Dr. Latimer

[trubiano]

Is anyone seeing or seen Dr. Latimer?

[beeskneesmommy]

We see Dr. L - my son, age 6, had 1st IVig w/her 4 wks ago. We also see Dr. Bouboulis, Dr. Elia and Dr. O'Connor.

[trubiano]

We see Dr. L - my son, age 6, had 1st IVig w/her 4 wks ago. We also see Dr. Bouboulis, Dr. Elia and Dr. O'Connor.

 

Thank you for replying! Do you ever have an issue with getting a phone call back? We live in georgia and have seen her twice. I'm trying to figure out is it a staff issue. My ped has called with questions about continuing high dose antibiotic and also labs we should check. Hate to keep calling and bugging, but three messages(two from me one from ped) in three months. The staff just takes a message and says I should just make an appointment. I hate to pay all those travel expenses plus out of pocket for an office visit just to answer what labs do you want.

[thenmama]

That's the norm, unfortunately.

[LNN]

There were two strategies I used when my son was a patient. First, I called at least twice a week to keep the issue on the front burner. I tried not to take it personally and I don't believe it's a staff issue, so I always made sure I was courteous and respectful. Second, I found that a very, very short email was often a good way to communicate. Like two sentences max. Emails are often read on her phone, so it has to be something that's going to just be a tickler, fitting on one screen, not a saga.

 

I tend to think of her approach as triage. When my son was in crisis and I needed her right away, she always got back to me within 24-48 hrs, usually calling me in the evening. When it was a more general question, it took a week or two of followup with both calls and an email. Not defending or condemning. This is just how it is and you have to either navigate or work with a different doctor. It isn't personal.

 

One idea is to have your doctor fax a request and then you can follow up with semi-regular calls and one brief email that's "FYI - my doctor faxed a request, hope you can respond this week." sort of thing.

[kos_mom]

Just to note that this month has been particularly bad. A lot of her patients are trying to get IVIG before the United month end deadline for IVIG coverage. She is pretty covered over doing doing peer to peer and other insurance reviews to get the coverage for patients before November 1.

[trubiano]

Thank all of you! We would never change doctors, she helped my son when no one else did! I'm happy to hear this is just the "norm" and will just have my ped fax and update on his condition with what her plan is and if Dr. L doesn't agree to email them. Thanks again for the ideas!