Jesus frickin' Christ

I am about ready to scream, or weep, or do both simultaneously. I've been phoning around for the past three days to try and find Bemo a shrink who can refill his meds. However, there is apparently not a doctor in the entire frigging state of Virginia who is accepting new patients. Either that, or they don't return phone calls. I've branched out into phoning DC doctors, despite the potential difficulty getting to their offices, and still no luck. An angry phone call to the insurance company got me very little - some mild sympathy and an offer to email me a list of doctors. Since I think she was searching for a list of doctors in exactly the same way I was (the company's website), I have little faith that I will find a motherload of doctors ready and willing to take on new patients.

What was even more frustrating was the return phone call from one of the doctors, who said that he did indeed have a couple of spaces open, but that he's "out of town often" and that he thought Bemo "needed somebody on a more regular basis" and therefore refused to take him on. I asked, with a definite quiver in my voice at this point, if he would at least take him on long enough to get him a refill on his meds, but he said no to that as well, wished me luck, and I did my best not to slam the phone down on his ear as hard as I possibly could. Fuck you, dude. You're making a judgement about what he needs based on a five minute conversation with the potential patient's wife, and you just...turn him away? I hope your holiday is full of backed up septic tanks and expensive automobile repairs.

Bemo needs to see somebody - not just for his meds but to talk to about his current, probably holiday-induced depression. And I can't fucking find somebody to help him.

Off to make more phone calls.

Eta: A dr. just phoned me back, and said sympathetically but unhelpfully that it was hard to get doctors to see HMO clients because "they just made it really cost-ineffective." And now I am crying.

Phone wrangler

After many phone calls and an irate email or two, I think I have a doctor for Bemo - the only thing is that they may not be able to see him before mid-January. It's very likely that we'll need to use some sort of intermediate step (thanks, Cher and makjia, for your really quick and helpful responses). My HR director at work will be meeting with the reps from the insurance company and is going to use my situation (and a similar one that happened to somebody else) to push the health insurance people into improving their services, so let's hope that *that* particular meeting goes well.

Feeling better, even though the situation isn't entirely mended. But it's improved drastically since this morning.