Dr. Janet Elaine Andrews

I saw this psychiatrist as an inpatient at HCMC in the psych unit, and ended up worse off when I left her care than when I arrived. I found her complete disregard of my feelings and unwillingness to consider any of my own extensive experience with my own body and the chronic pain I have endured for almost a decade to be insensitive and demeaning. I felt like there was no alternative to suicide from my pain when I checked myself in, and she responded by telling me that my disability was caused by something emotional... I wasn't depressed until I was debilitated by pain, and since I had no health insurance, I was reduced to begging for public assistance at a county hospital, where I hoped they could do a complete workup and find a solution. I did everything she asked me to while I was there, but was actually taken off the only pain medication I had at the time, which was a reasonably low dose of hydrocodone. Her concern that I was becoming addicted was the only thing she was willing to… talk about, and this was very upsetting to me because she offered me no alternatives that would give me relief, even long enough for me to get into a bona fide pain clinic once I got public assistance. I pleaded with her to hear my side, and even agreed to try a new antidepressant and gabapentin, but she took me off the pain medicine that was working somewhat before the other medicines were even supposed to start working. I told her over several days that my pain was getting worse, not better, and she told me it was my attitude that was holding me back and cut my pain medication back further. I checked myself out of the unit because there was no help for me there at all, and am reduced to basically living in my bed, waiting for my healthcare funding to come through so I can try another doctor. Mental pain is very serious, and I know it, but an M.D. ought to also have some concern for her patients' physical suffering. Pain is undertreated in this country as it is, and since this fact has gotten much attention lately, it's hard to believe that Dr. Andrews is ignorant of this fact, so I must conclude that she chooses to ignore it. The only other reasons for her callousness that I can think of is that she has (a) never experienced significant pain herself that went untreated; or (b) she is burned out and doesn't really enjoy what she's doing. I used to think that all doctors were in the field because they cared about people and wanted to help them, but I am learning the painful lesson that this is not the case. If you are looking for compassion, seek help elsewhere. She might or might not be good with the big psychotic disorders and those meds, but she was completely useless in my case and yes, very unpleasant to deal with. I should also note that when I had an advocate with me she, her demeanor changed dramatically and she was almost soothing until he left and I saw her alone later. That was very unsettling. Thank god I made it out alive with my "sanity" intact.