Dr. Alan James Wheless, MD

I was diagnosed with diverticulitis today by a doctor who works with Dr. Wheless, Christopher Thompson. I had a CAT scan which revealed I had diverticulitis. Obviously in pain, Dr. Thomas prescribed intraveneous pain relievers and later antibiotics, which was great. Then, the place got busy and I was asked to hang out in the nurses stations area, which was really crowded with sick people, so my room could be used for incoming sick people. I'm cool with that. I understood and didn't want to be a burden. But I was trying to keep from getting any sicker than I already was from being exposed to all the folks in the e.r., so I began to walk outside while I waited on my ride, since I wasn't going to drive while on narcotics.  

Then, a sheriff from the hosptial said to me, "sir, you can't go outside right now. Just wait here." Um, excuse me? I live in this country called the United States. We can freely walk around and stuff. The sheriff said, "it's a liability issue for the hospital." But obviously not against the law to walk out to get fresh air, away from sick poeple, while I waited for my ride. The sheriff then told me that if I walked outside, that he would charge me with public intoxication because I had some morphine and another pain pill. That's when I said, "Are you serious? Don't threaten me with that bullshit." And I walked out and responsibly waited on my friend, well knowing that I didn't break any laws. In fact, the officer was violating my rights by trying to protect the hosptital from liability issues. 

Dr. Wheless' partner, Dr. Thompson, had already told me he was going to write some narcotic pain medication. Diverticulitis is extremely painful, and in some cases life-threatening. I was just diagnosed that day.  Anyway, the sheriff got bent out of shape and went and cried to the doctor that I didn't obey his little unlawful order. He was beet red in the face, because I embarrassed him in front of the cute nurses and didn't fall for his little intimidation act.  And then I was sent home with Ibuprofen, because the sheriff got in the Dr.'s ear about how he thought I was driving around, killing people and stuff. I was simply outside on the bench, though. My friend came and I got my discharge papers.  As I was leaving, they told to come back if things got worse. Well, they got worse and I was in a lot of pain. I came back, had to sign in, and that's when I met with Dr. Wheless.   

I explained to Dr. Wheless that I was in major pain... and that it was fluxtuating from about 5-9 on their little arbitrary pain rating system. I mean, there wasn't a bulldozer on my testicals, but I was indeed in a lot of pain. Dr. Wheless told me to go home and take some Ibuprofen, and that as a group, they don't prescribe narcotics for diverticulitis. I happen to know, that's a load of crap. We also have this thing called the internet. In reality, Dr. Wheless was covering for the hospital's liability issue and forgoing any medical ethics of "do no harm."  

You see, I am a Philosophy/Ethics major from the same school Wheless went to, Texas. And, I pursued a career in ethics advising rather than a career in medicine, which I was accepted to do. In my expert opinion, this was a case of doing harm via inaction instead of taking a slight risk on a patient who he percieved to be a liability for the hospital. In this case, I was a patient in legitimate pain and the evidence and CAT scan results showed I was indeed ill and in pain. I also was visibly in a lot of pain and vomiting.  Dr. Wheless spent about 3 minutes discussing my issues and didn't even seem to listen, had the bed-side manner of a mule and seemed indifferent to the pain and suffering I was dealing with. Again, this was because was erring on the safe side, avoiding potential liability instead of treating the patient and the patient's legitimate symptoms.  

In short, I wasted 2 trips to a Round Rock emergency room and got nothing really accomplished, except for a diagnosis. I assume my bill will be several thousand dollars and I didn't even get treated. I ended up taking my release papers and instructions to a doctor in Austin, who spend about 7 minutes checking me out and chatting. He was even going give me IV pain meds, which I declined, because I wanted to be safe as well as just go home and sleep off the pain, while the Cipro did its thing.  Dr. Balabar shook his head and said, "over there, they are overly cautious about liability. Next time probably stay in Austin."  

Dr. Wheless was more interested in running a racket, having me come back over and over and writing me 5 different prescriptions when all it really needed was 2. I'm a simple kind of guy. I like simple solutions. But if you want solutions, I would recommend going somewhere else than Dr. Wheless. Instead, go see someone who gets it, is compassionate and has a little bit of sense. Someone like Dr. Balabar. Dr. Wheless is young and obviously afraid to take risks to benefit his patient. Dr. Wheless is a group thinker and told me so himself that it wasn't him making the medical decision. To anyone who knows anything about the ethics of medicine, this kind of group thinking is counterproductive to the patient and only has one goal in mind, money. When you're sick, you need a doctor, not a business man who wears a stethoscope.  
 
Appearing as young as Doogie Houser, and actually resembling him quite a bit (seriously), I can only hope that Dr. Wheless learns the importance of "do no harm" even if he causes harm by inaction. Inaction is still action. I caution anyone considering seeing this doctor to look elsewhere.