Complaint filed with Texas Medical Board July 11, 2019
Dr Desai's office does not refill prescriptions.
Monday
July 7th, it took 14 phone calls to my doctor’s office by me, my wife,
and the pharmacy to get an ordinary refill of .09% sterile saline
nebulizer.
I counted the number of calls … it was 14, plus one call the previous Friday that yielded no result.
At no time were we impolite. We were frustrated of course.
The
doctor's office staff finally sent the WRONG prescription, even though
the prescription must be available in my records at their office.
They
sent the wrong prescription TWICE, before the head pharmacist
apparently called a third time and got the right prescription.
After that, both my wife's phone and my phone were blocked from making calls to my doctor's office ...
The office staff BLOCKED our phones and wasted our whole day, and wasted pharmacy staff time.
And everybody else gets blamed?
My
wife and I are cut off at a key time in my health fight ... by the whim
of the office staff ... not by the doctor that I am aware ... simply
because they would rather frustrate and endanger a patient and delay
life-saving health care work done by an entire pharmacy staff ...
requiring all of us to make 14 phone calls for 1 prescription instead
of sending in the prescription after the pharmacy faxed it to them
several times over the previous week.
And why do we have to call
Desai's office to get prescriptions in the first place? No other doctor
has their patients to call the office for refills.
The pharmacy
faxes a request, and sometimes it actually works and Desai’s office
fills the prescription. But most times it doesn't.
This past
spring, my Xanax took 5 weeks to get a refill. Faxes from the pharmacy
didn't work, so I called 4 times, and stopped by face to face two
times. Each time, they said, no problem, we'll send it in. But they
didn't. When it was finally filled, they specified a different amount
than the doctor's prescription, and different amount from the pharmacy
request.
I don't think the doctor is doing this. I think it's the office staff.
Four
weeks ago, Desai's office staff failed to fill my prednisone ... an
absolute key life-saving component in my daily treatment … they ignored
4 pharmacy faxes over the previous week, but amazingly the refill
arrived after only 1 phone call by me to the doctor's office.
Right
now we have been waiting 5 weeks to get prior approval for the
life-saving VitalCough machine that is absolutely needed to get the
mucus out of my lungs.
This is life-threatening.
The VitalCough
company has sent the prior approval information to the doctor's office
more than one time, but the doctor's office claims they don't have it
...
I have an appointment with a new doctor, but I'm midway
getting the VitalCough machine from Desai's office, and also fear
Desai's office will not forward my medical records to my new doctor ...
that they will stall and stonewall us, and further endanger my health.
And
in complete irony, each office visit ... Desai’s office staff asks if
I'm taking all my medicines? Believe me, there's not ONE single
doctor's order that I do not remember and work hard to accomplish.
I am doing my part, and then some.
The
whole mess at Desai's office has taken a hard toll on my health... I'm
68 years old, and cannot fight to clear my lungs all day AND fight a
childish, incompetent office staff too.
Desai's office procedures
need a full review to protect other patients from life-threatening
harm. Not just patients at Desai’s office, but the patients whose care
is delay by wasting valuable pharmacy time too.