"Doc in a box" horror stories

[over9five]

Another driver fell on route and hurt his leg. We sent him to the company doctor who gave him a day off (just a sprain) and sent him back to work. Days later, his leg is still hurting bad. He goes to a radiologist on his route who Xrays it, and guess what? Its broken!

True story, Im sure theres worse. Lets hear them!

 

[muncher]

Great example of why anytime you have a serious injury at UPS, always get a second opinion from a outside doctor, the doctor Ups sends you to works for them, andthey are not looking out for your best interests!

 

[brownmonster]

You have the right to go to a doctor of your choice the first time.

 

[tieguy]

"Great example of why anytime you have a serious injury at UPS, always get a second opinion from a outside doctor, the doctor Ups sends you to works for them, andthey are not looking out for your best interests"

Anyone with sense which you do not possess can tell that these doctors do not "work" for UPS. You can debate the quality of the doctor your sent to but reality is that doctor is not going to intentionally misdiagnose you or put you back to work if doing so could cost him a malpractice suit.

 

[rushfan]

We had a driver who hurt himself on the job. The doc that ups used put the driver in a cast. After a month, the doc told the driver to have surgery. The driver went for a second opinion, to an "orthopod" orthopedic surgeon. and the doc told the driver he never broke his leg. There were other problems with the 1st doc. UPS investigated him, and turns out that the doc was screwing UPS out of money. So long doc. The doc in the box we have now does a very good job.
Always get a 2nd opinion with the doc that ups uses, even if it is out of pocket.


(Message edited by rushfan on November 22, 2003)

 

[toonertoo]

If I have a serious injury, or sickness I go to 2 docs sometimes 3 if I dont like the prognosis. I had an incident in June where I was told to have major surgery, remove 4 foot of my intestine and be off work for six months. And have a colostomy which is real exciting. I looked into my diagnosis on the internet, and asked for help from a family member who is in medical research, and followed instructions and 5 months later have all my intestines and hoping to stay that way. I am not saying surgery is never the answer, sometimes you may need to look further for other answers. Glad docs are there if we need them. Never been sick in my life and I am not ready to start. My feeling is once they start cutting they never stop, JMHO

 

[local804]

As long as you do stretch and flex and follow the correct methods shown to you by your supervisor, You will never need to use the UPS doctor.As to the doctor changing out the prognosis due to helping out UPS, I do not think so. 8-12 years of school and a six maybe seven figure salary wouldnt even think about fudging the numbers.Leave that job to the suits.

 

[antimatter]

"Anyone with sense which you do not possess can tell that these doctors do not "work" for UPS. You can debate the quality of the doctor your sent to but reality is that doctor is not going to intentionally misdiagnose you or put you back to work if doing so could cost him a malpractice suit."

I believe there is a dollar limit to a malpractice suit these days, yes? It is still substantial, but not the Lottery it once was.

A

 

[upsdude]

Thankfully the UPS contracted Nurse saved my career. After a Neurosurgeon told me to hang it up and get a desk job the Nurse asked me to consider a second opinion and left the decision totally in my hands. I quickly agreed and she set me up with another Neurosurgeon that had worked with UPS drivers in the past. The second doctor ordered another MRI, EMG and another test that the name escapes me. He recommended a second operation and required me take two weeks to make a decision. The recovery and rehab lasted 5 months. The Nurse also set me up with the best Physical Therapist she knew. It would have been a lot cheaper for UPS to have stroked a check and sent me on my way, but the way I see it we both won.

 

[dannyboy]

"You have the right to go to a doctor of your choice the first time."

Not hardly. You have a choice of three to choose from. And you an NOT go to someone else. And if it is a back injury ther should be a chiropracter on the list also.

The only other option is to work on your injury so late that the doc in the box is closed and you end up in the ER. Management in our center do not like that option for some reason.

Kinda funny, the chiropracter on our list is there only because one of our sups is good friends with him. No other reason why he was chosen over all the others in our area.

WE had a driver get very sick out on road last week. Went to the doc who said he thought it was the flu. THe next day he went back because he was worse, same thing. This went on for three days, and during that time he lost 26 pounds. The last day he went to the ER, and after running tests it was confirmed that he had Ecoli poisoning. He was admitted into intensive care and stayed there for 4 days. Lucky to have made it. I guess the doc felt bad, because he checked in on him on the last day to apologize.

d

 

[over9five]

"As long as you do stretch and flex and follow the correct methods shown to you by your supervisor, You will never need to use the UPS doctor."

