Doctors in Saint John :: Saint John, NB - Health & Wellness

JulieHebert · #1 10-30-2007

Ok for starters this is a thread for ranting so if you don't like ranting then don't contiue to read ...... Now that that is done here I go.

I took my 3 and a half month old daughter to the Regional Hospital Last monday around 11:00pm and only waited for a few minutes because she has had a weezing in her chest for 6 weeks and after x-rays six weeks ago they said it was nothing so I wasn't worrying about it until it got worse over the last couple weeks. So they had a Respirtory Therepist come down and check her out and they could hear something in her lungs to so I thought she might need puffers as there is a history of it in my family. But the doctor came in and checked her out and went out to talk to the therepist and argued with her that there was nothing wrong with her and to cancel the puffers, Then came in and said that I shouldn't even be there with her that it wasn't an emergency, and that there isn't anything wrong with her, I had a puzzeled look on my face and he said ..." what you don't believe me", I said " No I don't especially since the therepist said that she needed puffers and He came out and said "What you want something to be wrong with her"....I was so stunned that I couldn't even say anything. On top of that they weighed her and said she was over weight and that is why she can't breathe right. However when I went to see my family doctor 2 days later he weighed her and the first doctor was wrong and she wasn't over weight and she was started on puffers last wednesday and then was even worse that night so I took her up to St Josephs and after all this crap with trying to find out what is wrong with her, they told me she has a lung infection and an ear infection. So If that doctor could have paid a bit more attention to what he was doing to begin with they I would have found out 4 days before.Oh and I forgot to mention that when you are holding her or standing close to her you can hear it as plain as day. I guess since they get payed the big bucks they don't have to care what they tell you.

I feel better now.

smith · #2 10-30-2007

just to let you know the same thing happened to me and i have a doctor at the hospital that see's my son everymonth and he's still not better at all.i might take him to his family doctor tommow

FutureChief88 · #3 10-31-2007

well all..
I just found out i was pregnant a week ago.. I am VERY nigh risk having a bicornuate Uteres and this being my fifth pregnancy (I onjly have one child). I went to womens welness because i dont have a family Doctor and asked for a referral or appt .. I wanted to get into Dr FRank Sanderson. He is a perinatologist and looks after high risk pregnancies. As i was telling the receptionist my history.. the doctor that was standing there says " Yea.. and THAT'S uncommon"
Like WTF! I dont care if its common or not. This is MY body and MY child and i would like some care from the system i pay taxes to support! I have been lightly bleeding now since sunday. They have sent me for an ultrasound but the machines in In ultrasound suck so back they cant detect anything until your like 8 weeks pregnant! Dr. Sandersons machine can detect a heartbeat as soon as 5 weeks i believe.,.. But u think they would get me into him.. NOPE!
I am so tired of everything being so non- chalant (SP?) with them.. I know they deal with these thing everyday and all.. but there still needs to be a bit of compassion.. They have to care somewhat.

mizunderstood · #4 10-31-2007

I hear ya on the idiot drs here.
I took my daughter into the Regional when she was 6 weeks old because she had a horrible rattle in her chest. You could hear her breathe from across the room! Mind you this is a 6 week old... They told me it was normal for newborns to have congestion in their lungs and chest from birth and it would go away in a couple weeks. Ok, so I "believed" them. One week later, she started gasping for breathe. I rushed her back to hospital, still same answer, but they gave her the O2 mask just to help clear her. It worked so they send us home. For 2 months straight I was in and out of the hospital on a weekly basis with her because of this. I was actually told by one of the drs that I was an over protective mother and needed to calm down, babies get colds. And that this is not an emergency so if I am still concerned take her to the after hrs clinic or to her family dr. Ummmm... First of all I was not over protective IMO I was concerned my daughter would stop breathing and DIE! she would turn blue sometimes. And I was not able to get an appointment with her dr right away as it was Xmas and holidays and such.
So anyhoo... After fighting with the drs for 2 months they finally figure out she has underdeveloped lungs and has a brocial infection, and because she had not been treated with anything she has severe damages to her lungs. (scaring I think they said?) So for the next 6 months I had her on a million different puffers, anitbiotics everything they could give a baby. Finally I started leaving her bedroom window open a little bit to let the fresh cool air in at night and guess what??? She cleared up within days! She still has problems breathing to this day (she is almost 2 now)because of them refusing to take the time to examine her properly... AM I impressed? umm no... But what can we do about it?
Futurechef, congrats on the pregnancy I am sending positive happy vibes to ya! Do not take no for an answer. Sit in their office until they get you in. You should be high priority considering your medical history. I had dr sanderson with my 2nd pregnancy and he is FANTASTIC! Go to the after hrs clinic if you have to and specifically DEMAND they get you in with him. Best of luck.

