Okay. Here’s the deal. I suffer from chronic depression and anxiety (not to mention intermittent crabbiness, grouchiness and just plain old bitchiness).
I was recently been transferred from Kaiser’s adult psychiatry department to its geriatric psychiatry department.
The main difference in the departments is with adult psychiatry you see or talk with a psychiatrist. In geriatric psychiatry you see or talk with a psychiatric resident. Psychiatric residents come and go every couple of months.
Fine. I really could not give a flying fuck.
Now that I understand that psychiatrists are there only to review how the meds are working. I don’t care who I talk to.
But from time to time, I DO NEED to talk to someone.
That means, from time to time, I DO NEED to schedule an appointment.
I have an appointment for 8/23 with a Dr. Jason Tran. I have had this appointment since June 2021. I have never met or spoken with Dr. Tran. I can live a (hopefully) long and happy life without ever having met or spoken with Dr. Tran.
However, I NEED to reschedule my appointment with geriatric psychiatry for sometime towards the end of September, so that we can address any medication changes that may be necessary due to the possible side effects of Anastrozol, which I will probably be starting around 8/23.
I won’t know what (if any) side effects I may have with Anastrozol until I have been on the drug for a while.
I have now called 4 times trying to get this one appointment rescheduled. I have called in June, July and twice in August. The appointment is now 7 days away and remains unchanged.
What the serious fuck.
You would think that Kaiser would be aware that anyone calling for an appointment regarding their psychiatric medications might, just possibly, have some psychiatric issues. Issues that might not respond well to not being able to achieve (what one might expect to be) a relatively simple task such as RESCHEDULING A FUCKING APPOINTMENT.
Today I called (yet again). The person I spoke with said that I had to speak with Dr. Wood (Dr. Wood is the one and only real psychiatrist working for geriatric psychiatry – supposedly overseeing the work of the residents). I got Dr. Wood’s voicemail. Dr. Wood’s voicemail message states that if I need to reschedule an appointment, I should call another phone number. That phone number is the one I just called and was transferred to Dr. Wood’s voicemail.
I have entered an infinite loop created by Kaiser’s geriatric psychiatry department.
I have just filed my formal complaint with Kaiser because this is beyond ridiculous.
STOP (MENTALLY) POKING THE FAT OLD LADY!
We are not amused.
Thoughts from a Fat Old Lady 
Dear Tante Terri–
misanthropic Auntie Carol has this advice for you (it’s what I tell everyone with doctor issues, because THREE docs I trusted deeply taught it to me): DOCTORS ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES. Sometimes we need
to make them aware of this. As one of my three once reminded me, “Who’s paying whom?” Your people
at Kaiser need to be reminded that you are indeed paying them to provide you with certain services AND
YOU EXPECT THEM TO DO SO.
Now – be a good girl & go kick some doctor butt. We know you can do this brilliantly!
Oh Auntie Carol – I have often given people the same advice. If I don’t like a doctor, I fire them. I get another one. It’s why I demand my rights under HIPPA to have everything explained to me until I understand it. The problem I’m running into with Kaiser seems to be administrative in nature. The staff and doctor running the department are not communicating/cooperating – whatever – and I don’t care what their issues are. This should not be the patient’s problem. That’s why I filed a formal complaint. Usually, Kaiser takes it very seriously. It occurs to me, after the fact, I should have pointed out that I feel this has a whiff of age discrimination as it is taking place in their geriatric psychiatry department. I may have to file an amended complaint – because that would really get their panties in a twist.
The more I hear from friends about Kaiser, the farther down they sink in my estimation. I am so lucky to have responsive healthcare in Kingston and Poughkeepsie, NY, including having Medicare and an AARP supplement. I am sorry about what you are encountering! I assume that telephone closed loops like you ran into, are not specifically aimed at fat people–rather, they are probably aimed at all people who need healthcare. How dare you need healthcare!
For me an even bigger concern is that this is taking place in the GERIATRIC psychiatry department. I feel it is specifically aimed at older people, some of whom have trouble navigating the complex Kaiser system when it’s working properly.
The WORST thing about all of this? You’re right: so much is specifically aimed at older people. It seems that
we are now twofers: Gee, look, fat AND old! We can treat THOSE folks like dirt! Just had a run-in with a
geriatric pharmacist (who knew, right?) when I got my whooping cough shot. The woman was probably younger than some of my shoes (hey – Ferragamo lasts forever) and spoke to me as if I were about 7 cards
short of a full deck. It seems that this is common practice in many businesses – old folks can be treated
badly because (supposedly) we don’t know enough to complain, or our faculties are so diminished that we
don’t know much of ANYTHING going on around us. It makes targets out of so many older people who may
not be hip to how ugly the world can be if you aren’t on your toes. Anyone who gets in there & fights for ANY
old person is speaking for us all — you go, girl! (Sorry to run on like this, but this concerns us all).