Monday, April 13, 2009

How To Ditch Your Doctor - In One Easy Lesson!

So by the age of two Hari appeared to be in a no win situation with regards to health care.

She had been refused diagnosis regarding her lack of growth.

Outpatients follow up was not arranged - we had agreed to attend if 'potential' and 'future' entered the vocabulary Peter Fleming used in relation to Hari but no appointments were offered!

Non-existent problems such as sight and hearing problems were being attributed to her - simply because she had cerebral palsy.

She was blocked from getting an MRI brain scan even though it wouldn't cost the NHS a penny and would be beneficial to her care.

And she was being refused further monitoring of her platelet levels in connection with the ITP.

Enough was enough!

When Hari had been put back under the care of Peter Fleming, at the point when the ITP was diagnosed, I had some serious reservations. However, I considered that maybe things might be better this time round, so had been prepared to offer him a second chance.

That was clearly a mistake!

The only sensible way forward for Hari was to ditch Peter Fleming again, so I contacted the general office at the hospital and requested that her care be transferred to another doctor. I was given the choice between two consultants and with some guidance from staff decided that David Baum was probably the best option.

At first we were expected to wait whilst letters were written between the two doctors - but knowing how long it can take for letters to be written and typed I decided that this was not a brilliant idea at all! So the transfer was arranged quite rapidly and Hari's care was transferred to David Baum.


At a later point I discovered that many staff at the hospital had gained some enjoyment from this event. It was with great hilarity that they shared jokes about the fact that I had - 'sacked Peter Fleming twice!' - and it wasn't me they were laughing at!

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