I have been a patient in an ob practice in Arlington for 8 years. I recently moved to Columbus, OH. I felt that I might be experiencing an early miscarriage after trying to get pregnant for 6 months. I had been bleeding slowly with other symptoms for 13 days and counting. I tried calling three different ob/gyn offices in my new area starting at 8:30am on day 13. I had to wait so long because starting Christmas Eve every place I tried was closed until Monday, so I started making calls early Monday morning. The offices all said they would get back to me, but in the end told me I could not be seen because I would be considered a new patient and "new" appointments were booked for months. After the last office called and said I couldn't be seen, I tried my ob practice in Arlington to see what I should do. I called at 4:30pm and the office was already closed. The message for the office left a phone number stating that if I was experiencing a medical situation that I felt needed immediate attention, I should call the number, and a doctor would call me back. I called the number at 5pm and explained what was going on to the answering service. Dr. Piness called me back. She is not a doctor in my practice. She spoke very harshly and rudely to me about calling the answering service. She said she did not feel I was having an emergency that warranted a phone call to the the answering service. I burst into tears. I don't know this woman from anyone and asked her to let me explain my situation. She kept raising her voice. I finally started yelling back at her. When she listened, she said she understood why I was calling and gave me the medical advice I was seeking. She told me to get a pregnancy test, not to go to urgent care, and to get an appointment with an ob the next day, possibly my doctor in Virginia since I was traveling there for work. By the end of the conversation, she did say that she didn't think I was a bad person. But I didn't call for her to judge my character. I called because I believed I was having a miscarriage. I felt she was unprofessional and unsympathetic, and she made me feel terrible.
Update. I was able to find an OB in Columbus. I have an ectopic pregnancy. I am being treated for it tomorrow. The OB said it is very serious. Obviously, this is not a failing on Dr. Piness's part because she could not see me in person to treat me. But, I hope she reads this (she probably won't) to understand she needs to be more sensitive to laypeople calling for help. read more