"Failed to offer me any significant help and support"

In early 2020 I had a major heart attack which was responded to by MRI. Although I was initially grateful to them for saving my life by their insertion of a stent and recovery of me from a subsequent arrest, they have been such a  disappointment since in every respect that I find it distressful to even think about MRI Cardiology Department these days. So much so, that it has on occasions even triggered palpitations in my worsening heart condition!

My resentment of their treatment of me since has multiple reasons. Initially they allowed me to leave the recovery ward without informing me I required a second stent insertion - an oversight I find simply indefensible. I discover this vital piece of patient information weeks later in a letter calling me back to the hospital, where a nurse confidently gave me a procedure date of within a month.

Of course this was to be routinely cancelled during the COVID panic, as were subsequent provisional dates till all procedures were simply suspended. But I was assured at the time that they wouldn't forget me. And sure enough, about six or so months later, I got a definite date for a procedure dependent on a negative COVID test. On that very morning, as I was preparing to leave for the hospital, I received a phone call from the doctor's secretary telling me my COVID test results hadn't come back from the lab but that they were still hopeful. I believe now that they already knew my blood sample was still untouched and unnecessarily kept me hanging on hopefully for the next two hours.

The following day the same secretary, not the doctor, unenthusiastically asked me if I wished to remain in the process. I was so upset and angry with this treatment that I withdrew there and then. Early the following year the doctor made a pre-arranged phone call which I refused to accept. This same doctor then wrote to my GP effectively signing me off from their care, sending me a copy of that letter. They also said that they understood my disappointment and that they would be glad to see me any time in the future should I change my mind. Words that ring hollow these days.

So that was that for the next three and a half years before my deteriorating heart condition forced me to finally take up and test the sincerity of that offer. That was a year ago, but at least I now I know for sure that MRI interventional cardiology is not, and probably never really was, a practical option here. Alas, it was my only option. At least today its staff don't indulge in raising false hopes and expectations in patients as they used to - they don't bother to give you any hope at all. Seems they've finally accepted that their system is broken to the point of futility.

I haven't written this in order to provoke a response and get things moving with my case. On the contrary, I too have finally accepted the broken futility of a system of cardiac health care that has failed to offer me any significant help and support in the last five years,  and intend to withdraw from it for the second and final time ASAP. I would much prefer to get on with whatever time I may have left rather than waste any more energy and hope on a procedure that just never gets done.