Ms. Walley: "Hi, I need to make an appointment to see Dr. Grumpy."
Mary: "Okay, our next available new patient visit is in 2 weeks..."
Ms. Walley: "What about next week?"
Mary: "He's out of town next week."
Ms. Walley: "Out of town? What do you mean?"
Mary: "He's going on vacation."
Ms. Walley: "But he's in the area, right?"
Mary: "No, he and his family are flying to California. Anyway, we have an opening on..."
Ms. Walley : "Wait a minute! That's a long way. What if I were to have an emergency, and need to come in urgently when he's on vacation? Would he fly back to see me?"
Mary: "No, he has other doctors who cover for him, and there's the ER, and..."
Ms. Walley : "So your doctor just feels like he can abandon patients and leave town? That's ridiculous. Never mind. I'll find another doctor, one who believes in caring for people."
(click)
53 comments:
How dare you take a vacation. You selfish jerk.
Where in CA are you going?
Wow... Some people!!
Love your blog btw!
Nenna, student nurse from Norway :)
"I'll find another doctor, one who believes in caring for people."
Hey! Aren't Mrs. Grumpy, Frank, Craig & Marie people, too? They need to be cared for, too.
Now, as for Ibee being a people - that's still open for debate. :-)
stay safe.
"Saved by the click", I'd say.
Haha, how dare doctors be real people!
You should refer her to Watson, the Jeopardy robot.
And now we know WHY Ibee needs vacations. :)
Seriously? "Well, we didn't want your business anyway as you sound as if you need a different kind of doctor - as in one who specializes in fibromyASS" Ugh!
Seriously? She should have been told that she sounds as if she needs a physician of a different specialty. One that specializes in pain in the ass... UGH!
Looks like you caught a break here.
As every practicing doc knows, this attitude is far more common than most people realize.
You dodged a bullet on that one
Well MY doctor lives in a small room in the back of his office. People throw food to him periodically so he can be ready and alert to tend to my needs 24-7.
Shame on you.
It honestly scares the h3ll out of me to think there are people like this out walking the streets... reminds me of when, as a 5-6 year old, I was always surprised to see a teacher out in public somewhere -- but I was FIVE! Pretty sure I wasn't picking up the phone to find a neurologist - or, ya know, driving or any of those other potentially deadly things that adults can do! :rolls eyes and makes plans to never leave the woods again:
My husband always insists you must be making these stories up because no patient could possibly say these things. But they really do! This is one I've even heard myself.... I had an inpatient blow up at me because my attending was gone for a few days on vacation (I was doing most of the work anyway). It was over the Christmas holidays too... how dare he want to spend Christmas with his family??
On the eve of my own vacation, I am getting the same type of thing, one guy wants me to delay and meet with him tomorrow morning. Hey I am not that important and I would, but my wife is that important and she deserves her vacation.
The doctor I went to when I was a kid lived in his office. Seriously. His office was in his house - he lived in one part and the office was in the other. When I got a little older I worked for him doing filing and things like that, and his cat would wander around the waiting room, I could smell whatever was being cooked for dinner, and his wife would bring me their household garbage and ask me to take it to the curb on my way out. I never cared much for his wife. He was pretty cool, though.
We are going on vacation next week. My husband is required to have his work cell phone with him at all times...24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I might accidentally forget to pack the phone charger...
Read tips for picking a doctor recently on a "major" news outlet and they suggested that if a doctor refuses to give you his personal cell phone number and answer you whenever you call, you should find another doctor. WTH?! I no more expect my doctor to answer calls after hours than I do a banker, lawyer or even priest. Have options available for what I think I need during off-hours? Certainly. But answer phone calls personally? Never.
"I'm so sorry you feel that way. Would you like the phone number for the office of Dr. Robot? Dr. Robot has no physical needs other than needing to recharge its batteries for an hour each night. Its only available from 0100 to 1100 but there is a backup robot physician in case of emergencies."
The nerve of you Dr. Grumpy! What kind of Dr. are you?? sheesh! *shakes head and laughs*
The last time I left town was to go out of the country on a mission trip. When patients started to get testy as to why I wasn't available I let them know where I was and for what reason. That shut them up pretty fast.
When I worked in retail pharmacy, I had gone on vacation for a week. Upon returning, I was ringing up a patient, who told me he thought I'd been fired or transferred since I was gone. I told him I had been on vacation, to which he responded, "I didn't know they let you guys do that!" Um, hello!!! I'm a person like you and I get to do that too!
Some people are just that dumb.
"You'll see! I'll find a doctor who really, truly cares about me and can appreciate me for the beautiful person that I am, and who won't leave town and change his phone number, like both my husbands did! One who won't block my calls, like my parents! One who won't take out a restraining order against me, like my sister! Just you wait!"
"And by the way, your office could be a lot more user-friendly. I had to call every Mary with your last name in the Grumpyville phone directory before I finally found your home number, and some of those people were really rude about being woken up at 3 am. What if I really were having a stroke, instead of just telling the phone company I was so they would give me your unlisted number?"
