Thursday, August 22, 2019

Big Donor

Dr. Grumpy: "How you doing today?"

Mr. Big Donor: "I'm tired. You wouldn't believe what happened to my daughter's husband last night."

Dr. Grumpy: "He okay?"

Mr. Big Donor: "My son-in-law, Todd, was hanging up some pictures last night and accidentally hammered his thumb. It was really killing him. Maybe he broke it. He ended up having to go to ER."

Dr. Grumpy: "Ouch. That must have hurt."

Mr. Big Donor. "So he finally went there around midnight, and they left him sitting in the lobby. He said they kept bringing all these people from ambulances in ahead of him, and this one lady who had something stupid, like chest pain, got taken right back."

Dr. Grumpy: "  "

Mr. Big Donor: "So he finally called me when he remembered I'm on the hospital foundation's board. I was so angry. I called Dr. Brown... you know him? He's CEO over there? I have his home number and woke him up and told him about this bullshit they were doing to Todd. He took care of it, and they got Todd back in the next 5 minutes. But it's such crap that I even had to do that. I mean, I'm not a doctor, but even I know how a health care system should work. But the dimwits in ER have no clue."

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Priorities people, priorities!

Anonymous said...

went to the ER?!?!?! How 'bout some ice first w/ some ibuprofen?!?!?! then maybe Urgent Care?

Andy Syms said...

W.T.F.!!!

bobbie said...

Maybe you could suggest to him that he find another doctor???

stacey said...

And that sums up everything wrong with who is ruining, er uh, running health care.

ndenunz said...

It's too bad Dr. Brown kowtowed to him. The Dr. could have politely explained how ER triage worked instead of throwing his staff under the bus.

Fleance Porschley Neckradish said...

"Honestly, this is even more infuriating than what happened last week, when Todd was cleaning his shotgun and it went off and shot one of his servants, and then he called 911 to see if they could help him get the bloodstains out of his good shirt."

Anonymous said...

"We're also filing a $10 million lawsuit against GE for making their refrigerator doors so hard to hammer nails into. How are people supposed to put up their kids' finger paintings?"

Brian said...

What ndenunz said. Yeah, heart attack trumps an owie on your thumb.

Anonymous said...

"The pictures had just come back from the framers, and he was so excited to put them up. They're a very rare set of signed 8" x 10" photographs of Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Goering, AND Heydrich!"

Anonymous said...

"My grandson, Toby, got a 'C' on his latest geography test, so Todd was just nailing some pictures of the teacher's children on her front door along with some pictures of guns, just so she'd think twice next time. Anyway, this cop car comes by out of nowhere and puts on the siren and tells him to stop right there, and the noise startles him and he bangs his thumb. Luckily it only took me one phone call to get that cop fired."

Ms. Donna said...

Boy, the "neutral doctor shades" must have gone down fast! Seriously!

Loren Pechtel said...

Take him back--and toss him out into the alley.

Manda said...

What an entitled twatwaffle

Packer said...

Yep, he is one who could be patient of no other than Dr. G. Fits the profile precisely.

My last visit to ER , they whisked me right in on a Saturday night, BP 200/100, pulse 160. I felt bad about jumping the line. ER nurse said this is not take a number at the deli you got something going on they’re just the normal Saturday night drunken brawlers. My introduction to A Fib overseen by Hospital Security keeping the ugly mob at bay

Anonymous said...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Stupidity should hurt.

jono said...

That is the primary problem with health care. Money, and everything to do with it.

William said...

Boy, I could tell you some ER stories with an elderly mother. Don't know which state you are in.

Lesson 1. At least in California. Always arrive in an ambulance no matter how minor. So what if the ride is $1,000...or more?

My mother had what was determined to be a mini stroke (TIA?)

It was a Sunday and we went to one of those "Doc in a box" places - where the Dr suggests she go to the hospital.

"I'll call an ambulance".

"No need", I sezs, since the hospital is 2 blocks down the street. I could see it, beckoning. "I'll drive her. "

We get to the ER and wait in the lobby 2-3 hours. Come in an ambulance and you get in to see a Dr quickly.

On donors that guy wasn't showing any humility and to wake someone up at night???? That's over the top.

But...

I know someone whose fundraising saved a hospital - they were on the verge of bankruptcy because of some well-publicized (and deserved) lawsuits - and she raised 10s of millions and saved the hospital.

And when she needed them for something they had no room available. Maybe I don't have the story quite right but they weren't able to help her.

Seemed to me that a **little** gratitude would be in order and no, she is not the kind of person who would give the "Do you know who I am?" routine.

Anonymous said...

"Anyway, now they have Todd on a six-month course of strong laxatives."'

Anonymous said...

I used to have a coworker who went to the ER with a non-life-threatening problem and got tired of waiting to be seen so she pretended to be having chest pains so she'd be taken back right away. I was flabbergasted to say the least. I sure hope no one else waiting in the ER suffered consequences because she was taken in before them.

Anonymous said...

William - at my hospital if you come in an ambulance and aren't as sick as the people in the waiting room, you will go right out to wait with them. It's all about who is sickest no matter how you come in. Only exceptions are demented/bedbound people who have to be observed etc. - whitecap nurse

clairesmum said...

anonymous 3:43 Let's hope that course of treatment will clear up his 'feces for brains" condition!

Don said...

Of course Mr Donor was wrong. Emergency isn't 1st come first served, it is triaged by need.

But I feel sorry for Todd. I crushed the end of my thumb once framing in a window. I could tell it was broken, by the shape of the end, so I went to the ER with my bag of ice. Small town, so I didn't have to wait a long time. Doctor didn't think it was broken, because "you never hit your thumb as hard as you think you did, because of reflexes". Eventually he did decide to xray it. Sure enough, shattered the end of the bone. End result, light duty for a couple weeks, permanently changed the way my thumb is shaped, and I have a numb spot where a nerve got crushed. No surgery, no cast.

Third time I have broken a bone, and never had a cast (Heel, Ribs, Tip of thumb)

It can really hurt, and you can do some real damage, I understand why Todd went in.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm of two minds about emergency rooms. One good and one kind of bad. Christmas Eve day 2016, a pain in my right side kept me from wrapping gifts and finally about 5pm went to the emergency room and was seen by a doctor immediately. Of course, appendicitis and had surgery Christmas Day. Fast forward to December 6, 2018, my husband had surgery to fix a herniated disc. Surgery went well but he fell in his room. He spent 3 weeks in rehab where he fell again. He gets home Dec. 28th and 10 days later falls and this time I have to call 911. They take him to the emergency room where he sits in a wheelchair for SIX HOURS before he sees a doctor. After some tests, they tell us he broke a bone in his back and was admitted to the hospital again. We are not happy campers.

Anonymous said...

I think I need to move away from these peeps, but where? Nevermind, they're everywhere.

Geno said...

I worked in roofing for a summer. My boss said if you don't have any smashed fingers you are not working hard enough. I split my thumb nail in two and got some duck tape to fix it, kept working but the tequila really helped.

Anonymous said...

At my hospital:
CEO's sister = normal care (and he didn't visit her).
Big donor = room at quiet end of hall, all staff told to treat with special care.

ayeekaz said...

The hospital manager once tried this on me. I told him if the patient was so special he could come see the pt himself. Fuck that. I've made the premier of health wait. In fact, I have a policy that if you're well enough to bitch about wait times, you're well enough to wait for me to have a cup of coffee. Or lunch. If you're calm and reasonable, I'll see you asap, and do my best to get you out quickly. But don't try to pull a fast one on me.

 
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