The issue I was having with the bad prescription was complicated for me. My emotions ran the gamut. The sample the doctor sent home with me was awful. After three doses (1.5 days), I quit using it. My eyes reacted negatively to it, turning red (a great look for working in retail) and irritated. The best thing I could do for relief was prevention — not rub my eyes. I did fairly well, except between about 2 and 4 in the afternoon. Every day at that time, I had a firm glob of matter catch on the colored part of my eyes. Normally, this stuff would float down to the inner corner of the eye where I could wipe it away. This matter was different. It would stick to my eye and rub and hurt the underside of my eyelids and could be dislodged with artificial tears (the one good recommendation from the dr.) and my fingertips. Think of having an eyelash stuck in on spot on your eyeball — for an hour.
Among other things, I was very offended that the nurse spoke on the phone with me and protected the doctor from knowing of her error. She was very defensive of the prescription, insisting that nothing could have been done to prevent the situation, and that no one was at fault — not the pharmacist, not the doctor, and definitely not her. She wanted me to live with the situation. I didn’t hear, “I’m sorry.” I did not hear sympathy in her voice. I did hear from her that the pharmacist was looking for an alternative for me (because he DID have access to lists of nonactive ingredients and knew how to use it).
I considered asking the ophthalmologist and nurse to sign their names to a petition asking the PDR to include inactive ingredients. I considered asking the pharmacist the same thing. Although he works in a chain retail store that regularly refunds money, he would not say whether he could give me a refund. He did not admit to error either. He did not say sorry or have sympathy in his voice. He wasn’t defensive, but was neutral. But I knew that his pharmacy was not going to ever be part of my life again. I wanted to be done with his store. I have never been back.
Because I like the founding partner of her clinic and wanted to return there, I really just wanted the doctor to know that my physical appearance and emotions and pocketbook had been harmed because of her error. My emotions ran the gamut for two days — about my skin, about the Lord, about the doctor, about the law, about my appearance, about almost everything in life. I ended up asking the doctor’s office to pay for the medicine — to get the doctor’s attention, to give her a chance to be a good guy. I still haven’t been allowed to speak to her over the phone. The nurse is a thick, solid front door. I am not sure whether I believe her when she says she talked to the doctor. But the clinic did pay for the prescription. I was not issued a personal check (my secret wish). The money was just the way I got someone’s attention.
Don’t doctors want and need to know by the very nature of their jobs how their patients are faring? Do they really need a front door to filter 100% of the things that come over the phone?