My General Practitioner Wrote Me A Letter Saying He's Leaving

[Chef Jim]

Not where I live.

 

Here to.

 

Here they're all Korean or Chinese.

[erynthered]

Here to.

 

Here they're all Korean or Chinese.

 

 

Just think!! Free acupuncture!!

[John Adams]

Here to.

 

Here they're all Korean or Chinese.

 

The trick of the Asian/Indians is not that they are a drop in expertise as some have implied. There are few 2-3rd gen Americans willing to go into the sciences but for whatever reason, Indians/Asains value it. So that's just who's going to med school in the US. A specialist I recently saw is Indian (born there, med school there...then med school here later). Awesome doctor and leading surgeon in his field.

[Joe Miner]

Not sure who your doctor is, but I can see my doctor in the same day I need to, and can get my 5-year-old in front of his doctor in less than an hour if needed. I'll gladly pay a specialist to keep that up, but I'm sure this will unacceptable to the current administration, who won't like that elitist power grab on my behalf and consequently hit me with a 40% Speed Pass Tax because it's simply not fair to those who make less than me.

 

If I call that day expressing symptoms of an emergency, they'll get the kids right in.

 

If my wife has a scheduled routine checkup exam for her pregnancy, we'll likely be sitting in the waiting room at least an hour.

 

Different doctors and different symptoms obviously, but it seems more and more that unless my needs fit an emergency criteria, they'll (generally speaking) squeeze me in when they can.

[Doc]

Timely meaning one in the near future AND one that they are ready for on time.

 

I know it's called a waiting room, but 1-2 hours is ridiculously excessive. Doctors appointments are getting more and more like appointments with the cable company.

 

My next Dr. appointment is sometime on Tuesday between 8 and noon.

Occasionally a surgeon will take a lot longer than expected, and patients who are waiting will be irate when I come to interview them. When they get all huffy about waiting so long, I tell them "he's making sure he's doing a good and thorough job with his previous patients, just like you'd want him to do with you." That gets them to calm down. Try to think of it like that in the future, and realize that your appointment time is a guide, not an exact thing.

 

The trick of the Asian/Indians is not that they are a drop in expertise as some have implied. There are few 2-3rd gen Americans willing to go into the sciences but for whatever reason, Indians/Asains value it. So that's just who's going to med school in the US. A specialist I recently saw is Indian (born there, med school there...then med school here later). Awesome doctor and leading surgeon in his field.

Most of the Indian FMG's I trained with were excellent, because they'd seen every pathology numerous times. There were the exceptions of course.

[John Adams]

Occasionally a surgeon will take a lot longer than expected, and patients who are waiting will be irate when I come to interview them. When they get all huffy about waiting so long, I tell them "he's making sure he's doing a good and thorough job with his previous patients, just like you'd want him to do with you." That gets them to calm down. Try to think of it like that in the future, and realize that your appointment time is a guide, not an exact thing.

 

That's a fine answer. How about the office doesn't schedule so many people then? Or get better at spacing out appointments?

 

The current trend at almost every doctor I see is to cram in all the appointments until 3ish and then frmo 3-5 is overspill time for all the people who are runnign late. It's a disrespectful way to treat other people's time. Doctors are not exempt from treating people with respect.

 

Most of the Indian FMG's I trained with were excellent, because they'd seen every pathology numerous times. There were the exceptions of course.

 

Yeah, same with engineers. I have met too many brilliant Asain/Indian engineers and doctors to discredit a single one because of their ethnicity.

[Doc]

That's a fine answer. How about the office doesn't schedule so many people then? Or get better at spacing out appointments?

 

The current trend at almost every doctor I see is to cram in all the appointments until 3ish and then frmo 3-5 is overspill time for all the people who are runnign late. It's a disrespectful way to treat other people's time. Doctors are not exempt from treating people with respect.

Everyone wants to be seen as soon as possible and as early as possible. And they want unlimited time devoted to them. That's wholly unrealistic.

[Joe Miner]

Everyone wants to be seen as soon as possible and as early as possible. And they want unlimited time devoted to them. That's wholly unrealistic.