FutureChief88 · #5 11-01-2007

Thanks for the Congrats.. And yes.. Dr sanderson was my doctor for all of my pregnancies. He did all 3 of my D&C's and delivered my daughter.. I am sure he would take me on as a patient.. I just have to call him myself!

So i got the results back from my second blood testy and my HCG went from 5650 to 8996. In 2 days. So not quite doubled, but close. I asked for some re-assurance from the person who called me with the info.. But they were like.. I dont know.. I dont know.. iI was just told to call and give you the number. Like CMON! I assume everything is going ok now.. But now i am having small clotting! I think it has to do with the internal ultrasound they used.. Cause irritation on my cervix.. i assume.. would cause some bleeding..
I am just so tired of the lack of care.. Its unreal!

missday · #6 11-01-2007

I'm 7 months prego and was sick for 3 weeks with a realy bad cough and cold the cough got so bad that i couldn't sleep and my ribs felt extreamly bruised. so my friend made me go to the hospital to see if there was anything they could give me seeing how i am pregnate. first we drove all the way to the reginal I live in rothesay... got there and the nurse registered me knew that I am pregnate made me wait an hour the told me I had to go to st. joes because i would probably need xrays and they have the machines there to do it. first off there telling me the reginal doesn't have xrays machaines?? second I didn't think you could get xrays when pregnate. so we had to pay for parking at the reginal for nothing go all the way to st joes pay for parking there and wait 3 hours in a waiting room jam packed of sick people lol (st joes need better ventalation in there waiting room because it was soo stuffy and hot in there it's unbearable.)
Then finnaly we got called in. Now i'm a smaller person and I have a huge belly being 7 months pregnate and all and the nurse who registered me new i was pregnate. so when the doctor came and seen me he asked how long i have been like this and i told him 3 weeks and also stated that I haven't been able to take anything for it being pregnate and all. He listened to my chest and back and checked my ears and nose. Then told me I had fluid something he was hard to understand because he was poleish and had a strong accent. he told me he was writing a percription for some kind of medication and thank god my friend was there because she looked at him and said now is this ok for her to take being pregnate and he looked at me and said "You'r pregnate" I was like ummm yeah kind of oviouse... then he stood there for literly 2 miniutes thinking then said i'll persribe amoxil then said he'd brb. so I'm sitting there on the bed thinking OMG should i even take anything this doctor gives me seeing how he surely had no idea what he's doing. so to make it even better when he comes back he tells me in a lauging manner that what he was going to give me would have made my baby's eyes underdeveloped or somthing like that but it wouldn't of been that big of a deal!!!!!!! so i got the different perscription and left went to the pharmacy and made sure that it was safe for me to take. atleast the pharmacist seem to know what there talking about.. just my long rant had to get it off my chest lol

FutureChief88 · #7 11-01-2007

OMG .. that is sickening.. See this is what i mean about the sensitivity..
When i went up.. i had taken a blood test and the woman said thatif my HCG was over 2000 they could give me an ultrasound.. it was 5650... she says well i called ultrasound... but there was no answer cause its lunch time !

