To whom it may concern,

To whom it may concern,

On July 17, my aunt visited Albany Gastroenterology, Dr. Kumar s office due to chronic diarrhea and possible CDIFF recurrence. My aunt previously suffered from a CDIFF infection and wanted to check the results of the specimen sample and to see if it had recurred. When Kristy, the PA came in asked my aunt when did she send in the specimen because there were no records of a fecal specimen on file. My aunt explained that the specimen was sent a week prior on June 10. Kristy explained to my aunt that she would need to go over to the lab at Phoebe to retrieve another specimen kit because they had no results to go by to see if there was an infection. The lab at Phoebe main had not send any results over to the doctor s office. When I went to pick up the specimen kit, I explained to the tech that the doctor s office had no records of my aunt completing a specimen kit. I asked what happened to the specimen and if it just disappeared into thin air. The tech looked at some paper work and explained that the sample was rejected and that the doctor s office should have called my aunt. I explained that there was no record on file at the doctor s office that a specimen sample had been collected. She was explaining to me why the lab would reject the sample, but I asked to speak to a supervisor because my aunt had been waiting a week for results in regards to a serious infection. When the supervisor, Carlson came, he once again explained why a sample would be rejected, I explained to him that my aunt had not been notified and the doctor s office had no records of it. I asked him when was the sample rejected, when did they notify the doctor, and who tested it. He went back into the office to speak with one of his workers. When he came back out into the lobby where I was, he immediately began to apologize explaining that there was no documentation on file and that they dropped the ball and the doctor s office had not been notified and it was completely their fault. I explained to him that my aunt has waited a week for results with a possible serious infection and now has to collect and send another sample to be tested before any possible treatment could occur. He apologized and stated that he understood because there were very few things as worst as CDIFF and hoped now that we could get her on the right track. He also explained that he wished the girls up front were trained to detect if a specimen would be rejected so that they can let the patient know immediately. I explained to him that the issue is that no one communicated that it had been rejected which is unacceptable and my aunt is at home anxiously waiting on results. There was another patient in the lab office listening and I asked her what her name was in case the lab supervisor tried to ever say that he did not say this information to me. This lab s behavior was a form of incompetence and shows that the workers were very irresponsible and failed to do their jobs. This is unacceptable and this behavior must be addressed because the people s lives of Southwest Georgia are at stake if Phoebe Putney does not improve their healthcare services.