Disabled Doctors

[stillstANNding]

Article from the NTts:

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And it says that people w disablities get worse care than the non-disabled.

ANN

[agate]

Good article! Difficulty with transportation is often a problem for people with disabilities, I think. If they can no longer drive and their friends and family aren't willing to serve as their taxi service, they're often stuck with whatever system their community offers.

Heaven help them if they don't live in a large metropolitan area because less populated areas don't seem to offer much in terms of transportation for people with special needs.

For over 20 years my primary care doctor was a woman who had developed a problem with one leg. Though she was still fairly young, she was scooting around her office on a stool with wheels. She was away on leave several times for a year or so. She clearly had problems of her own but she was probably the best doctor I've had since MS.

[Sunshine]

Think she has MS?

[Sunshine]

Good article Ann. Thanks for posting it.
Now we are armed with knowledge about how to be sure we get quality care, e.g. Cancer screenings etc.

[agate]

Think she has MS?

I doubt it. She'd have told me, I'm pretty sure. Another doctor who knew her mentioned that she'd been having a lot of trouble with her leg, but that's all I ever found out about it.

Could be a congenital problem or maybe an old injury acting up?

I often did wonder but didn't want to ask.

[Sunshine]

I asked my neuro if he had MS based on something I noticed. He said, no.

[Cat Dancer]

The first neuro I had, used a wheelchair. I don't know what his disability was. He was excellent, and I was sorry to lose him when I moved away. Many many years later I moved back to the same area (close to where I live now) and found that he was still in practice, so we re-connected. He has since died (and his obituary did not mention his disability). The neuro I now use, and nurse practitioner, while not themselves disabled, are the ones who now run his clinic (still in his name), knew him, practiced with him, and are much more attuned to disability than other neuros I've had over the years.

My general practitioner is pretty sensitive to people with disabilities...but indeed does not have the equipment necessary for me to get on to an exam table, for instance. My urologist's office is in the local hospital, so if I need to be physically examined, we are able to use the hospital's lifts and have nurses to assist in getting me on a table. When I have to have a cath change, I have to go to the hospital to have that done. For a long time they were charging me for an "emergency room" visit. After calls to my insurance company .. who called the hospital...that got changed. It was costing me $98/month; now it costs nothing.

And yes, transportation is an issue. We have a handicap accessible vehicle, but if I needed to go somewhere and TC couldn't take me, I have to call 3 days in advance for a ride, and it has to be within the county -- my primary care doctor and urologist both are in the next county... so I'm stuck.

Prior to these doctors I had lousy health care. Now I feel pretty confident that they can..with a little effort which they seem willing to expend...do whatever I need to get proper care.

[agate]

And what's with neuros who don't think in terms of the neurologically "challenged" patients they'll undoubtedly be dealing with?

My previous neuro had no bathroom connected with his office. The bathroom I was told about was on another floor and not exactly accessible. Then he moved to another office--and that place's bathroom was outside the office and down a very long hall.

Not exactly convenient for someone with unpredictable bathroom needs.

And while he was in that office, which was a practice with two other neuros, I was waiting in the waiting area one day, and another waiting patient, alone in his wheelchair (nobody with him), toppled out of his wheelchair and onto the floor. He could have been injured but I gather he wasn't.

Still, it took the office staff entirely too long to come to his aid because they were barricaded behind a high counter and had to get over to a door, open the door, and get to him. It would have been so much easier if at least one staff person could have been at a desk located IN the waiting room.

Apparently one reason for these high counters, often with sliding glass windows, is that the office personnel are afraid that one of us patients will go berserk....

[SuzE-Q]

Well, if 20% of Americans have a disability, why aren't 20% of the parking stalls reserved for the disabled then?

Why only a measly few, for the most part??

[agate]

Well, if 20% of Americans have a disability, why aren't 20% of the parking stalls reserved for the disabled then?

Why only a measly few, for the most part??

This building probably has about 10% of the parking spaces designated for disabled parking.

Maybe the 20% of the population who are disabled include many who don't have a mobility impairment but are disabled in some other way? Hearing, for instance? Some people have uncorrectable hearing loss or some other impairment that wouldn't get in the way of their walking, I think. Arm amputations, some disorders of the neck like torticollis?

[Sunshine]

The hcap spots are always parked up in my neuros multi specialty huge group practice.

And, they tucked his office as far from the front door as one could get, so long walks across lot, long walk to the suite. Yah, they got wheelchairs, but, those are hard to use.

When he was solo, it was so accessible.

[agate]

Growl. Neurologists of all people should make a point of having very very accessible offices.

I'm guessing that many aren't doing that. For one thing, neuros I've dealt with have had a way of opening up more offices in other locations, so you have your choice of seeing your neuro at one of maybe 3 or more addresses.

If they're that busy finding and furnishing several offices, how attentive are they being about making sure those offices have accessibility features?

Not very, I'm guessing.

[Sunshine]

Many neuros, like mine, are in enormous groups of 100 docs, so they're employees of large corporations or Hospital conglomerates, and bossed around by bean counters. It's likely the wave of the future..l.

[agate]

Many neuros, like mine, are in enormous groups of 100 docs, so they're employees of large corporations or Hospital conglomerates, and bossed around by bean counters. It's likely the wave of the future..l.

You've made a good point. I do hope the neuros are constantly speaking up at meetings in favor of more accessibility for their offices, though. Maybe they should threaten to move their practices elsewhere unless the necessary changes are made.

*badmood

[Stepping up to the plate to fight the neuros' battles for them]