 

Last time I was there, I just wanted a simple apology from the doctor for having to have waited 1.5 hours.

 

A quick "Sorry I'm late," would have been greatly appreciated.

 

I also just want to go in at my appointed time, and have my appointment start near that agreed upon time.

 

Perhaps I can start doing that at my job. 2:30 meeting? I'll be there when I get there. Nobody starts without me, and I'll only stay 5-10 minutes and seem indignant if any questions are asked of me. I think it'll really take me places in my career.

[DC Tom]

Last time I was there, I just wanted a simple apology from the doctor for having to have waited 1.5 hours.

 

A quick "Sorry I'm late," would have been greatly appreciated.

 

I also just want to go in at my appointed time, and have my appointment start near that agreed upon time.

 

Perhaps I can start doing that at my job. 2:30 meeting? I'll be there when I get there. Nobody starts without me, and I'll only stay 5-10 minutes and seem indignant if any questions are asked of me. I think it'll really take me places in my career.

 

My dentist will actually have his receptionist call to warn if he's running late, so his patients don't waste their time in the waiting room.

[Doc]

Last time I was there, I just wanted a simple apology from the doctor for having to have waited 1.5 hours.

 

A quick "Sorry I'm late," would have been greatly appreciated.

 

I also just want to go in at my appointed time, and have my appointment start near that agreed upon time.

 

Perhaps I can start doing that at my job. 2:30 meeting? I'll be there when I get there. Nobody starts without me, and I'll only stay 5-10 minutes and seem indignant if any questions are asked of me. I think it'll really take me places in my career.

I don't know what else to tell you other than call close to the time you'd leave for your appointment and ask how far behind he/she is running. If it's a consistent problem and you think your doctor is dissing you and/or rude, find a new one.

[John Adams]

Everyone wants to be seen as soon as possible and as early as possible. And they want unlimited time devoted to them. That's wholly unrealistic.

 

No. This is the doctor's problem. Schedule people appropriately. If it's consistent that people take longer than anticipated, space out the appointments more. No one minds waiting 10 minutes but the regular 1-2+ hour wait is not professional. And yes, I've left doctors already for this. The problem is that it's so consistent that it's nearly impossible to find a doc who doesn't work like this.

 

And as an FYI, I have top shelf insurance, schedule well in advance, and show up on time. The medical profession is not respectful and professional to its patients.

[manateefan]

In all seriousness, we already do, don't we?

 

And I hear y'all on the non-docs, Doc. When I first went in for my knee a couple of months ago, X-rays came back negative and the NP suggested a cortisone shot so I could return to work. Um, no, how about we find out what the hell's wrong with it first?

 

The MRI confirmed a sprained LCL, and I've been in a brace ever since.

 

My personal physician is from India and I love him. I would not trade him for the world. He is well respected in his filed and I trust him. He bought the practice from my first doctor, a good ole Southern boy, and I was leary but found out that he was very capable.

[Alaska Darin]

No. This is the doctor's problem. Schedule people appropriately. If it's consistent that people take longer than anticipated, space out the appointments more. No one minds waiting 10 minutes but the regular 1-2+ hour wait is not professional. And yes, I've left doctors already for this. The problem is that it's so consistent that it's nearly impossible to find a doc who doesn't work like this.

 

And as an FYI, I have top shelf insurance, schedule well in advance, and show up on time. The medical profession is not respectful and professional to its patients.

I would say that's society as a whole. I'm surprised on occasion when it isn't that way but it certainly isn't the norm.

[Lori]

My personal physician is from India and I love him. I would not trade him for the world. He is well respected in his filed and I trust him. He bought the practice from my first doctor, a good ole Southern boy, and I was leary but found out that he was very capable.

I hope nobody thinks I'm trying to denigrate foreign doctors; I was merely pointing out that in some areas of the country (including mine), they already play a significant role in the health care system. My first cardiologist was Pakistani, and he was probably the best doctor I've ever seen. In fact, I wish he hadn't retired from his practice -- think he's teaching at Strong Memorial now.

