The Number One Reason I Hate Doctors

This is an open letter to all of the medical practitioners out there who have wasted hours upon hours of our precious time waiting to be seen for our scheduled appointed times.

In between work and living our everyday lives, there are moments when we have to go visit a doctor, dentist, dermatologist, or whatever may have you and every single time I have scheduled an appointment it becomes a marathon of wait times. I have lost so much time, money and patience waiting to be seen that it takes everything for me not to lose my mind.

A couple of weeks ago I was referred by my own doctor to see another physician and was turned away because my paperwork was not sent over. I wasted my morning for absolutely nothing because as of today I still have not received a phone call about rescheduling from either doctor.

I visited a dermatologist last year only to wait over two hours and while I did wait the whole time, I did so just to give him a piece of my mind and never returned.

Today (Tuesday, July 31) I had a scheduled appointment with another doctor for a check-up and while I arrived with over 10 minutes to spare I was made to wait over an hour and still was not able to see the doctor. I asked how much longer it would be, noted that my appointment was over an hour late and the receptionist said it was just a matter of moments which then turned to another 20 minutes of waiting, so I told her that I was not going to wait and I left.

This trend of doctors having patients wait hours for their ‘scheduled’ appointments is sheer ridiculousness. They might as well see patients on a first come, first served basis because they really are not keeping their scheduled appointment times.

Dear Doctor,

I don’t appreciate waiting hours to be seen for a scheduled appointment that you assigned me. I understand that things happen, but this is beyond a lack of consideration for your patients. I sincerely appreciate that you are a very skilled physician and that you are in demand and that’s great and all but when you devalue a patient’s time by running late over an hour on appointments continuously, you are not caring for them. Instead, you are disrespecting me and my time which means, I am missing work and not making money to pay you and my ever expensive insurance policy. When you post memos for patients saying that your office charges for no-shows and canceled appointments, then I would also suggest that patients who are kept waiting for more than an hour be credited $40 towards their office visit.

As if the health care system isn’t problematic enough, you along with other physicians who disregard their patient’s time are adding to the overall issue of a broken down health care system.

It’s sad to think that you are just one of the hundreds of doctors who don’t really care about the person that you treat. To you, we are all a number, a case file, another source of income but for us who have to depend on a health care system that pursues greed over wellness is not something I can support or contribute to. I am completely cognizant that these words will not change anything and I will be sick at one time or another but I at least have the choice to not to have you treat me.

So while I shop for a new physician, I hope that you really take my words into consideration and treat your patients with a little more respect because God forbid one day you find yourself on the other side of that glass partition.