You know you have a bad doctor when you leave a hospital with an IV line in to go to another hospital

Unfortunately, it is a true story. Right after my daughter was born I came down with a serious kidney infection. After a week of 105 degree temperatures, it was apparent the antibiotics they had given me were not working.

So, my doctor finally decided that I needed to be admitted before my kidneys shut down. Out of the 5 hospitals in our city, mine chose one that did not have the best reputation. Seeing as I trusted him, I went against my better judgment. When I got there, the nurse was less than nice to me. After 2 hours of complaining that my IV start in my arm was painful without them running fluids through it, I finally had an IV team come in to start a new one.

I called my doctor a few times and was told that "he would take care of it". So now I finally have an IV that is not painfully sitting in my arm, but still no fluids running into it. I spent the next 8 hours in that room, calling my doctor at least 5 times to complain that I still was not getting the treatment that he felt I needed. To make it worse, my IV pole was feet away from me in my room, just not hooked up to me. It seemed that my physician was not "taking care of the problem", as he had told me numerous times that night.

With the help of my dear older sister, we decided that something needed to be done. My last call to my physician informed him that I was leaving the hospital and going to another one, whether they had beds available or not (at the time I was admitted, I was told they had no beds and I would be set up in the ER). So my sister drove me to the hospital that I trusted, and when I explained what had happened and showed them the IV start still in my arms, the look on their faces was priceless! They could not believe what I had been through for the last 10 hours, but that the hospital I was at did not object to my leaving with the IV start in place. So finally, I was given the IV fluids and antibiotics my body was in such need of. I did have to stay in the ER. They had beds available, but were afraid to subject any of their floors with whatever bug I had....funny they exposed how many people who were patrons of their emergency room though??

After returning home, I received a beautiful basket of flowers and a call from the hospital CEO himself apologizing for my abhorrent treatment. As for the un-listening doctor, he is no longer my physician. If I can't count on him when I need him, what is the use of continuing to see him? You know you have a bad doctor when you leave a hospital with an IV line in to go to another hospital.