"We have received a non-credible threat."

May 6, 2015 10:14 PM

I just got an email from my doctor's office telling me they have "received a non-credible threat." They say they've notified the police and they're putting extra security on, but have given me the option to reschedule. I am a little thrown by the fact that they've emailed me when it is allegedly non-credible. Has anyone else had this happen and what did you do?

Note: they are not an abortion clinic. I am not going in for a routine check-up but to get a knee injury looked at.

posted by rednikki to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

Best answer: I would disregard the term "non-credible." Sounds like what they really mean is they haven't verified the threat yet. If it were truly not credible at all, there'd be no need to notify you.
posted by John Cohen at 10:27 PM on May 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

I assume they think this is a threat from a crazy or irrational person who doesn't seem serious or likely to have done anything, but they are protecting themselves from the potential liability of being sued if they don't tell you about the threat and something does actually happen. I think this is probably a legal cover-their-asses move just to be careful. If they were really worried, they would just close the office or cancel all their appointments, I would think.

Whether you cancel or not, I suppose, depends how serious your knee issue is, how quickly you need to be soon, how soon they could reschedule you, and how worried you are about this non-credible threat. I would probably call them in the morning and talk to someone about it.
posted by AppleTurnover at 10:32 PM on May 6, 2015 [8 favorites]

Medical providers are oriented around providing informed consent for procedures and record-sharing, so I think they're more likely to notify for possibly disruptive events than, say, your mechanic. Just as with procedures, they've told you about a possible negative consequence of attending your appointment (violence), and they've told you their impression of the likelihood of the consequence (low but possible.) I'd follow their lead and treat my decision the way I would being consented for a procedure (i.e. I'd take it at face value and make the decision according to how important the benefit of attending tomorrow is to me in light of this low but real risk.)
posted by gingerest at 11:03 PM on May 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

It's probably non-credible because the angry ex-patient still can't walk.

I'd ignore it totally. By calling it "non-credible" my guess is they actually increased their liability.
posted by spitbull at 4:46 AM on May 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Non-credible threat has apparently now become credible; they called me to let me know they're closed for the day and will contact me tomorrow to reschedule.
posted by rednikki at 7:59 AM on May 7, 2015 [2 favorites]

I suspect someone at your doctor's office doesn't know what "non-credible" means.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:41 AM on May 7, 2015 [2 favorites]