Customer satisfaction? What's that?

I didn't think it was possible for me to find another industry that used the same bad business model that Charter Cable uses, but some how I did. And what industry would treat their customers with contempt, sneer at people who asked questions, and demand utter obedience and obsequiousness from their customers? Why that industry would be the health care industry in general and the cardiology profession in particular (my regular cardiologist is exempt from this tirade).

For those you of who are joining this blog already in progress, let me update you. In 2004 I had a massive heart attack while I was in Knoxville. I got sent to the Baptist Hospital ER where I met Dr. Hoadley, who would become my regular cardiologist. He put a stent in me that night and he recommended I get bypass surgery. Six weeks after my heart attack I got quadruple bypass surgery. After my successful bypass surgery I decided to keep on seeing Dr. Hoadley because he is a good doctor who listens to me, which is a rarity these days, despite the fact that his office is in Knoxville and I live in Johnson City. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of TN here is a little visual aid to help you visualize the distance from Knoxville to Johnson City:

Red dot=Johnson City

Blue dot=Knoxville

So every time I got to see my cardiologist I have to drive about 220 miles round trip. I don't mind it now because I only see him about every six months or so. However the last time I saw him he said I needed to get a cardio stress test done since my last one was done in January of 2005. After checking with the people in his office I found out that I could only get one scheduled for early in the morning at around 7:30/8 AM. They don't schedule any any later in the day so that meant that I would have to get up at around 5:30 AM and drive like a bat out hell to get to their office on time. Well boys and girls, I decided to try something different this time, something that would be more convenient for me, something so radical that it would cause some people to freak out, I decided to get my cardio stress test done locally in Johnson City and then I'd give the results to my cardiologist on my next appointment.

There in lies the problem. I thought, silly me, that a cardio stress test was a stress test was a stress test and that if you got one done at a reputable hospital then it would be fine and the results would be accepted country, if not world, wide. Seems simple doesn't it? Get a test done close to home and then have your regular doctor, the guy who has all your info and who knows you, interpret the results later.

Well kids, I somehow managed to wangle an appointment with a cardiology outfit here in Johnson City and I told the referring phys. office that I needed to see them for a stress test only. When I got the cardiology office in town this morning I was told that the referring phys. office had sent me over as a new cardiology patient and that they had no idea I needed a stress test. I politely but firmly told them I was not going to be a regular patient and that I only wanted a stress test done. This seemingly simple request of mine seemed to throw the two nurses who I dealt with initially. They seemed stunned that I would tell them what treatment or test I wanted instead of it being the other way around.

After a few minutes of sitting alone in the cold as hell exam room a douchebag on two legs, or he may actually have been the doctor I'm not sure, came in the room and he demanded to know if I got the stress test done there was he was going to be my cardiologist from then on.

I told him no. I said I would continue to see Dr. Hoadley. This seemed to throw Dr. Douchebag for a big loop. He stammered and hemmed and hawed and when he finally determined that he was not going to be making any more money off me he then said that I should get the stress test done in Knoxville. I told Dr. Douchebaggy that it was a matter of convenience for me to get it done there and then I could take the results to Knoxville next time I went to see my regular cardiologist. Dr. Douchenheimer was having none of it. He claimed that cardiologists rarely trusted stress test results from other cardiologists and that he was suspicious of anyone who walked in his office bearing results of tests done elsewhere. I stood my ground and I told him that I'd like to get the test which I had scheduled for today done. He said I should get it done in Knoxville. I tried to tell him again about the convenience aspect and he interrupted me by telling me that I was an unpleasant person who was just giving him some "shit." I stood up and told him, "Fine, if you don't want to do the stress test here I'll get it done in Knoxville." It was all I could not to spit on him and tell him he was one of the reasons why people hate doctors and hospitals.

I couldn't believe how condescending and jack assy he was towards me and my situation. Because my medical gravy train wasn't going to be stopping at his shitty station any more he decided to say, "Fuck you, I don't care what you want or what is good for you, it's all about me and making money for my practice." As for insane pronouncement that cardiologists rarely trust outside test results, I know that's a fucking lie because the last stress test I had done was at a hospital other than the one where I usually get treatment and my cardiologist readily accepted those results. Maybe, just maybe, Dr. Doucheinstein at Heart and Vascular, located at Suite 24 in 408 North State of Franklin Road, Johnson City, TN, knew his people were not up to snuff and that the test results from his office are universally suspect and he did not want another office finding out how incompetent he and his people are.

It really is a shame that medical "professionals" like this asshole are allowed to dictate when and where people get the tests their regular doctor orders for them. I'm sure if I lived in Canada, or the UK, or in France, I could have gotten that stress test done anywhere I fucking wanted and it the results would have been accepted anywhere.