Cliff's Notes Version: If you break up with the nurse at your Dr.'s office are they allowed to stop scheduling you?!
Obviously, probably not. But what do you do, exactly?
Long Version: I would like to gather opinions on what rights a person might have if a nurse working at a particular practice acts as the gatekeeper for all ongoing patient appointments, and after a mutually agreed upon & mutually (but acrimoniously) terminated personal relationship, the nurse refuses to schedule you. Is this against the rules?
I don't even mean is what's going on here against "the law" -- just the rules. I don't want to sue anybody. I just want to know what I could do here. I would like to tell the doctor, but appointments at both offices are vetted through the same person. In this state, only my doctor can terminate care, but this can be done by mail and I think it will be if I 'miss' a certain # of appointments.
I get that you may be in a place where you like the MD which you are a patient of. However, given the circumstances, I think that I would move on.
With that being said, what the employee is doing is unethical. Most MD offices are affiliated somehow with a larger hospital or company. Each of which has a risk management, compliance, and complaint departments, most of which can be accessed online. I would think that it be more pointed for you to go above the local office. The IT department at the corporate level can also see when this person is obsessing over your medical record, and there are ways of them looking back, seeing when you have called, and a digital footprint of when the appointment was cancelled and by whom.
Be mindful and careful. For a couple of reasons. If this person was your co-worker, and you are a licensed nurse, this could come back and reflect on you--protect yourself. Secondly, what this person is doing is stalkerish and creepy, to say the least. Keep yourself safe--get any and all support you can.
The bottom line is that this person is doing the wrong thing. It can be dangerous. Protect yourself. You are 2 consenting adults. You had a relationship. That did not work out. How your former friend is acting is outrageous, controlling, and not at all rational. And needs to stop. But do get some support surrounding this.
Go to annualcreditreport.com and check your credit report. Make sure there are no credit applications that you don't know about.
In your medical record, this ex has access to all the information (SSN, DOB, full name, etc) they need to steal your identity. If they are as crazy and vindictive as they sound I wouldn't put it past them to try and screw up your credit by running up a lot of debt you don't know about.
You can get a free credit report from each of the 3 credit reporting agencies every 12 months at no charge.
You should also put a fraud alert on your credit. You can do this at that same web site. You should only have to notify one of the agencies and they should notify the other 2 agencies for you.
Notify the physician! Don't ignore this. This person could destroy the physician's business and reputation. Can you imagine if a patient should make your ex angry and they refused to make appointments for that patient. What if the patient was having SI and couldn't get through to their physician because your ex was mad at the patient. Then the patient ends up in the ER and tells the ER staff it was because he hadn't been able to get in touch with his psychiatrist for x days and the Dr.'s office keeps canceling his appointments.
This ex is too immature to have access to someone's private medical and financial information.
If this person is accessing your medical records w/o a business need to do so, then it is a HIPAA violation. If the physician doesn't address that with the ex in a very strong manner, consider reporting it to the OCR.
This person told me that he 'was' a nurse; I don't know if there is still truly active licensure here, as the reason the move out of state didn't pan out was an inability to find a job, despite landing final interviews 3 different times. So that was a good point; now I'm wondering. HIPPA is a big thing I could bring up if I am able to speak directly with the Dr. -- for example, I (as a patient) should not know why the woman who lasts over on her appointments (who is scheduled just before I come in) goes over so long & always leaves crying. I should not know how much my psychiatrist makes. I think I've been confirmed here in what needs to happen. I need a new psychiatrist, and whatever his licensure status this person should probably not have access to people's records from home. It would be unfair to check out of the patient-provider relationship without making an effort to tell the Dr. what's going on with the whole situation so it can be addressed.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Cliff's Notes Version: If you break up with the nurse at your Dr.'s office are they allowed to stop scheduling you?!
Obviously, probably not. But what do you do, exactly?
Long Version: I would like to gather opinions on what rights a person might have if a nurse working at a particular practice acts as the gatekeeper for all ongoing patient appointments, and after a mutually agreed upon & mutually (but acrimoniously) terminated personal relationship, the nurse refuses to schedule you. Is this against the rules?
I don't even mean is what's going on here against "the law" -- just the rules. I don't want to sue anybody. I just want to know what I could do here. I would like to tell the doctor, but appointments at both offices are vetted through the same person. In this state, only my doctor can terminate care, but this can be done by mail and I think it will be if I 'miss' a certain # of appointments.
