Geisinger Health System

I took leave for a short term disability request on August 12th from my job. I was told that all I had to do was get a doctor to sign off on the paperwork and that I would begin receiving paychecks as set forth by my benefits.
The benefit company had faxed the paperwork over to a number that the practicing office had given me before as the best fax number.
A week went by, I called, they had not received it. They gave me two more numbers over the following week and still no one had received the paperwork. I offered to take it to the office myself but they told me they had needed to receive it directly from my benefit company in order for it to be valid.
Finally after 2 and a half weeks they finally got the paperwork, but they stated the doctor wanted to see me before signing it.
The earliest they could get me in was October 26th. They did not offer to set me up with another doctor. I explained to them that I needed this signed and returned to my benefits company within a certain amount of time because I was going without income until it was approved.
They agreed after ANOTHER week that they could get me in September 12th. A month away, but since I had so many days to finish out the claim that I figured once he saw me he could just sign the paperwork and be done with it.
NOPE.
September 12th came around and at this appointment, I was told at the very beginning of the whole 10 minute appointment that this would need a full psych evaluation. He knew this when he originally scheduled the visit. Couldn't he have set up the referral before then instead of forcing me to wait a month just to TELL me this? I was pretty livid at this point. He knew I had depression as at my last visit I had told him in front of my boyfriend (who was also present at this one) my history with the issue. There was literally no reason to wait a month for an appointment at all.
He sent in the referral and told me I would be called by the end of the week to be scheduled.
That also never happened. I called the office myself and told them what was in the system and that I hadn't been called. They set up me up with a department and told me OCTOBER 3RD for this appointment!
By now my job is getting pissed at me because I had gone 2 months without coming to work and had nothing to show for it. They were calling me constantly asking for a return to work date. I felt like an idiot explaining what was going on and it didn't even sound like I was telling the truth, though I was.
October 3rd rolled around. Now I am behind on bills and my car insurance is about to be revoked. My cell phone had been shut off, making this even harder because I would have to wait until my boyfriend got home from work to check on all this...
but I digress.
I walked into the appointment hopeful that it would be the end of my issues and began talking to the psychiatrist. When I told her what I needed to have done,
she told me flat out "I can't do that. You need to see someone with a PHD/psychologist who can fill out the paperwork." When I asked who might do that, I was told that *I* had to call around and find someone. No help at all.
So another month had gone by and still nothing...I called around and found some places. None of them would agree to fill out paperwork, even after an appointment or two. Most were booked past the time my FMLA would no longer protect my job.
Anytime I would call to ask to have the referral sent to one of these offices, it would take a week for them to even fax the paperwork, and half the time they never would even attempt to do so.
Finally, this week, they got around to faxing the referral to an office I had called. They'd received a request for information from the office last Monday, and it took them until Friday afternoon to even get it back.
I got a call from my job's HR yesterday telling me that if I didn't have any benefit payments by Friday, my benefits at work would be cancelled. I would also be fired if I didn't return in 10 days.
So here I am about to lose my job and now I have to go back without being treated and possibly fired for not being able to perform my job duties...all thanks to my "doctor".
The office that I had called for a referral to told me that he should have been able to fill out the paperwork on the first visit in September. This all could have been avoided.
Switching doctors immediately...this is unacceptable.