Oh, crap

Yesterday morning I had to go back to the hospital (my third Tuesday in a row, now) for my sugar test. I got to the hospital and went to the lab, where the technician immediately started drawing blood. Now, I have had a sugar test before and knew this was not how things went. So I spoke up, and voiced that I was supposed to be there for the hour long sugar test. The tech dismissed me, saying that he does what the lab order tells him to do. I insisted, in a nice way, that things were not as they should have been, he insisted (as he finished up drawing the eighth vial of my blood) that he was following the requested tests as ordered. He finished up and sent me out, and I can honestly say that for just a moment I considered playing stupid and just leaving. And then when I saw my doctor again, and he asked where my results were, I could just get all wide-eyed and dumb and pretend like I didn't know the correct test wasn't performed. But, regular diabetes runs in my family, and my sister had gestational diabetes, so I'm not going to play around with little guy's health, not to mention my own. So I sighed and went upstairs to my doctor's office to speak with them.

After some confusion, it turns out that the nurse checked the wrong box on the lab order. Lab work costs us between $200-$300 every time, and because she wasn't paying attention I have to go to the lab AGAIN, on another day, to do the test. I'm seriously thinking about telling them I am not going to be responsible for the bungled tests. I mean, you can't decipher what exactly those lab orders say - it's all numbers or abbreviations, so I had no idea that the wrong box was checked. I drove ALL THE WAY over to West Florida Hospital from my house for a blood glucose screen, which was not the correct test and not necessary, to boot. And's that's not mentioning the gas I burned getting out there.

I can't go today to do to have the proper test performed because I have a ton of work to do. I can't do it tomorrow, because we're moving. And I could probably do it Friday morning, but it just galls me that I have to miss time from work (that I get paid for) to correct their error. Ooooooooh, I'm mad. I'm getting over it. I love my doctor, and I love his nurse (she was not the one who made the error), but I can't stand the hospital.

They are terrible with information, and their billing is a mess. I have received final notice bills for amounts and items that I have never been billed for previously. There's about $600 in lab charges that are bouncing around between them and my insurance company, and anytime insurance gives them flack for anything (even and seemingly especially when they are simply asking for more information) they turn around and bill my maiden name for charges incurred by my married name, but they do always give my maiden name the no-insurance coverage discount, which I think is nice since my maiden name is not a real, separate person and therefore not eligible for employment or health care coverage. I just received an insurance statement the other day, denying coverage for two claims made by this same hospital for services rendered in February, 2006. The claim was denied because of its' age. So, since they waited over a year to file this claim, now I'm responsible for the entire thing? That's just bad business. Oooooh, I just can't stand this hospital.

I'll have to get over it.

Oh, and in a side note, yesterday while driving through downtown I inadvertently drove through (yes, through, as in there was a puddle/pile) some raw sewage, and now my car smells terribly of poo. Sigh.