Like CMON. Lie to me.. something. dont say Its lunch time!! .. My baby could be dying here! Idiots!

But i hope you are feeling much Better.

karen · #8 11-01-2007

Hey Julie,
Just my opinion, but you know your child better than anyone else, doctors included. If you feel and truly beleive that something is wrong with your child, don't leave until you are satisfied with the course of treatment the doctor has informed of that he/she will be taking. Be stubborn! Stand your ground! This is just another patient/case to them but it's YOUR little baby - there's a world of difference.
Hope you child is feeling/doing much better!

In regards to the other posts, I too had Dr. Sanderson for both deliveries. He followed my first pregnancy as my son has abnormal kidneys filled with tiny cysts (has had them and was diagnosed since I was pregnant). He's an awesome doctor!

And on a different note, since this is a post to rant LOL, I received a letter in the mail a few weeks ago saying that my son's doctor was giving up his practise and that in order to get his files transfered to another doctor (which I was in the midst of doing for the last few months as I was not happy with either him or his receptionist) I would have to pay $103.50 - this includes taxes and $18 for shipping. Is this ridiculous or what!?! As I previously mentioned, my son has a kidney disease and his new doctor needs that information so he knows what course of action to take for treatments/annual checkups and not to mention his immunization records.
Do the doctors not make enough that we have to now pay for their retirement fund as well when they decide to close up shop? It's absolutely CRAZY!

missday · #9 11-01-2007

oh I'm feeling better now thank god. hope everything works out ok for you and your baby. what upsets me most is there realy isn't anything that we can do about the doctors and hospital's in this city. but something has to be done. i'm constanly bad things about the hospitals here. my mom had to go to the out door at the reginal on a saturday night got there at 10pm left at 4am without seeing a doctor why such a long wait ...because they only had ONE doctor working on a saturday night! also i guy i know 27 years old was rushed to the hospital because he had a heart attack! the couldn't get his heart rate down so they had to flat line him and bring him back 8 hours later they released him and gave him meds. yeah released him because they said there was no damage done. The next day he felt amazing went out side and what happened he had another heart attack! don't you think it would have been prevented if they kept him in the hospital a bit longer!
I

JulieHebert · #10 11-01-2007

Thanks girls
She is doing better.Had her to the doctor today and now she has to get an
x-ray on her chest but from what my doctor says she is much better. I guess I am crazy cause I don't see itthat she is getting better cause her breathing is still bad.
WTF!!!!!!!

FutureChief88 · #11 11-02-2007

Be persistant.. Shoot them if you have to..
LOL
j/k

I hope you feel comfortable with her health soon..

JulieHebert · #12 11-02-2007

Thanks me too.I hate seeing her like this....as i'm sure all parents hate seeing their kids sick .....It is so frustating

je12122 · #13 11-03-2007

Hey Julie,

I am soo glad that Meaya is doing better. I know how frustrating doctors can be when you know something is wrong with your child and they treat you like you are being paranoid. Parents have the instinct and I've learned to always follow it. For those of you who don't know I have a son with Pfeiffer Syndrome which is a birth defect that affects the way the skull grows. Because of this he has a shunt and has had several skull operations and he is only 10 months. When he was about 7 months I noticed that his head shape was changing a lot ( like a cone in the back) so I brought him to emergency and I mentioned that I thought there could be something wrong with the shunt. Well the doctors didn't even give him the cat scan to check they told me it was just the way his skull was forming since his last skull surgery so I went home. Well this went on for a few more days and then he started throwing up and so I called my peditrician at 1am and told him about this and he said to bring him in by 9am, well my son started to seizure at 4am so we rushed him to the hospital only to find out that his shunt was blocked, and had been blocked for some time and he had to have emergency surgery at the IWK. The doctor at emergency said I could drive him up there myself but I had to bring this seizure medicine with me so that if he had another one it could stop it as I was told that it was life threatening if he had another one. Well to make a long story short when I got to the IWK they were furious that my son wasn't air lifted there.. I told them that the doctor in SJ told me to drive him up that it wasn't life threatening anymore since I had the medicine and they couldn't believe it!!! They were sooo angry and said that if that ever happened again to tell them to air lift him or get them to call the IWK and they would straighten them out!!

