Fucking Waste of Time

Zeri

Zeri

Retainer of the House of Ultimague
Sorry to any doctors in the LS for the following rant:

Okay, seriously, what the fuck gives a person the right to waste two months of my time? Well, actually more like 4 months. Just cause they're a doctor? Bullshit.

My PCP referred me to this specialist back at the beginning of July to go see. Okay, fine. So I call his office to schedule an appointment, and his secretary tells me he can't fit me in till September 11th. I go O_O "2 months?!" But he's a specialist. They're in high demand. So it was 2 months take it or leave it. Oh. And he could only fit me in at 2:30 in the afternoon. Great. In the MIDDLE of the work day so no way to fudge going during lunch, coming in late, or leaving early. Fine. Whatever. I suck it up, and book the appointment.

Now here two months later, I get there, I wait a bit, I finally get to talk to the nurse, who informs me my appointment has been cancelled. The doctor had some seminar to go to. I'm like, o_O "WTF? I book 2 months in advance and no one tells me?" "Oh, we left you a phone message." I look at the number they're using; it's not my phone number. So they left a message on someone else's phone. While that pisses me off, it's not the doctor's fault, nor is it probably that receptionist's fault. Someone entered something wrong in the database. Shit happens.

This is what does piss me off though. I ask her about rescheduling, and the soonest they can fit me in is in ANOTHER 2 months. WHAT. THE. FUCK. I wait 2 months for an appointment, he cancels on me not for anything urgent (which everyone understands) but for some yuppie seminar and can't reschedule me for another 2 months?! Fucking bullshit. Even airlines do better than that when they cancel your flight.

In the software world, if I have an appointment to schedule delivering a patch or such, if I can't make it, I have to get someone to cover for me. Why shouldn't it be that way for doctors too? If they have to cancel for a non-urgent reason, get a colleague to cover for them? Like I said, urgent is no holds barred. I understand things come up. But a seminar doesn't just come up last minute. I would hope he would respect my time that booking months in advance would either take precedence, or would be worth an exception to fit in sooner. Or hell, at the VERY least, since seminars you sign up for in advance, send me a letter in addition to a voicemail? You know? Just in case you got the wrong number?!

So I said fuck the November appointment and booked with one of his colleagues for sooner. I don't know how bitchy of me that is, but really... it sounds to me like this guy is just too damn busy to accept more patients.

Fucking two months wasted for nothing. At least I'm not wasting another two. Heaven help me if the guy has a convention in November...

Thankfully his associate seems far more available.
 
A coworker fought battles like this for a few years with a couple heart specialists. About a year ago, he finally asked one: "So, will I get scheduled BEFORE I die of this condition you're supposed to diagnose?" Sadly, the doctor couldn't give him a solid answer. :(
 
That's really sad Ehon. :( I mean, fucking heart surgeons not available?! T_T Please tell me your coworker is okay? Are there any other specialists he can go to?
 
/comfort Zeri. I think you did the right thing to just go to an associate. Anymore you have to go to a PCP for everything including getting a referral to a specialist. Fewer and fewer doctors want to be a PCP.

Hang in there!
 
Zeri,

I don't know that I've ever played FFXI with you, but I was an Ultima member for a long time in the past. Anyhow, I am a doctor myself, a "specialist" in fact, and I can say that scheduling appointments with "specialists" will always be a challenge simply because supply does not meet demand, however, the way you were treated is grossly inappropriate. One thing I would encourage you to do is to contact your PCP and inform him/her of the situation. The only way to get a-holes like this to get their act together is to get the primary care physicians to stop sending them referrals. Once their wallet feels the effects they will shape up or go out of business.

It really is a shame that you have had to go through this, I feel for you. I hope that you get the care you need without having to wait too much longer.

Cheers!
Ezlayen
 
Only 2 months? AU has 6 month waiting lists..
 
defiant said:
Only 2 months? AU has 6 month waiting lists..
Click to expand...

I heard about that from Takun actually when he needed surgery. I suppose that's the down side of nationalized health care. If you had private insurance in addition to public, would you be able to see other doctors? See them sooner? I don't know your situation so can't say. But considering I pay for my healthcare (nice chunk of every pay check) and have copayments I have to make to the doctor as well, I have a bit higher expectations.
 
defiant said:
Only 2 months? AU has 6 month waiting lists..
Click to expand...
I'm sorry to hear that, but Zeri's situation of getting put off after 2 months of waiting is still unreasonable and still worth lamenting.

Ezlayen's advice sounds good to me. Make sure your PCP knows what happened, and raise a fuss with the specialist about not booking you a replacement appointment at high priority. If they can bump you for a seminar, they can bump someone else next week to squeeze you in.
 
I totally agree with EZ.

I had to wait almost 3 months for an appt with a child specialist for my son. He was the only specialist that took my insurance in Brooklyn. (3.5 million people live in Brooklyn).

At that time, my son had a weird habit of stumbling and falling, when he walked. He would walk and boom, fall flat on his face, and it was completely random.

The Specialist did some tests and basically said " I can't do anything, the problem will disappear when the child gets older (by age 9), when his bones and body frame (pelvis bone) will grow larger, and he was right!!!
 
Zeri said:
I heard about that from Takun actually when he needed surgery. I suppose that's the down side of nationalized health care. If you had private insurance in addition to public, would you be able to see other doctors? See them sooner? I don't know your situation so can't say. But considering I pay for my healthcare (nice chunk of every pay check) and have copayments I have to make to the doctor as well, I have a bit higher expectations.
Click to expand...

We have private health care if you wish to pay for it but the waiting list is still as long. 6 months (14 years ago) was when i had to see one for my legs due to pain and barely being able to walk. These days the waiting is even longer.

Problem is most doctors don't want to deal with insurance claims and very few do.
 
tarja said:
I totally agree with EZ.

I had to wait almost 3 months for an appt with a child specialist for my son. He was the only specialist that took my insurance in Brooklyn. (3.5 million people live in Brooklyn).

At that time, my son had a weird habit of stumbling and falling, when he walked. He would walk and boom, fall flat on his face, and it was completely random.

The Specialist did some tests and basically said " I can't do anything, the problem will disappear when the child gets older (by age 9), when his bones and body frame (pelvis bone) will grow larger, and he was right!!!
Click to expand...

I hope it all works out for your kid. I had growing pains (with legs) most of my childhood. I also annoy people with the need to be moving my legs or getting up and walking no where cause they need to be moving...

Adulthood i find myself on rare occasions almost falling over due to my legs giving out on me for no fucking reason and it's very embarrassing if you happen to be out in public =\ This and my extreme leg pain all started when i hurt my back when i was 18 and still no doc/specialist can tell me what's wrong. My back is fine btw.
 
If you can afford to pay a little more always go for a PPO instead of an HMO.

You can most of the time see any specialist you want without a direct referral from your PCP. While it gives you the option of seeing any doctor you want in their network sans a referral, the annual costs are a bit more steep unfortunately.

Hope when you finally see the specialist theres nothing wrong. =)
 
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