[Nanker]

Sounds like people are putting him on retainer. So if he covered all your medical needs for an annual retainer fee then there'd be no need for insurance. Interesting.

Sorta. There's still a fee for each visit and he accepts all forms of insurance. So there's still the copay to make after ponying up the $1,650 each retainer fee.

 

Got a call from his office last night. The spots are filling up quickly and if I wait till the April 6th date he announced as his presentation to the undecided people in his practice, that it might be too late to join and we'd have to go on his waiting list. Practice is strictly limited to the first 600 patients.

 

This is how they deal with the kind of crowding in the waiting room that John Adams and others have described. Doctors don't like that either - nor the shite they receive from patients about getting strung out in time. That's the point, or at least one of the points. The MDVIP model allows Doctors to practice medicine on their own terms, to devote more time to each of their six hundred patients - not several thousand patients.

 

I can really see this catching on. Talk about a shortage of good Doctors. If a lot of these guys go into really "private practice" the people with their newly found "Healthcare" may not have any healthcare providers from which to choose - or else they're going to join a long line... a very long, long line.

[pBills]

In all seriousness, we already do, don't we?

 

And I hear y'all on the non-docs, Doc. When I first went in for my knee a couple of months ago, X-rays came back negative and the NP suggested a cortisone shot so I could return to work. Um, no, how about we find out what the hell's wrong with it first?

 

The MRI confirmed a sprained LCL, and I've been in a brace ever since.

 

 

I know and have gone to many doctors that are from India. All are very good at what they do and great service.

[Fan in San Diego]

Interesting concept. I'm with Kaiser currently which I am very pleased with. Sometimes I or my son will see a Physicians Assistant for general things that don't require a full blown doctor. They are highly trained and one step below a doctor, not sure if other HMO's or practices have the same thing.

These PA's can help fill the gaps that your fearing.

[Doc]

Interesting concept. I'm with Kaiser currently which I am very pleased with. Sometimes I or my son will see a Physicians Assistant for general things that don't require a full blown doctor. They are highly trained and one step below a doctor, not sure if other HMO's or practices have the same thing.

These PA's can help fill the gaps that your fearing.

They're quite a few steps below, as are APRN's. And most anyone can diagnose the easy stuff.

[Jim in Anchorage]

They're quite a few steps below, as are APRN's. And most anyone can diagnose the easy stuff.

Not always. I flipped a 4 wheeler once. Pain was so bad in my back I really thought I was going into shock. Was taken to a rural clinic, ck'd out to the point it was determined I didn't need a medivac and given pain pills. Get back to civilization and go to what I thought was a real doctor[he has a office in a hospital must be a real Doctor, right?] Well he gives me a quick look over and 2 weeks of flex-a something[pain pills]. Well after 2 weeks of pain pills I felt I could stop them, and immediately noticed something odd. When I sat in a car seat I could feel pressure on my spine, like there was a roll of coins taped there. So I go look at my back in the mirror, and sure enough there was a bulge there on my spine. Go back to to this "Doctor" and point out the bulge in my spine. He dismisses it, saying it is the result of arthritis due to smoking. Me-"do you remember the beginning of this story, that started when I flipped a 4 wheeler?" I insisted on a X-ray. Guess what? two crushed vertebrae. It turned out he never got to be a MD, just enough schooling to practice medicine.

Bottom line he missed a visible broken back. I will never go to anyone that is not a MD.

[Chef Jim]

Last time I was there, I just wanted a simple apology from the doctor for having to have waited 1.5 hours.

 

A quick "Sorry I'm late," would have been greatly appreciated.

 

I also just want to go in at my appointed time, and have my appointment start near that agreed upon time.

 

Perhaps I can start doing that at my job. 2:30 meeting? I'll be there when I get there. Nobody starts without me, and I'll only stay 5-10 minutes and seem indignant if any questions are asked of me. I think it'll really take me places in my career.

 

That's why I always schedule my doctors appointments or first thing in the morning. I always their first patient and very rarely have to wait.