Anyway, everything is fine now, but I will and always say to go with your gutt instinct, cause I knew something was wrong and I was treated like a new paranoid mother.

Nothing is more frustrating!

andrea · #14 11-03-2007

i love my doc....uhhhum(dr. alexander!!)
she will see my son any time any where ...all i have to do is call..
yea my son has some issues lol
congenital diaphramatic hernia...so probally spellin that wrong but it is 4 am ..lol
but i have delt with alot of doctors...if you dont get the vibe right away that he/she is the doctor for u then u have the right to say nope,,,new doc...its hard to say,,but your the mom/dad...and i have said it,,,,about nurses,,,docs...rt's lol
oooooo
one more point...every parent in alantic canada has the right to ask their doc to send them to halifax to be seen at the sick kids...(woot woot IWK)
if u feel you are not recieving the right answers here or your gut and child r just not showing any sign of settling down,,,then take that right,...and be seen by the top specilists...
thats why they are their...
if you have a bad experience with a doc here in saint john call back the next day and tell some one..nothing will ever change if people dont speak up...call the patient advocate ,she will always do something....its her job...648-6000..

ps...
dr alexanders secretary is the bomb as well lol....(yeahh terri!!!)
i aint suckin up i mean it lol

mizunderstood · #15 11-03-2007

Good points andrea, hope Bastiann is doing well now!

FutureChief88 · #16 11-08-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrea

i love my doc....uhhhum(dr. alexander!!)
she will see my son any time any where ...all i have to do is call..
yea my son has some issues lol
congenital diaphramatic hernia...so probally spellin that wrong but it is 4 am ..lol
but i have delt with alot of doctors...if you dont get the vibe right away that he/she is the doctor for u then u have the right to say nope,,,new doc...its hard to say,,but your the mom/dad...and i have said it,,,,about nurses,,,docs...rt's lol
oooooo
one more point...every parent in alantic canada has the right to ask their doc to send them to halifax to be seen at the sick kids...(woot woot IWK)
if u feel you are not recieving the right answers here or your gut and child r just not showing any sign of settling down,,,then take that right,...and be seen by the top specilists...
thats why they are their...
if you have a bad experience with a doc here in saint john call back the next day and tell some one..nothing will ever change if people dont speak up...call the patient advocate ,she will always do something....its her job...648-6000..

ps...
dr alexanders secretary is the bomb as well lol....(yeahh terri!!!)
i aint suckin up i mean it lol

I dont agree with the paitent advocate part..
I had a ceizure while in care of the emergency deptartment while i was on my way to the bathroom.. ( in my condition should not have been up walking around by myself) But i think i had to go pee.. Anyways dont remember much but waking up in a new bed surrounded by doc and nurses trying to bring me back.. Also.. never had a ceizure in my life.. anyway i broke 2 of my teeth.. The cost for repair i going to be over $7000. I went to the patient advocate for help and she did nothing,.. Until i told them i had talked to a lawyer.. Actually the only good person in that place was the patient Advocate's Secretary.. she was great. This all happened in June.. and i am still awaiting a response from the insurance Company BTW.. They just keep putting me off and off.. Now my dentist is looking for his $700 for the work that had to be done immediately.. and i have coverage! LOL

The_Dave · #17 11-08-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by FutureChief88

