Kudos to PAMF

After writing up the disastrous experiences of a friend at Stanford’s allegedly world-class medical center, it is a great pleasure to describe my own experience at Palo Alto medical foundation. I needed a 30,000 mile checkup, the sort of thing that involves a surgeon and anesthesia.

First, I stopped at the lab for a blood test (I passed), then I walked into the family practice group for a vaccination that was due. No problem. Off to the surgecenter, where I met several very nice people. Nice is nice, of course, but that’s not what impressed me most.

Three or four times I was asked (nicely) to confirm my name and date of birth, to help them make sure that I hadn’t been slotted into the wrong place. After changing into a nothing, I was offered reading material while I waited, but this checkup is no big deal: I told myself I had lucked out and gotten a flat bed on an international flight, and zonk! right out!

The surgeon apologized for waking me when he came in to chat, to make sure I was comfortable with what was going to happen. They wheeled me into the service bay, joking about my name (they thought it sounded like a movie title; I supplied the likelihood that it would be a midnight horror movie). Then they wanted me to state the purpose of my visit, again checking that everything was aligned. I told them that if they did heart surgery on me, that would be the wrong thing!

The anesthesia was said to leave me semi-conscious, but to remove all memory of the experience. The last thing I remember is the conscious decision to remember what was going on during the procedure. Next thing I recall is fragments of being walked out with Jacky to the car.

And in the morning, they called me to make sure there were no complications or questions.

Best practices, indeed. Good people to do business with, and as expected, the checkup says I’m good for at least another 30,000 miles.

Tags: Palo Alto medical foundation, PAMF