BUFFALO, N.Y. — Last October, the Erie County Department of Health put out a reminder to patients to utilize their primary care providers as opposed to making a trip to the emergency room. Facilities have been bombarded since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Niagara Falls resident Jon Johnson says he tried contacting his mother’s primary doctor at Buffalo Medical Group on January 7 when she had a 102° fever and had possibly contracted COVID from him, but he says her doctor provided no help and advised him to take her to an emergency room.
What You Need To Know
- The delta and omicron variants of COVID-19 have caused hospital occupancies to rise once again
- Last October, the Erie County Department of Health advised residents to utilize their primary care physicians as opposed to emergency rooms
- Jon Johnson, a Niagara Falls man, said his mother's primary care provider advised him to take her to an ER when she showed symptoms of COVID-19
- Johnson said estimated wait times for emergency rooms were 12 to 14 hours
“The doctor kept saying to me, 'You need to take her to the ER.’ I said 'The ERs are packed. They’re telling me to follow up with you guys,’ and I felt like it was very irresponsible of the doctor to pretty much tell me, 'Just take your mother to the ER,”’ Johnson said.
As COVID cases rise with the spread of delta and omicron variants, emergency rooms are overwhelmed once more. Some patients are waiting hours to be seen. Due to conflicts involving the call Johnson made, which he recorded, both he and his mother were discharged from Buffalo Medical Group, leaving them with no primary care option, as they both continue to recover from COVID.
“My mother’s still sick and she’s had to use the ERs because she doesn’t have a primary doctor and I can’t reach out to a primary doctor to get advice on what to do," Johnson said. "I’ve had to reach out to other clinics, such as the Cleveland Clinic, for an appointment for some other stuff that’s going on because she doesn’t have a primary, so it’s taking a lot on me, stress-wise.”
With options for care limited by the pandemic and confusion among patients on where they should seek care at this time, Johnson hopes to use his story to encourage others, especially caretakers, to fight for the care that patients deserve.
“Caretakers need to stand up, learn laws and certain aspects of having things documented to make sure people are held accountable, that people are saying, you know what? This is not acceptable,” he said.
John C. Notaro, M.D., Medical Director, Buffalo Medical Group released a statement:
As with all patients and caregivers we speak to via telephone; there is a clinical discussion that takes place to gather as much information as possible regarding not only the patient’s current health status, but also their medical history, issues or concerns. Our after hours, on-call provider fielded numerous calls from the caregiver in question, and took all of that information into account before suggesting best next steps to care for the patient. Based upon the information the caregiver provided, it was recommended by our provider that the caregiver’s mother would be best served on the weekend in question, by accessing emergency care.
Regarding the very rare instance that a patient is discharged from our practice; while respecting the privacy of the patients in question; patients are most often discharged from the practice based on an ongoing series circumstances, including but not limited to, being abusive to staff, being disruptive to normal group operations, a complete fracturing of the clinical relationship, and a failure to follow best medical advice. Buffalo Medical Group never abandons discharged patients, who are afforded thirty days access to care, to provide for a smooth care transition.
Further, Buffalo Medical Group was clearly not afforded the proper opportunity to provide an informed comment to this story before it was published/aired. By contacting an unstaffed, general phone number, on the weekend, not during normal business hours, Spectrum News 1 clearly failed to offer Buffalo Medical Group, the opportunity to properly respond to this story before publication.
