Six months ago I visited my primary care physician. My hip hurt. Probably it was to do with age and the fact we have lots of stairs in our new house. But I had hope that maybe someone could fix it. She told me I had bursitis in my hip and to go to the orthopedic department at the local hospital and they would give me a shot in my hip and I would be good as new. But instead after an Xray, a MRI, several visits to the nurse practioner, several physical therapy sessions and a shot in my hip, my hip hurt just the same. That was a big disappointment. But the worse disappointment was the thousands of dollars worth of bills. And all the time I was pretty sure it really didn't have much to do with my hip, that was just where the pain was. At some point, with no results, I just stopped going. And no one seemed to care.

Last week I went back to my doctor for my annual checkup. I told her my hip still hurt. Now I have a new orthopedic guy, I already had an epidural (shot into my spine) and today I visited a vastly superior physical therapy person. The diagnosis is new - my lower back discs are compressing a nerve that comes down into my hip area. Not sure how much this time, but I sure hope it helps.

So, if it was any other profession, I think you would get to call up and say, hey, your diagnosis sucked and I never got better and either fix it or I am not paying. But we don't do that with doctors. I don't know why and I think we should. Holding them accountable seems an important thing to do so that they get it right the next time with the next person.

I hope this new diagnosis is better than the last one because I feel the bills ramping up.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive