A Doctor's Tale
Yesterday, I went to a doctor. After being on time to the minute, even though my 5' tall 110 lb wife had to push me into the office in a wheelchair on to the 2nd floor (elevator) and down a long hall. We had to wait an hour before he saw me.
The doc is a 30-ish guy with an athletic build who I was only too happy to unload on. Never one to be shy when I'm annoyed I told him that he should be ashamed. After all, at 85 years of age, I have a lot less time available to me to waste than he does.. This led a usually taciturn medico to explain some things to me. He wasn't an independent doctor, rather he was a part of a conglomeration of 11 doctors of the same specialty. As such, he had to comply to the rules set down by the group one of which was that he could not instruct the nurses or the office help as an individual, but only as a part of the conglomeration. In this case, the help failed to inform him that he was running over one hour late, and worse yet failed to inform the patient(s) (me). Because of the "Me Too" movement any interchange between a male doctor and the female staff could be construed as sexual harassment, it was forbidden and could only be put forth at staff meetings. Having been a small business owner myself, I know I could never tolerate working under such conditions. I don't know if he was telling me a tale in order to cool me down, or the naked truth.In the past, based on other conversations, I found him to be generally conservative, and honest with a penchant for thoroughly explaining .what was wrong, what was being done, and why. Characteristics that I found irrisistable in a doctor of this decade. I'd like to get some input from the Gulch, especially the docs out there. Watcha think Doc Zarkoff and
others? All typos are my fault due to my awful typing skills and lack of desire to improve them.
The doc is a 30-ish guy with an athletic build who I was only too happy to unload on. Never one to be shy when I'm annoyed I told him that he should be ashamed. After all, at 85 years of age, I have a lot less time available to me to waste than he does.. This led a usually taciturn medico to explain some things to me. He wasn't an independent doctor, rather he was a part of a conglomeration of 11 doctors of the same specialty. As such, he had to comply to the rules set down by the group one of which was that he could not instruct the nurses or the office help as an individual, but only as a part of the conglomeration. In this case, the help failed to inform him that he was running over one hour late, and worse yet failed to inform the patient(s) (me). Because of the "Me Too" movement any interchange between a male doctor and the female staff could be construed as sexual harassment, it was forbidden and could only be put forth at staff meetings. Having been a small business owner myself, I know I could never tolerate working under such conditions. I don't know if he was telling me a tale in order to cool me down, or the naked truth.In the past, based on other conversations, I found him to be generally conservative, and honest with a penchant for thoroughly explaining .what was wrong, what was being done, and why. Characteristics that I found irrisistable in a doctor of this decade. I'd like to get some input from the Gulch, especially the docs out there. Watcha think Doc Zarkoff and
others? All typos are my fault due to my awful typing skills and lack of desire to improve them.
I had to wait for my doctor of a long time once for one hour. The regular wait time for him is between 20 to 30 min. One hour was too long. I asked the nurse what was going on and she replied that he was "still with a patient".
I did not wait longer. He expects people to show up on time bc/ his "time is valuable". So was mine. I made sure the nurse understood that when I left. She rescheduled the apptm and next time I was seen right away.
He did not apologize but said that he is unable to control how long time a patient will take.
Which was not an excuse b/c he controlled time with patients, never going beyond 30 min each.
Sorry about the bullsh*t Herb.
This reminds me...I saw Bloomberg's campaign ad on tv this morning and the only topic in it was health care and how he's going to get you your health care. I bristle at this beyond words! I work in health care, albeit as an engineer. I can't stomach this implication that Big Brother Medical is the answer, as though it's the only answer for all you dupes out there. It's clearly a fallacy...
Next you are a lucky old codger, to have a hot slim BW to push you around. lol.
I am reminded though of a humourous story that you have heard. About the brave young US marine who was severely wounded in battle. He was unconscious and airlifted to safety. His legs were lost from an IUD assembled and planted by a Soleimani’s trained terrorist in Iraq. After surgery he awakened to the see the nurse who was caring for him. The nurse informed him that “he won’t be able to feel anything below the waist” To which he responded “well , can I feel your ……?
Both the Dr.s group board and the soldier went overboard in the opposite direction as far as the discourse between the sexes is concerned. The nurse could have said to the soldier “catch me if you can” if she was offended, problem solved.
What if the group Just hired qualified people and demanded they adhere to their Hippocratic oath including Primum non nocere. To patients and others.
It's hard to find good providers because they often think the insurance company is the customer. Sometimes I can explain that I have money and want "Concierge" service, really just the same level of service I expect from a good plumber or electrician. I actually don't know many good providers. If someone in my family gets a serious illness I'll probably travel to Rochester for the Mayo Clinic. I hope I don't have such a need any time soon.
You are shooting par if he's good in all other aspects. I think it's hard for providers because insurance companies and gov't rules on insurance are sold as way so doctors can focus on medicine instead of business and sick patients don't have to think about paying in the middle of an illness. But it doesn't work well. There's no substitute for buyers and sellers being aware what they're paying/charging.