I've seen a lot of doctors while trying to get to the bottom of my chronic pain. The fact that I saw Dr. Guthman twice and didn't even remember seeing him the first time says a lot.
My second visit with Dr. Guthman lasted no more than five minutes; it could have even been three minutes. I was there presenting with a kidney stone. He ordered a lithotripsy and asked me if I wanted a prescription for "a medicine to make you pee less often." I was left with no information about the procedure, risks, recovery, anything.
When I asked what side effects the medication he was prescribing had, he responded, "none." Immediate red flag. Every medication has side effects, and any credibility this doctor may have had before his answer was now gone in my eyes.
I had questions about what type of stone I have, possible dietary changes, etc., but I never got to ask these, as the doctor asked me, "any other questions?" as he was literally walking out the door. This was an obvious hint that my appointment was over, so I didn't bother.
Ironically, the med he prescribed he'd also prescribed years prior when I presented for a completely different problem. I never took it, and I even indicated in my chart that I never took it. The fact that he didn't see that note, didn't ask, and likely didn't even know that he'd already prescribed it just reinforced how little attention he was paying to his patients.
I was told I needed an x-ray because the stone couldn't be treated with a lithotripsy if they couldn't see it. I went down to the main floor, registered, and sat there for a good 30+ minutes waiting. Finally, someone comes up to me, "oh, we were looking for you!" I'd been sitting there the entire time, incidentally. I was told, "they had you registered at our Schaumburg location and they couldn't find you."
I'd literally just registered, and the woman who did my intake was sitting right there at the desk, and no one knew who I was. How these people have jobs is beyond me, but NCH as a whole seems to treat patients like cattle, so nothing surprises me here.
I get the x-ray and go home. I'm called later that day and told that "[my] labs were normal" (though I had no labs done) and that the stone isn't visible on the x-ray; as such, my options are "observation or a medicine to potentially dissolve the stone." I (naturally) asked which the doctor suggested, and I'm told, "the doctor didn't say." I asked what the medicine was so I could look into it, and I was told, "the doctor didn't put that down."
So Dr. Guthman is the specialist, yet I'm provided with two options to deal with the stone, and I'm supposed to pick one arbitrarily? What's the point of seeing a specialist if they're not going to at least try to guide you?
For what it's worth, the whole system is broken... I'm sure Dr. Guthman is busy, but when doctors are over-booked to the point of spending less than three minutes with a patient, they're clearly only looking out for their own bottom line; the patient's best interest doesn't factor in at that point.
If you're lucky enough to get more than a few minutes with Dr. Guthman, I can only guess it's because you need a procedure that is in his/NCH's financial best interest to spend a bit more time with you.
I have no idea why my primary care doctor recommended Dr. Guthman (friends? kickback?), but I'll not be seeing him again. I can only guess that the reason I don't remember my first visit with him is that he spent as little (or less) time with me then as he did this most recent visit. read more
