Useless Doctor

[Wingus]

I'm at the point i got no idea what to do anymore, my doctor is bloody useless.

First off, i had to put a bit of preasure on him to react to my claims i needed a bit more help than a prescription with my depression, as it's something that's been with me for a long time now, mabee too long.

Anyway, i got to see my phychiatrist, and after a few sessions over time, he seen me on a major downer, not a regular off day, but on a major off the scale down time.

We went through the options what could be done, and at the end he asked how many meds i was taking. This made him very very annoyed, as it was not even close to the correct dosage i was supposed to be on.

I was supposed to be on 200mg of an anti-depressant...but instead i was only getting 25mg, way under normal dose.

I explained that my doctor didn't even attempt to increase the dose, nor even try to tell me what it was for or why, in fact he never even called me in for an examination or anything.

My psychiatrist showed me the letter he wrote to my doctor telling me exctly what i was supposed to be on, and how much and how often. I'm no doctor, but i sure as hell could see clearly and even understand what he wrote, it was in bold typed writing and in 2 sentances. Very simple and very clear. Yet my doctor never even tried to up my meds.

I'm at a loss as to what i can do, weather it is medical negligence, if not with me, could he also be doing this to other folk that are not as suspicious as me? ..it just brings up a whole bees nest of questions, and i'm not sure what to do.

I don't want to accuse anyone of anything that i can't prove, but i seen the letter, and it does concern myself only, and it is my health at steak. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't something that i desperately need to keep me alive...to a point.

Could i sue my doc?

[Lula]

surely your first port of call is to make an appointment with your doctor to see if he actually received the letter and then tell him what the phychiatrist has recommended. Perhaps you should ask him to call your phychiatrist

[Wingus]

my psychiatrist sent 3 faxes, a letter and phones no end of times, even a social worker knows, but my doctor dont...and they say i'm the mad one..lol

[Lula]

so change your doctor, your social worker should be able to help

[Wingus]

not able to, we are in the only encatchment area for this part of our town, the other doctors surgery..which is closer, and only over the road...isn't in our boundry.

[My Real Name]

Do you know of any reason why your psychiatrist is not the one writing you a prescription?

[Wingus]

he did write a prescription this time, and next time i got to tell the doctor to do it, so that should be fun.

[My Real Name]

Originally Posted by Wingus

he did write a prescription this time, and next time i got to tell the doctor to do it, so that should be fun.

I'm confused on the chain of events here - where you say "I was supposed to be on 200mg of an anti-depressant" - that's according to whom?

Did your GP prescribe anti-depressants, and refer you to a psychiatrist, who in turn increaed the level of medication?

Have you had any follow up appointments with your GP?

[emmaf01]

In my area, your consultant (psychiatrist/endocrinologist/whatever), decides on your medication and dose, then faxes and writes to your GP who writes the actual prescription and sets up any repeat prescription- or at least the surgery's admin staff do.

Wingus, it might not be your GP's fault. He could have useless admin staff who are not passing the appripriate information to him, or entering it onto the computer system. This would mean your actual doctor never got to see the letters from your psychiatrist.

I would write to your GP surgery's Practice Manager. I would make an official complaint. And I would send a copy of that complaint to your local PCT PALS department. This is such a serious breach- imagine if it was for heart or epilepsy medication? What could happen if you received a dose so low for that. It is just as serious for depression- that kills people everyday too.

[tendogs]

Evening Wingus, this could be very difficult and it depends upon so many non-contingent variables. Is this a single handed practice or a health centre? Is there a practice manager? Do you have a CPN? And that’s just the beginning.
I’m not, in any way, an apologist for GPs the lousy ones tend to be truly appalling but I would think that your immediate desired outcome would be to have your mood stabilised and maintained and to feel on top of things before you decide to sue anyone.
GPs, especially the older ones have little or no idea about psychiatry and why should they? They have always been gate keepers and they are supposed to refer to specialist services in areas where they lack competence.
Your Psychiatrist is clinically responsible for your case management and it is through this route that you need to address your medication issues. It is no good showing you a letter that was sent to your GP there needs to be urgent first person contact between the consultant and GP (they will know each other unless one of them is a locum).
Contact your consultants secretary and ask that he/she contacts the GP about your meds and then arrange to call back to have the contact confirmed.
If you don’t have a Community Psychiatric Nurse ask if you can have one assigned to you, they will regularly monitor your meds and act as a supervisor for your GP.
You can, of course sue you GP but unless you have come to harm I doubt if you’ll get anywhere, you can report him/her to the general medical council but you’ll need to make a subject access request for all your medical records so that you have proof of what happened and that, in and of itself, can be a minefield. You might also write and complain to the chairman of your Primary Care Trust who has ultimate responsibility for primary care or, you might find that there is a patient advocacy service who are usually quite good.
Best wishes,
Dogs