Dr Kiran Kumar Putchakayala 2020-09-08 Person 1 5 0

I was referred to Doctor Putchakayala after my Optician saw that I was not producing enough tears and suggested (as I also have a constantly dry mouth and other relevant symptoms) that I should be referred to a specialist to be tested for Sjorgren's Syndrome. I have a long-standing CFSME diagnosis and have been to a rheumatologist before when I was 18, and having had a poor experience last time, I was hoping this time would be better and, even if Sjorgren's wasn't the real problem, the specialist would at least find the root cause of the issue. I wrote a one-page letter detailing my symptoms, the issues I'd come up against, the reasons (in depth) why I had been referred. At the start of the letter I explained that I can be non-verbal in times of stress, so writing this letter was how I was choosing to make sure I communicated with him all of the information I believed him to need, and at the end of the letter I had included a line about the fact I have memory issues. He took the letter from me and handed it back within five seconds. I truly believe he could not have read the entire letter, and even if he managed he could not have absorbed what I wrote. He did not comment on anything I had written in the letter about my symptoms, or about being non-verbal, or about my memory issues. When the appointment began, he started to talk and I realized that the stress and exertion of the journey to (and the build-up to, as I am disabled and that makes attending any appointment a many-week long stress) the hospital for the appointment had rendered my memory very impaired, to the point that most of what he was saying I was forgetting as he spoke. This bit I remember: I reached into my pocket and retrieved my phone. "Can I record th--" "No, I'm sorry." I should have checked in advance, as I am legally allowed to record meetings with doctors as it is MY OWN private information being discussed and my choice, as well as an accessibility need in many situations. He asked if I remembered I had seen a rheumatologist before (I mean, REALLY?) and then proceeded to dismiss all of my symptoms, say that everyone has a dry mouth, that I didn't have any of the markers for Sjorgren's in my blood test (okay, then what's the problem? There's SOMETHING going on, don't just dismiss me) and that it was obviously just my CFSME (which is an exclusionary diagnosis I was given at 16 when they had no idea what else might be wrong with me). I was dragged all the way to Leighton Hospital in the middle of a pandemic, to expose myself and my immunocompromised father (who had to have his parking validated and leave the house) to the outside world we have both been avoiding DUE TO A PANDEMIC to sit on a plastic chair, be disallowed from my LEGALLY PERMITTED accessibility needs as he would be "writing all this down in the letter he'll send out", dismissed as having nothing else wrong with me, told I COULD have a biopsy but he "doesn't recommend it and will be stating that in the letter" and then dismissed within five minutes of arriving. I do not remember the details of the appointment, and wish I had a recording to go over, but I was quick enough to be able to write most of what happened down on my phone once I returned to the car. There was no need to have me visit a hospital for a five minute lecture and no tests. I assumed he would at least examine me in some way and that my referral to a specialist would REQUIRE an in-person meeting, not turn out to be something he could have done via Zoom. I am disgusted by how I was treated, and upon coming home I found my letter from when I was referred to the rheumatologist last time, the one who dismissed my concerns, ignored my needs and sent me back to my GP with a metaphorical pat on the head. It was ten years ago and it was this exact same doctor. I can't say that I'm shocked.