Dallas Doctor Warning

I don't have a lot of respect for many aspects of the Medical Business Industry. My limited contact with that business has always been not a pretty thing.

My worst experience being when I had to have a CAT SCAN. When I got to the hospital I was told that my doctor had ordered a different test due to some new test results. I was told I needed, I think it was called, a Gallium scan. It's been a lot of years and these are memories I want to fade.

I asked what is a Gallium scan for? You'll have to talk to your doctor I was told. I started getting a bit nervous. I was brought a large glass of a very vile fluid and told to drink it. It was gag material.

After about an hour a doctor showed up and I asked again what this Gallium scan was for and what has happened that has changed so that I'm not having a CAT SCAN? I was told a Gallium scan was to look for Hodgkin's Disease. I knew this was a cancer and that my grandpa I never met was killed by it.

Needless to say my blood pressure was going up. I was already in there for a fairly serious problem and now it got way amped up.

I started getting more insistent that I wanted an explanation. A nurse looked at some charts and seemed confused. She left. After awhile 2 doctors showed up. They asked my name. You're not Mr. Sloan? No, I am not. They told me there'd been a chart mix up.

And so, I was then led to another room, with my gut full of that vile liquid. There was some apologizing and then we proceeded on to the CAT SCAN.

When I got the medical bills, they were a Byzantine Ball of Confusion. My original operation required a, well, prothesis type of thing, made of silicone. The bill charged twice for it. I found many mistakes in the bill with my amateur eyes. I took the bill to my doctor and asked if he'd look for other mistakes. He said he wouldn't do that, ask a nurse. The nurse wouldn't do it either. I called the hospital and told them due to all the mistakes of various sorts I was not going to pay them. And I didn't.

Now, why am I telling this sad story right now? Well, I just read Gar the Texan's Blog about his bad experience recently with a bad Dallas doctor. A shrink named Neil Jacobson. Gar the Texan's daughter nearly died from this quack prescribing a pill after seeing her for 15 minutes. The hospital bill is quite large, Gar the Texan's lawyer told him it is not economically feasible to sue over such a small amount. I told Gar the Texan that is what small claims court is for.

And one of the things the Internet is good for is being able to spread the word about dangers like this Dallas doctor. 20 years ago our only source of such info would have been the conventional media, like the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In other words, we live in an infinitely safer world now due to the Internet.