At a recent holiday gathering, a woman took me aside and asked how to file a compalint against a physician. She had made
an appointment several weeks ahead of time and was told that the doctor was an excellent orthopedic surgeon. She and her husband had driven two hours to get to his office. Once they arrived, they had a long wait, but were finally ushered into an examining room. The couple saw the doctor in the hall, but he went into another examining room and didn''t nod or say "hello".
A young woman came in and started to examine the patient. When the patient said she was there to see the orthopedist, the individual said, "Oh, I''m the one who will see you. The doctor has to go to a conference!" The patient asked about the woman''s training and all she would say was that she had a master''s degree. She would say nothing more and the couple left.
Unfortunately, more and more doctors are using untrained and
unlicensed personnel in their offices to do examinations and treatments. This is completely unacceptablel. Deaths have been reported, even of well-known individuals, when these personnel do treatments.
I told the woman to go to the Medical Board of California Web site where a form can be downloaded which gives instructions for filing a complaint against a physician or other personnel in a doctor''s office. Each state has a way to file a complaint and we all must complain about unacceptable and poor medical care. Otherwise,
physicians will keep on using unlicensed personnel in their offices to do examinations and treatments.