Have a nice vacation Ibee . :-)
Oh, how insane! But Kim is right, a lot of employers are no better. My BIL's workplace wants to institute a policy where, if you go on vacation, you must be available to return to the office within 24 hours, at your own expense. Honestly, it's like the whole concept of someone having a personal life is totally alien....
This sort of entitlement isn't practiced solely by physicians' patients. A client of mine was furious that his financial rep took two weeks to return his call because the rep was on vacation. I said, Well you knew he was on vacation, right? Sure, the client said, but he figured that meant a day or two at most, not TWO WHOLE WEEKS! What would these people do if they lived in Europe where everyone disappears for the entire month of August?
As long as you are going to be in California, can I see you for my headaches?
I will provide the Diet Coke and pretzels! No, I will not do any baby sitting.
Gosh, everyone knows that doctors don't have outside lives! If they wanted you to have a family, they would have issued you one during med school.
Where is the compassion? Going on vacation, intentionally, when he KNEW that Mrs. Walley would be calling for an appointment. Shame on you Dr. Grumpy, shame on you.
Ms. Wallet...er Ms. Walley, I'm available next week. And, I'm artisanal.
I wonder what she'd say if she had a woman doctor who needed to go on maternity leave?!
We're going to CA for our vacation, too -- San Diego area. :)
If you're on vacation, can my office borrow Mary? We just lost a receptionist.
I have my psychiatrist's home number and cell phone number, but I have known him for twenty years, and when he gave them to me I was going through medication withdrawal and other very unpleasant things and I think that he felt (correctly) that I would only use them in case of a REAL emergency; indeed I've never called him.
But I would never EXPECT a doctor to do this, even if I had known him twenty years!
Back off, you jackals! She's mine! MINE!
It's good to screen out the crazy people up front. It saves a lot of hassle later on.
Enjoy your vacation, Dr G. Hope you'll blog it.
To Anonymous: Doesn't MARY deserve a vacation, too? She's on the front line in that asylum, remember?
Geez doc, you really suck. dont you leave your personal cell number with every customer to call you 24-7? enjoy your vacation. I am sure the rest of us will certainly enjoy the blog afterwards.
Good for Mary for sticking up for herself and for very very gently telling the woman that no, you are not Nightcrawler and cannot just "bampf" in from California. And good for you for teaching Mary that.
Can I borrow Mary so I can clone her? She sounds pretty damn awesome.
K, the RMT Student
Unfortunately, that man is probably someone's boss and he gets mad when they go on vacation.
Doncha just love it when they fire themselves? Whew!setagsetag
ER's Mom here,
Lucked out there, didn't you?
Have loads of fun with the tribe and The Boss.
Whoa, Nellie! That virtual or plastic neurologist that works at your office has life?
Some people just don't think their thoughts through thoroughly. How could she question this if she has a sense of reality, or maybe she thinks doctors have little devices on their wristwatches that enable long-distance contact with all their patients.
I mean, how are you going to arrange for your parents, wife and children to take a cruise vacation or any vacation without leaving the office?
I have never known anyone to be able to take a trip to anywhere on a ship without actually going to a body of water.
Do you live in that kind of town in Grumpyville, that people take their vacations virtually without leaving the comfort of their living room couch?
Or, maybe the ex-potential patient lives in a castle where everyone and everything comes to her door at her command.
A grown woman made this comment, eh?
Borderline personality disorder at its finest.
Good grief! ButI will admit I got annoyed when one of my physicians got a PA with no apparent familiarity with the specialty to cover for her during her vacation.
Same attitude with nurses "She was just sitting there EATING! Can you believe that? Some people are just here for a paycheck" Uh, yeah, so selfish of me to keep my blood sugar level so I can actually think about what I am doing to you!!
Anyway, you could just let her know what you charge for a full time personal physician.
If she wants that kind of service, she can cough up the money for a concierge doctor.
word verification: "presper".
That was a major stroke of luck Dr. Grumpy! Have a nice vacation!
Looks like she needs to hire her own personal physician.
Ahh! this reminds me of when I worked at a retail pharmacy that closed for 30 minutes everyday for lunch, once during the 12 hour shift, mind you. Customers were IRATE that the pharmacist dare go on lunch! And why could I just go and get their prescription and sell it to them?! Well, same time every day and it's on the sign folks, just come any of the other 11 hours and 30 minutes of the day.
Medical Professionals are NOT human. Duh.
Can't wait to read about your encounters with vacation-related idiocy. Enjoy!
I have but one word for that idiot: dumbf*ck. My doc goes on vacation periodically, and I'm glad for her when she does! She works long hard hours, and I figure a rested, happy doc is a GOOD thing for her patients!
Heck around here if there was a neurologist you could get in with within two weeks people would be happy!!! :) When we schedule for patients it is like 3 months for non-urgent issues. CRAZY!
And what were you thinking, taking a vacation?
same reason as when patients were pissed off that the pharmacy was closed since pharmacist had to go to lunch (um...we have to eat too?!?). good thing they didn't get mad that we have to close because the only pharmacist on duty got injured and had to go to urgent care...
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