If it were me, I'd break up with the provider as well and find a new one. I wouldn't want an ex, even one with whom I had a amicable break-up, having that much access to such sensitive information. (I'm talking about my weight, here, people -- don't get all dirty minded on me!) If you tell the doctor, it may lead to consequences for your ex -- you decide whether you want to go there. Me, I'd just move on.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
for example, I (as a patient) should not know why the woman who lasts over on her appointments (who is scheduled just before I come in) goes over so long & always leaves crying. I should not know how much my psychiatrist makes..
Holy crap. Not only should this nurse be reported to the physician for whom he works, he should also be reported to the BON. What he's done is NOT OKAY.
And I wonder how on earth he would know how much the psychiatrist makes.
This person told me that he 'was' a nurse; I don't know if there is still truly active licensure here, as the reason the move out of state didn't pan out was an inability to find a job, despite landing final interviews 3 different times. So that was a good point; now I'm wondering. HIPPA is a big thing I could bring up if I am able to speak directly with the Dr. -- for example, I (as a patient) should not know why the woman who lasts over on her appointments (who is scheduled just before I come in) goes over so long & always leaves crying. I should not know how much my psychiatrist makes. I think I've been confirmed here in what needs to happen. I need a new psychiatrist, and whatever his licensure status this person should probably not have access to people's records from home. It would be unfair to check out of the patient-provider relationship without making an effort to tell the Dr. what's going on with the whole situation so it can be addressed.
Nursing licenses are public record, you could check on the BoN's website for whatever state you are in or on nursys.com. Because I had the same reaction as TriciaJ- I've never known a Psychiatrist to hire a nurse to do scheduling and not be a nurse. Nurses costs a lot more than any old scheduler.
If it were me and I had a good relationship with my doctor, it'd be a cold day in Hell before I just gave in to the crazy ex and went to another provider. I've had a lot of bad providers, I hold on to the good ones as long as humanly possible. Only you can decide what direction you'd like to take- if you tell your Psychiatrist, there will likely be consequences for your ex. Personally, I think there should be as this behavior is unprofessional and unacceptable but only you can decide if you want to go there.
I took this forum's advice and checked with my state BoN about this person. Oh my goodness, he is, in fact, not a nurse of any sort. I just filled out a complaint online about him. I am hoping that my very specific complaint to the BoN (at least, the fact he isn't licensed here or anywhere else & never has been!) will result in his losing his job without ever even having to try & schedule another appointment through him. Answering a question someone asked previously, he knows the details of the doctor's financials as he saw them on a fax. Also, to anyone who has tried to respond to me via private message --
I can't seem to view PMs unless I've posted at least 15 times. Unless I'm doing it wrong. Thank you so much to everyone.
I took this forum's advice and checked with my state BoN about this person. Oh my goodness, he is, in fact, not a nurse of any sort. I just filled out a complaint online about him. I am hoping that my very specific complaint to the BoN (at least, the fact he isn't licensed here or anywhere else & never has been!) will result in his losing his job without ever even having to try & schedule another appointment through him. Answering a question someone asked previously, he knows the details of the doctor's financials as he saw them on a fax. Also, to anyone who has tried to respond to me via private message --
I can't seem to view PMs unless I've posted at least 15 times. Unless I'm doing it wrong. Thank you so much to everyone.
Glad you submitted a complaint about him; at least my BON takes these complaints seriously and will pursue and report it to the public; if he want to go into nursing someday, his career can and will certainly be doomed.
Still keep trying with your provider; I truly hope it goes well where you do not need to change at all.
jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B
9 Articles; 4,800 Posts
This is a screwed up mess.
I get that you may be in a place where you like the MD which you are a patient of. However, given the circumstances, I think that I would move on.
With that being said, what the employee is doing is unethical. Most MD offices are affiliated somehow with a larger hospital or company. Each of which has a risk management, compliance, and complaint departments, most of which can be accessed online. I would think that it be more pointed for you to go above the local office. The IT department at the corporate level can also see when this person is obsessing over your medical record, and there are ways of them looking back, seeing when you have called, and a digital footprint of when the appointment was cancelled and by whom.
Be mindful and careful. For a couple of reasons. If this person was your co-worker, and you are a licensed nurse, this could come back and reflect on you--protect yourself. Secondly, what this person is doing is stalkerish and creepy, to say the least. Keep yourself safe--get any and all support you can.
The bottom line is that this person is doing the wrong thing. It can be dangerous. Protect yourself. You are 2 consenting adults. You had a relationship. That did not work out. How your former friend is acting is outrageous, controlling, and not at all rational. And needs to stop. But do get some support surrounding this.
Best wishes and keep us posted.