My husband and I relocated to Paso Robles three- plus years ago and are now moving back to Santa Fe, New Mexico due to the inaccessibility of health care options in this underserved area. I’m one of those patients who “fell through the cracks” due to a negligent primary-care physician who didn’t order the prescribed CT scan that would have detected my cancer, which went undiagnosed for over a year. He chose to refer me to a series of sub-specialists who never thought outside their own health care silos.
At one point, as my weight loss of over 50 pounds and abdominal pain continued unabated, he said, “I’ll see you in six months.” I looked at him in stunned disbelief. With a flick of his wrist, as he walked away, he said, “You’ll be fine.”
Well, I wasn’t fine. After finally over a period of weeks, thanks to assistance from my local insurance rep, I secured a new primary-care physician—who was attentive and caring; Dr. Michael Lebens ordered a CT scan that showed a grapefruit-size, necrotic cyst in my liver and a primary breast cancer. I immediately started immuno/chemo therapy treatments after being referred to an oncology practice in Arroyo Grande. After my prescribed series of treatments, I’m now on maintenance therapy. Thereafter, I had a breast lumpectomy done by a respected breast surgeon in SLO.
(As an aside, in my subsequent follow-up visit, I waited close to an hour for my 12:45 p.m. appointment and finally asked a staff member how much longer before I could expect to see the doctor. She said I should be patient. “There are patients ahead of you.” About 10 minutes later, he came into the examining room seething in anger, saying, “You made my staff uncomfortable,” and followed by saying, in effect, you need to find another doctor. He then proceeded to recite a long paean to himself for working me into his practice and how I was now preventing him from seeing other waiting patients. He made no attempt to defuse the incident. When I accused him of putting his staff before his patient and began to cry, he only looked at me with dismissive contempt.)
When doctor burnout occurs, arrogance and the erosion of standards ensues. There doesn’t seem to be any oversight nor any enforced accountability regarding patient-care codes of conduct. Too many doctors have limited communication skills and are anxious to usher you out the door within the managerially imposed 15-minute office visit.
This designated “rural” area suffers from lower reimbursement levels. Population projections for this area portend a steep growth curve as boomers move here based upon quality-of-life issues. Accessibility to good health care is also a “quality of life” issue that all too often gets overlooked. The signs of dysfunction in this ailing system need to be addressed. A task force needs to be appointed to come up with proactive solutions to this building crisis which needs to be factored into impact studies for new builds.
The words, “You made my staff uncomfortable,” points to an erosion of “do no harm” standards enshrined in the Hippocratic Oath. I offer this personal testimony as a humbly offered forewarning. ∆
Barbara Allen Kenney writes to New Times from Paso Robles. Send a letter for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jul 18-28, 2024.