There are some medical offices where the front desk person is more kind and compassionate than the…read moredoctor. Dena at Wound Institute of America in Beverly Hills, California, is a perfect example. More about that later...
Quick background: I'd been to Urgent Care for a severe infection called cellulitis. For weeks, I'd had a painful, open wound on my leg and big, swollen bumps on one arm. The leg wound looked like something out of a horror movie, and I was in constant, severe pain and felt sick and listless.
Urgent Care ordered a lab test. Results showed a serious infection caused, in this case, by fragilis bacteria. The Urgent Care doc prescribed antibiotics, but after two weeks, my leg was still inflamed, swollen, hot and extremely painful, so she urged me to see a wound care specialist ASAP and recommended Dr. Som Kohanzadeh ("Dr. Som").
Full disclosure: I'm a boomer - one of the sane ones... we didn't all go crazy. So when I entered the exam room, the physician's assistant glanced at my age on the paperwork (but didn't look at me) and asked, "When you leave the house, do you have someone accompany you?" (Excuse me?)
"I'm a working journalist," I tell her, "so it's probably not a good idea to bring people along on assignments." (There. Fixed it.)
Another assistant joins her, and they bustle about, tidying up, not bothering with stuff like taking vital signs. Finally, Dr. Kohanzadeh enters the exam room. I show him the lab report from Urgent Care and give him a quick summary of my symptoms and treatment thus far, the things I think he'll want to know.
He listens. (Not much reaction.)
I add that the Urgent Care doctor speaks highly of him. (A slight nod, minimal reaction, no comment.)
He studies my red, ulcerated leg and starts to dress the wound, a man of few words.
I ask some questions. He answers with little interest or energy. He has no desire to reassure me, explain anything, or show any human emotion.
Now, the next part is hard, because I don't take any medications unless necessary, like antibiotics for an infection. The only thing I've ever taken for pain is Tylenol #3, the prescription version with codeine, for dental pain. Cutting one in half has always worked for me with no stomach upset, so when I had a root canal 8 years ago, I used two pills and saved the rest for future emergencies when I might need a painkiller.
If you ever get cellulitis, you may be surprised by the intense pain it can cause. Even one month after the swelling went down, I had sharp, throbbing pain in my leg. So as the doctor gets up to leave, I mention again that I'm in serious pain and ask if it's okay to take some old Tylenol #3 I'd saved from a root canal that seemed to help.
For a split-second, Dr. Kohanzadeh comes to life. Clearly, he has a hopeless drug addict in his exam room. He tells me to take over-the-counter pain meds. I tell him those don't help and ask if he might prescribe some new Tylenol, so I won't have to take the old, yellow ones from 8 years ago to get me through. His answer is no.
"So it's okay," I ask, a bit stunned, "to take pills that are old and turning yellow?"
"Yes, that's fine," he says on his way out the door.
So I guess that's good news, with inflation and all. Here's a doc fiercely driven to cut costs for his patients and maybe even save the planet by using old, expired medication. But his cost-saving heroics don't extend to Medicare.
Dr. Som Kohanzadeh billed Medicare $3,642.90 for that 20-minute visit: $1,674.00 for his low-energy consultation and two charges ($1,511.90 and $457.00) for "debridement." What's that, you ask? I called his office to check. In this case, it's a fancy term for bandaging a wound. At the time, I asked about the medicated pads they were using and was told I could purchase them from a drug store or online. I ordered the same pads from Amazon for $1.00 apiece, plus $8.99 for 12 elastic bandages.
So now back to Dena, the front desk assistant. If only Dr. Kohanzadeh had a tenth of her caring and compassion. She seems to love her job and showed more warmth when I booked the appointment and filled out the intake forms than the doctor showed during my visit. Dena radiates powerful, positive energy, and you know what? Therein lies true healing.