Doctor’s Need to Slow Down
By: Michael Cohn, M.
Ed
Promote Awareness
For those of you who have a pump that pumps medication into your body, you need to make sure the doctor takes their time when adjusting the dose or refilling the pump. The reason why I am writing this is because on July 24, 2003 my doctor, who has many patients with pumps, made an error adjusting my pump. The error was nearly fatal. Yet if she wasn’t in such a rush and had taken the time to check the adjustment, the error would have been caught. Sometimes doctors need to say that they are too busy to see you and ask to reschedule the appointment. My appointment was made at the last minute. If a doctor knows that the calendar looks busy, they shouldn’t try and squeeze patients in at the last minute, unless it is an emergency. I am not naming the doctor or the clinic because it is not important. The error was made and more importantly, the doctor has already made some changes regarding on how they operate their clinic.
A reminder! Look at the print out of the pump the doctor gives you and make sure the date, amount of medicine and times are correct. This will help you as a patient and the doctor in the future.