays of the wrong foot. I had to argue to get her to xray the injured foot. The doctor I saw ordered an orthopedic boot, and when I got to orthopedics (again, on a broken foot), the non-doctor technician refused to provide the boot prescribed by the doctor, saying she knew more and didn't think I really needed it. She fitted me with a different device that caused extreme pain, and I had to walk BACK to the doctor's office and complain to several people just so I could talk to the doctor and get that corrected. By that time, the xrays were back and they learned that the xray technician had not taken the views ordered by the doctor, so I had to walk back to xray for more pictures, then back to orthopedics for the correct device (and was there subjected to rude derogatory remarks by the non-medical employee I'd complained about)

The foot was horribly fractured, and aggravated by the weeks following the original misdiagnosis by a Mayo Clinic "doctor." I went through a lengthy recovery and nearly had to have extensive reconstructive surgery. I was able to avoid the surgery, but had to learn to walk again and still can't walk normally. During my recovery, when I was supposed to have follow-up visits in orthopedics, the clerical staff would refuse to schedule appointments or to have medical staff call me because of the complaint I'd filed on the original woman who refused to fill my doctor's orders for an orthopedic boot.

The pain at the fracture site continues nearly 2 years later and I can't do a lot of things I could before.

The final insult was the bill. Mayo billed me for something like 12 xrays of that foot. That's how many wrong pictures were taken by someone who couldn't/wouldn't follow the instructions by the x-ray technician. They charged me for their mistakes, and my insurance company wouldn't pay for those. My total out-of-pocket should have been no more than a couple hundred, but it was around $2000.

The only bright spot in this nightmare was the physician I saw on the second visit. She was skilled, compassionate, and concerned, and made numerous calls to other medical staff to ensure that I received an accurate diagnosis and appropriate care. She even called my house to check on me. Unfortunately, she was the only person within the Mayo that I encountered during that time who was even remotely professional. If not for her, I may have suffered even worse permanent effects than I have.

Like the family in your story, I assumed that because I was being treated at the Mayo Clinic, I would receive the highest quality of care available today. That experience involving what seemed to be a minor injury has made me afraid to return to them for any care. I would not want a member of my family to be treated by anyone at the Mayo.

I'm glad to see someone else has posted here. I'm sorry for your foot debacle. If you would have had an extra toe suddenly appear on your heel, they probably would have given you their finest orthopedic doctor and then jumped all over it to get newspaper coverage.

I can only reiterate what I wrote in my first post just in case anyone else is coming to read the comments: Find a private practice doctor who actually SEES their patients. So often, places like the Mayo and others, have so many underqualified underlings doing the work that you just don't get adequate medical care unless you have some strange disorder that they can work on and then document and get some air time and print coverage to further the myth that going to a clinic is better than seeing a private practice physician. Phoenix has so many good hospitals and a good private practice physician will do your surgery at any one of them where he/she has earned the right to operate.

This is a tragedy, and shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

My opinion of Mayo just plummeted.

Older American's should understand this but maybe not. I would expect someone younger to not know this. I guess anyone wearing a white smock could give the wrong impression. http://www.phoenix-life-insurance.com

I ALWAYS distinguish myself as a nurse practitioner and tell my patients what I am qualified to do as such. It is important for patients to ask questions about qualifications of others and ask to see credentials if they feel uncomfortable. I can't imagine losing function due to someone not trained to evaluate or treat. Shameful!
http://www.npplace.com