Took my mother, who cannot speak & has mobility issues after having suffered a debilitating stroke, from an Assisted Living Center to the LabCorp blood draw station at Providence Immediate Care Clinic Westside Olympia WA Friday morning, Dec 14, 2018. Signing my mother out of Assisted Care and transporting her across town requires a significant effort. We signed in and waited until her turn came up. The LabCorp tech rejected my mother because she had not been completely fasting, and the doctor's orders instructed a lipids blood draw. Its common knowledge in the medical profession that fasting will only affect test results for glucose and maybe for (high) trigylcerides, neither problem which my mother has. My brother, an MD, and I tried explaining this to the tech, who basically just ignored us and left my mother standing there, ignored, rejected and literally speechless. We asked the LabCorp tech, due to the circumstances, including that my mother's stroke was directly related to her cholesterol count, to take the blood draw anyway. As not completely fasting wouldn't affect the needed test results and we needed to see what her lipid levels were. This was critical, since high levels contributed to her stroke. We called the doctor's office to change the order but they were busy and couldn't respond immediately. So we left after subjecting my disabled mother to a fruitless hour long wait. My brother the MD called later to say the doctor's office called LabCorp to drop the fasting requirement. So we brought my mother back from Assisted Living a second time (once again, not a trivial process for a disabled, 88 y/o woman, now becoming exhausted from all the travel and waiting) and once again the LabCorp tech rejected and ignored her. This time the tech didn't even have any other patients, she just remained in the back room, even though she could plainly see us, paying attention to her phone. She ignored my mother who stood forlornly at the front desk, abject. This cruel treatment was heartbreaking to watch. We left a second time. Shortly thereafter the doctor's office called and removed the fasting requirement. However, we couldn't bring my mother back for a draw a third time. She was dehydrated and suffered other complications from a morning of being taken back and forth to LabCorp, where she was refused service twice. Nor will my mother agree to be subjected to the worst form of customer service imaginable, from LabCorp, ever again. An elderly, disabled, mute woman, simply trying to receive the most basic care service, standing at the counter, waiting for some sign of basic decency and just the slightest degree of courtesy, or even a simple acknowledgement, that never came. A robot would have been more personable and shown more empathy than the LabCorp tech at this location. The LabCorp tech treated my mother like an animal. No, that's not quite right, animals are generally treated better. read more