Wow.....and me without my wading boots...
You were being sarcastic, right?

(Message edited by Over9five on November 23, 2003)

 

[proups]

The docs UPS use are just as open to malpractice as any doc.....they will put an employee out of work if they need to be out of work.

 

[local804]

Yes, I was over 9/5

 

[wily_old_vet]

There's a top half and a bottom half of every graduating class and I think I know which half the UPS docs come from. Plus in my area I think that class was in a foreign college. Anybody that doesn't think these docs are influenced by UPS is naive. Also anybody who doesn't see a doctor of their choosing is extremely foolish.

 

[dammor]

danny,
We can and do go to the doctor we choose here if we want to. The company will always suggest we go see Dr Fud, but we are under no obligation to do so. I have been injured a couple of times and the only time I saw Dr Fud was to be released after my Doc thought I should. The main role of Fud here is to give us our yearly physical. Now thats a funny one. I have dogs on my route that check me out better than Fud does. If you come in on your own legs here you will pass with flying colors.

 

[local804]

ecoli poisoning? oh my god....The doctor thought it was a flu though...hmmmmmmm.I think in some of these crazy cases that it might be a PA working under a doctors supervision and maybe he is too new.The PA can work by himself as long as there is a doctor working in the same office on that day.He can write scripts and do everything a doctor can, but is not a full medical doctor.

 

[hate ups]

Re: "Doc in a box" horror stories

"Great example of why anytime you have a serious injury at UPS, always get a second opinion from a outside doctor, the doctor Ups sends you to works for them, andthey are not looking out for your best interests"

Anyone with sense which you do not possess can tell that these doctors do not "work" for UPS. You can debate the quality of the doctor your sent to but reality is that doctor is not going to intentionally misdiagnose you or put you back to work if doing so could cost him a malpractice suit.

I work with a guy who hurt his knee on the route(left knee) and couldn't shift. UPS supervisor comes out drives him to a Gastro doctor who looks at it and tells him back to work tommorow. Went to his own doctor the next day and he had a complete tear of the acl. The management at ups is sharp as a marble.

 

[cachsux]

Re: "Doc in a box" horror stories

Anyone with sense which you do not possess can tell that these doctors do not "work" for UPS. You can debate the quality of the doctor your sent to but reality is that doctor is not going to intentionally misdiagnose you or put you back to work if doing so could cost him a malpractice suit.[/quote]

They "work" for UPS by being the contracted place for emergency healthcare. If they don`t try to get a worker back to work on a consistant basis then UPS contracts to a new clinic the following year. Seen it happen numerous times,so often that or office keeps different maps to get the employees to the clinic of the year.

If its something minor,go to the clinic,but if you or worried for your health in good faith then see a specialist. If its a physical injury always see an orthopedic specialist because their decision will overrule a general physician working for the company. This is important in comp cases.

 

[Ms Spoken]

Re: "Doc in a box" horror stories

I had what I thought was a minor injury and I went to the clinic that UPS has set up. As I was waiting for all of my paperwork I could tell the clerk up front was upset with the person on the phone. So I asked if by chance he was speaking with UPS and he said yes and they told him that I was to have NO restrictions. hahaha He just laughed and said don't they know I'm just a clerk here. So I just blew that off as another intimidation tactic but, as I was waiting for the PA I over heard him speaking with my center manager and he when he entered the room I could tell he had a attitude toward me. So I asked if he was speaking with UPS and he said that he couldn't talk to me about what was said. I told the PA that if it's in regards to my case I have the right to know and all he would tell me was "I'm not going to loose my license because UPS wants no restrictions and I haven't even seen the patient." So needless to say I'm not real happy with UPS over stepping the boundary's and playing doctor/GOD with my health.
You know you can get 10,000 ata boys and all it takes is 1 oh and your back on the list.

 

[trickpony1]

Re: "Doc in a box" horror stories

I agree with "cachsux".
The company doctors are gonna do exactly what the company tells them or they won't get their contract renewed.
As far as malpractice lawsuits, all the doctor has to say is "OOPS! I may have misdiagnosed the patient" and he (the doctor) is off the hook.
With any luck, this racketeering by the company and their doctors will be brought to the public's attention with disasterous results.