Saw Dr. Strom today at Valley Medical Building (of...

Saw Dr. Strom today at Valley Medical Building (off 315) playing defense for Dr. Jacobs who had me sign a consent while under the influence of a handful of pills and IV drugs pre-surgery (which was over 4 hours late getting started). A patient must be capable of making a medical decision and not under duress when signing consent, especially one in which the surgeon hand writes notes adding dangers to the procedure! Plus, he never offered any alternative to surgery but last time I spoke with him he said it might not have been the answer though he said my problem had a surgical solution. What a joke. I digress, so Geisinger brainiacs send me to Dr. Strom to see what he could do with the mess made by Jacobs. Dr. Strom seems nice enough and he may even be brilliant. Hard to say because he talks a million miles a minute. I asked him to slow down so I could understand and he said we only have so much time and I want to cover a lot. That is the gist of Geisinger. When a doctor feels pressure to rush through an appointment, mistakes WILL happen. Just like Jacobs rushed to get me into surgery without performing any testing to get a full picture of my health situation and then did not sit down and take the time to explain the negative factors of the surgery until I was already waiting to go into the OR. Geisinger has systemic problems. Maybe the doctors are better than they seem but how will we ever know? Dr. Strom did at least order the testing I should have been given prior to my initial surgery so we can get a full picture of my situation and then figure out what to do next. It s very sad that he ll never know me as a patient and I will most likely never know him as a surgeon because the Geisinger program does not allow for that kind of interaction and unfortunately, that is why their healthcare system fails and will continue to do so.