MGH really pissed me off

[MAC]

As a lot of you know I had an accident at home 3 weeks ago. This led to an airlift to MGH. They fixed up the cut on my noggin and put a brace on my knee. Cat scans and xrays were done of my head and xrays done on my knee. (no MRI was done of my knee). They diagnosed my knee as a quadstrain 2 and started me on a physical therapy regimen. I was released 2 days later (even though they were trying to get rid of me a day the day before). 3 days after getting home something let go in my knee. I had been doing the PT regimen religiously. This stopped right then as it turned impossible.

A week later I went back to MGH to get the stitches out. They looked at my knee, which was still all swollen and suggested I see an orthropedic surgeon. Well HMOs' being what they are I had to get a referral. My follow up appointment with my primary care physician was 2 days later and she sent me to the orthropedic people.
This is when I found out that my quad was detached. The doctor made an appointment with an associate of his since he doesn't operate anymore. He also sent me for an MRI.

Well today I got a call from the orthropedic surgeon asking if I could come in today. (my original appointment was for this friday)
I went in and met him and we went over the MRIs. He told me the swelling was from pooled blood so he wants to go in pronto. I said fine, you are the boss. He then told me his sucess rate is 100% if done within his cut off date. ( 2 weeks or less from injury) I am at 3 weeks and 1 day but he still feels confident everything will be fine. He will drill holes in my knee pull the muscle through and tie knots. It is day surgery and lord willing I'll be home tomorrow afternoon.

The thing that busts my stones is: If Mass General had done the MRI (like my wife requested) a lot of this could have been avoided and I would have already been on the road to recovery.

[Backbeach Jake]

Good to see you posting, Dave. What the hell were they waiting for, your freakin' leg to fall off? It amazes me how numb they can be to other people's problems and pain. If I fixed cars like that, I couldn't hold a job.
My son broke his finger playing when he was little. I rushed him to the hospital, there was no mistake, his finger was a "Z".
The Doc was poed at me for not getting a referal said a broken bone is not an emergency. I said that it depended whos bone it is , wanna see? He shut up.

[stripercrazy]

dealing with all the medical/ bullcrap/redtape sucks, hopely your doctor's great and doe's a great job....after I got operated on,I had a puss/zit like infection on my neck twice in a year,they had to lance it and drain it after a year, a staple came out hopely in the end it will all work out for ya. one day at a time , hope ya have a speedy recovery,good luck ed

[MAC]

The thing that got to me was when the surgeon said he was concerned about blood clots from the pooled blood......

[spence]

MAC, but think about the money they saved by waiting

Sucks but I have a feeling it will turn out ok in the end.

-spence

[eastendlu]

Its a roll of the dice like anything else.

[BigFish]

That sucks Dave! Going thru the same HMO %$%$%$%$ here! Injured over 3 weeks ago....finally after all the appointments/referrals and jumping through hoops....therapy begins tomorrow! What a game they got goin'.....everyone is in to make a buck and the health care sucks!!!

[blue oyster]

best of luck , the bastages are never shy about taking our money , rates are through the roof but god forbid you need service , they make you jump through so many hoops don't even get me started on how long it takes to get an appointment , last time i called for an appointment they said 6 weeks i told them i would be cured or crippled by then , off to the emergency room

[Raven]

Mac.... i hope your surgery goes real well...

the thing i make sure to look out for now
is referals and who recieved them or not
because otherwize you get billed for it all.

i have had all my surgeries lately foul up
and instead of tufts paying the Bill it always
gets screwed up and they bill me instead.

so while your sitting there unable to move
much, get on the phone and make sure all
the referals arrived as planned.

i won't even accept a referal now unless
it's in writing and handed to me.
It's been that rediculous...

[fishaholic18]

That's F%$#@ BS Dave, I went tru the same crap with my back....They didn't want to pay and ended up seeing hack docs in the beginning,they didn't have a %$#@ clue....now 3+ years of pain and agony..finally get fixed...now he says I also have a tear in my hip that should have been fixed years ago...^%$#@ BS. They take $$$$ out of your check every week..No choise..But try to get proper care when you need it..Not right..I hope it all goes good Dave....

[MrHunters]

sounds like you have a good surgeon though.... hope all went welll as I read this you are done with surgery.

Originally Posted by Raven

Mac.... i hope your surgery goes real well...

the thing i make sure to look out for now
is referals and who recieved them or not
because otherwize you get billed for it all.

i have had all my surgeries lately foul up
and instead of tufts paying the Bill it always
gets screwed up and they bill me instead.

raven,
this happend to me when i had tufts. couldnt wait to get rid of them... almost cost me 25K in mri's