Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

A visit to a health center last week by a local man to see the doctor who was his healthcare provider turned into an experience that he was not expecting. As the individual was in the doctor’s office, he was told that results from recent tests were good. The man was pleased to hear the news, but things took a turn when he asked the doctor for refills on some medication for pain that he was taking. The individual claimed the doctor began shouting at him out of nowhere. In his rant, the doctor allegedly said that the patient's former doctor is gone and that he would not be prescribing any more medicine for him. The doctor allegedly said that the former doctor had been gone for "four f----ng years" and that he would not be prescribing him more medication. The man, upset with how the physician was speaking to him, rebuked and questioned him for using foul and aggressive language. In recourse, the doctor, according to the patient, said he was sorry and nothing else. The patient said he felt that the doctor knew that he was wrong and could not understand the doctor's outburst. The man, once again, asked about his prescription, noting that the current doctor had seen him for the past two years and there had never been an issue or changes of his prescribed medications, and the tone of the conversation changed. Prior to this incident, the doctor had not acted any differently in past visits. The patient perceives that his new doctor, who is white, may have some ill feelings about the former doctor, whom the local man talked fondly about, or may have developed a bias towards him. After his visit was done the patient went to the receptionist's window and told one of the employees what had just happened. He said that he wanted to file a complaint because of the way the doctor handled him. According to the man, the employee wrote up the complaint and said that she could not do anything but would share the complaint with her superiors. When the man asked for a copy of the complaint, the employee said that she could not do that. He allegedly was told that someone would get in touch with him, but as of press time, no one from the health center has called him. What was only supposed to be a brief checkup has now escalated into a problem for him since he is still without his needed medications. He only needed the doctor to refill his pain meds with a local pharmacy, but now, he says that he is taking over-the-counter meds for pain that are not adequate for his medical needs. He said that he has experienced pain and suffering and emotional turmoil, not being able to have his regular medications because of what happened in the health center. He is now working on setting up appointments with a different health service to get his medications which is a big inconvenience. The man has an appointment to return in three months, and he wonders how things will turn out. He hopes to hear from the health center before then to know what he needs to do.