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The other day I went with my husband to his regular monthly appointment to his orthopedic dr he see's for a severe shoulder injury. They do not allow spouse to go into the examining room so i waited as ususal in the waiting room. While waiting the receptionist received a call from a patient. From what I could get from listening the patient was requesting to get an immediate appointment to see the dr due to severe pain. She preceded to yell and scream at this person about he was going to have to wait until his scheduled appointment and how tired she was of dealing with drug addicts. Then she put him on hold and started stomping around and going on the craziest tirade I have ever seen! I guess before she put this person on hold he was getting very angry and she told the other receptionist she was going to record the rest of the call. Anyway after the phone call she then started stomping around again saying she was going to bring her .38 with her from now on and keep t in her file cabinet. I was shocked to say the least. Everyone in the waiting room was just aghast. I have never seen such unprofessional behaior in my life. Bringing a gun? Isn;t that a crime? How does someone go about reporting this person? I am still in shock and cannot believe what I witnessed.
Other than that you should have gotten names and phone numbers of the other people waiting,
In any Dr.'s office the law requires them to have a notice posted giving a name and a phone number of the person to contact to report things. It should be the same person for every office in your area, go by another office, and they will be able to at least give you the number to the State Board of Health, that is the dept. that is over Dr.'s offices.
She has serious anger management issues and a threat to bring a gun to deal with patients shouldn't be taken lightly. I say that as a law abiding gun owner. It's ignoring that kind is warning signal that gets people killed. Then people say "I wish I'd said something when I saw the questionable behavior before they hurt someone.
Whether the gun is a crime depends on where you live, but the behavior is a big red flag.
Please report her to the State Medical Board. The Medical Board is responsible for investigating complaints and disciplining bad doctors and nurses.
Never had a doc refuse to let hubby in the room. He lets me squeeze his hands when I get my trigger point injections and the doc depends on him as much as me to let her know how I am because some times it hurts so much I can't talk but he can tell her "she's OK - keep going."
Our doc has even thanked us for both coming in together as she tells us that sometimes she gets more info from the opposite one that had the original appt.
As far as the girl, Not only would I report her to the board, I would call the doctors office ASAP and ask to speak with the doc, when asked for what just say it is a personal matter and tell the doc! Even go to the office and wait for a nurse to come out and ask if you can talk to the doc right away about one of his staff. I would report her both ways! That lady needs to be fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As for this person's reaction to the "disgruntled" patient, I had the same reaction as everyone else. Then I wondered, what could have set her off? Could something else be going on? Perhaps real addicts have threatened them before in an attempt to get drugs. Not that her reaction was appropriate. It most certainly wasn't. It just makes you wonder if there has been problems in the past. People have robbed pharmacies and stuff here in the pursuit of drugs.
In a doctor's office they are supposed to be compassionate and caring. If they can't handle it then they are in the wrong profession. Doing that in front of patients and to patients? No excuse. I think I might have thought about calling the cops if I was sitting there in the waiting room
Perhaps she has dealt with this person before and he is in fact a drug addict who is difficult to manage. That does not excuse her behavior to this person. Where is her compassion for their patients that are struggling, even if it is with drug addiction?? This person still deserves to be treated with the same compassion as anyone else!
I also think its a bit odd that they won't/don't allow spouses in the exam room too. I would absolutely not go there again if that women was still there for my next appointment, esp after reporting it. That would show that the whole office (not just the one who acted out) feels that what she said and did was acceptable.
Take Care, Dawn
Never once did I ever suggest I'd bring a gun into work. Ever! Now, I did however joke about it because that is how I cope.
But hey, if it was attention she wanted to help her cope with her call, she could take her act and go on stage with Miley Cyrus.