Please stay away from this hospital, this place is not up to any standard of care, period! Here is my story:
Due to my high deductible, so I tried to find the best way to save some out-of-pocket money. I purchased MDsave voucher for my labs and thyoid ultrasound to be done at NTMC. According to MDsave website, I might be able to apply the amount I paid to MDsave to my deductible. Even though NTMC is almost a 1-hour drive, it will save me a lot of money, especially on the lab tests.In contrast, the price for thyroid ultrasound at NTMC is $180, which is higher than Gateway diagnostic imaging that costs $150 cash and is closer to my house, I took a chance that all the expense might go to deductible.
On the test day, I met an ultrasound technician who looked alert and happy and told me that I am his first hands-on patient. He said there will be a preceptor to overlook what he does. Then there was a knock on the door and his preceptor let him know that he can perform it by himself and left. I am ok to be the subject for the student to learn, but it should be under more direct supervision, not like this.
Before the scan, I handed him a previous ultrasound result, but he didn't look at it. He asked me to lie down on the bed, without any position adjusting! He started to scan my neck. I was the one who had to extend my neck for him. He took so long to ultrasound my right thyroid, until he decided to ask me what type of surgery did I have. I actually had this conversation with him before he started to scan my neck, but I guessed he was nervous about his first-time experience and didn't hear what I said.
I had thyroid cancer in the isthmus part of thyroid and I had a right-lobe thyroid and the entire isthmus removed last year. so after surgery I have only the left part of the thyroid remaining. The last time I had a thyroid ultrasound at UT Southwestern 6 months after surgery, the technician scanned my neck thoroughly, she scanned the left-lobe thyroid and all involved neck lymph nodes. This cancer, if it spreads, it will metastasize to lymph node first.
So I told that young technician about it one more time and then he moved to scan my left-lobe thyroid which didn't take long before he said it was done! And then he left to speak with his preceptor, I could hear as he shouted in the hallway that the patient has only half a thyroid. The preceptor then came in the room and scanned through my thyroid very quickly before he said it is done. I got up and asked him about my neck lymph nodes? He told me he didn't see any abnormal enlarged lymph nodes, but then told me to lie down again so he can scan it thoroughly to confirm it for me. Well, it didn't take long, he just swiped the probe across my neck very quickly, which didn't feel right to me. And then told me that the radiologist will be the one who interprets the result. Before I left the preceptor told me that he might transfer my previous ultrasound result to the radiologist. You would think this would be done no matter what, but it apparently was not
The results came back
1.It states that there is no previous result to compare!
2. It read the size of my left-lobe thyroid as 4.2 x 0 10.4 x 1.2 cm.,
What the heck does that 0 10.4 mean, is it 10 cm. or 10 mm.?
My previous results at UTSW said 4.4cm x 1.2 cm x 1.0cm
Do you see the difference?
3. There is no reading for my neck lymph nodes at all.
4. The radiologist wrote this on the report
" the isthmus measures 0.2 cm. and thickness "
The isthmus was completely surgically removed, so why did that doctor document that I still had at least part of it?
So it's not just the technician, but also the radiologist doctor who aren't up to the standards