I dont agree with the paitent advocate part..
I had a ceizure while in care of the emergency deptartment while i was on my way to the bathroom.. ( in my condition should not have been up walking around by myself) But i think i had to go pee.. Anyways dont remember much but waking up in a new bed surrounded by doc and nurses trying to bring me back.. Also.. never had a ceizure in my life.. anyway i broke 2 of my teeth.. The cost for repair i going to be over $7000. I went to the patient advocate for help and she did nothing,.. Until i told them i had talked to a lawyer.. Actually the only good person in that place was the patient Advocate's Secretary.. she was great. This all happened in June.. and i am still awaiting a response from the insurance Company BTW.. They just keep putting me off and off.. Now my dentist is looking for his $700 for the work that had to be done immediately.. and i have coverage! LOL

Sounds like an accident to me. Why should the hospital pay for your teeth? Did someone who works at the hospital push or trip you? Was it a slippery floor that was just mopped and no caution sign? Did they order you to go to the washroom by yourself? Did you know that you should not go to the washroom alone and ask for help and was refused? or you just went anyway without asking for help?

sanstu · #18 11-08-2007

$7000.00 to repair 2 teeth? No wonder the hospital is putting you off!!!

Deanie · #19 11-09-2007

Would be the same thing if you fell in your own bathroom. Then who would pay for your $7000 teeth? The makers of the tile? Kents? I don't get people who try and sue large corporations just to benefit themselves. If you had to pee, why didn't you ask someone to take your arm and go? Instead now you threaten the hospital with your lawyer? Nice.

FutureChief88 · #20 11-14-2007

Umm excuse me.. but no.. I was in a state of complete confusion.. and should not have been left alone.. they knew what state i was in.. they were not confused.. and i should have been watched.. I had no control over my speech or anything so no.. i couldnt have asked for help.. i got up.. because i was going to pee myself.. and thats all i remember.. I know the first time i got up.. I was coherant enough that i could walk.. and they didnt even offer a hand. They knew what was wrong with me.. and they didnt help at all.. the medication i was on cause high high risk of seizure.. which i didnt know.. and they allowed me to get up and go to the bathroom alone.. As told by one of the nurses afterward.. i apparently had asked for help..and they didnt get to me in time.. i fell and hit my face.

and no!!! i am not one of "those people" trying to sue a big company for the benefit of myself. Had they been doing their Jobs, and provided me with a bell or but my bed rails up.. ( like i was told later that they should have done) none of this would have happened.. i am sure i would have just peed my pants and that would have been it.. but again.. i was in no position to make judgement calls for myself.. Trust me.. It was NOT my fault.. and had they have been doing their Job of caring for people.. and monitoring my condition.. it never would have happened.. I stopped breathing for christ sakes.. and they think its ok for me to go to the washroom myself?

I am sorry to you who think this is a mean response.. but i am VERY offended that you "people" imply that i am one of those kind of people that use and abuse the system.. I respected Doctors.. and nurses until this.. and i DONT bother them unless i absolutely have to.. as you can see from a previous thread about me possibly being pregnant.. i didnt even want to go there to see if i was pregnant cause i didnt want to bother them.. i know they have more important things to deal with.. but the ONE time i needed them.. i end up leaving there with broken teeth..

No im sorry.. its not ANYTHING like falling in my bathroom.. and suing Kent's.. thats Bulls*it..

And $7000 was to cover x-rays, exams, extraction, root canals, implants and 2 crowns.. Because of the trauma that i took to my face when i hit.. I have to have a bone Graft done in my jaw in order for them to implant a post to fit a crown.. .. and sure.. there are other ways.. I could walk around with a partial plate for the rest of my life.. but to me thats not fair. I went in there with 2 teeth and i want to come out of there with 2 teeth.. not something i have to take out and put in.. that looks nothing like a tooth.. and hurts my mouth everyday!

Just like this.. i started to have another seizure in the bed after i fell.. and i remember seeing the nurse standing at the end of the bed just staring at me.. Like maybe a bit of help please.. bit of coaching.. something to help reassure me.. i know there is not much they can do to stop it.. but try being human for a minute.
I dont trust them at all .. My friend died last year because they were too careless to pay attention.. and just took her symptoms for granted cause she was 29 and in apparent good health weighing only 105 pds.. and then this.. No thanks..