Seeing a doctor is a privilege.

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,674
146
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www.neftastic.com
Went with my wife to what could be considered a fairly life-altering doctor appointment today. Here's how it went down:

- Got there, signed in.
- Sat down in waiting room, which apparently dubs as a sauna (or the doctor is too cheap to run the AC out there given it's 100+ degrees outside and all, full of pregnant women who I'm sure absolutely LOVE to be in sweltering heat).
- Waited for 2 hours past our scheduled appointment time in said waiting room (along with said pregnant women including one taking business phonecalls in an otherwise annoying Jamaican-eqsue accent, another who brought her two brat kids that decided to play armpit wars, another who would let her annoying-ass ghetto ringtones play for about 45 seconds before answering and finally godzilla who was eying me up like a meat-puppet).
- Finally get called back into the exam room area which is an icy 45 degrees... kelvin.
- Sit down and wait for several minutes in said icebox after being told "The doctor will be in shortly."
- Doctor comes in, starts going over all the bullshit we already know or is otherwise easily found using Google.
- Loud knock on the door as a nurse pokes her head in and tells the doctor he's needed at the hospital immediately for an emergency.
- The doctor turns to us and says "Go have lunch and come back, we'll get back to you as soon as we can" and then leaves for the emergency.
- Wife is visibly distraught and we're told they'll give us a call when the doctor gets back in. I'm irritated at this point as well.
- Nearing 4:00pm as my wife is just about home, she receives a call from the doctor's office saying we can come back in now, which is nice and all except my wife is already on the other side of town and our babysitter has to leave at 4pm and I've already missed 3 hours of work today.

When it's all said and done, we found out exactly NOTHING and the stress and irritation of not having any certainty in this particular situation will have to persist until... Tuesday. I'm sure that's health for a pregnant woman to have to deal with this sort of anxiety.
 

lsv

Golden Member
Dec 18, 2009
1,610
0
71
Looks like you need to change doctors. Go to one in the suburbs.. oh and make sure you're white.
 

erikistired

Diamond Member
Sep 27, 2000
9,739
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0
in my limited (two children) experience baby doctors are a pain in the ass. we had one okay one and one who thought she was a diva. the divas unfortunately seem to be more prevalent. we've had excellent experiences with nurses however!
 

rivan

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2003
9,677
3
81
We had the exact same experience at our pregnancy appointments, consistently. I complained to the wife who told me to suck it up, that all OBGYNs were like this. I took her on her word on that.

Pro tip: get the first appointment of the day.
 

OCGuy

Lifer
Jul 12, 2000
27,224
36
91
Yet if your wife was the one who had an emergency, you would sure be glad that your specialist dropped everything they were doing in order to come see her.
 

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,674
146
106
www.neftastic.com
We had the exact same experience at our pregnancy appointments, consistently. I complained to the wife who told me to suck it up, that all OBGYNs were like this. I took her on her word on that.

Pro tip: get the first appointment of the day.
Hahaha... my wife's regular OBGYN gave us a little tip regarding that. First appointment of the day is 8:30am. The doctor usually doesn't show up until around 10:30am.
 

moshquerade

No Lifer
Nov 1, 2001
61,504
12
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This was the "specialist" we were referred to.
Get referred to another "specialist"?

I have a low tolerance for bullshit in Dr.'s offices. There is no way I am waiting 2 hours in their waiting room. My time is important too.

The doctor being called out for an emergency is unavoidable. Hard to take that out on him.

Try getting the first appt. after lunch, usually the 1:00 appt. Sometimes that helps.
 

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,674
146
106
www.neftastic.com
Yet if your wife was the one who had an emergency, you would sure be glad that your specialist dropped everything they were doing in order to come see her.
Don't get me wrong, I completely understand the emergency situation and am fine with that. However waiting nearly 2.5 hours in the doctor's office in miserable conditions doesn't help. Further, why the hell do we have telephones yet have to come into the office for the doctor to tell us they do/don't know anything? Oh wait, so the doctor can bill the insurance company... THAT'S right.
 

moshquerade

No Lifer
Nov 1, 2001
61,504
12
56
Yet if your wife was the one who had an emergency, you would sure be glad that your specialist dropped everything they were doing in order to come see her.
Why is this guy on emergency call when he is conducting regular scheduled appointments? It would seem there would be others to cover an emergency for him, and he would return the favor for them. That is how some medical professionals work it.
 

gar3555

Diamond Member
Jan 8, 2005
3,510
0
0
other than our doctor scheduling deliveries around golf tournaments :p , he is a good guy. We've had no complaints.

As far as the golf thing is concerned he wanted us to come in and induce on a Wednesday, 5 days before my wife's actual due date, we speculated it was because there was huge golf tournament that weekend in our town.
 

Daverino

Platinum Member
Mar 15, 2007
2,004
1
0
If an OB/GYN is having an emergency, there's probably a lot on the line. Especially if you were seeing a specialist OB/GYN. I know it sucks to waste a day, but someone, somewhere may have been having a much much worse day. Assuming that the doc just isn't a dick that likes to mess with people, I'm more concerned about the outcome of the emergency he had to tend to.
 

moshquerade

No Lifer
Nov 1, 2001
61,504
12
56
If an OB/GYN is having an emergency, there's probably a lot on the line. Especially if you were seeing a specialist OB/GYN. I know it sucks to waste a day, but someone, somewhere may have been having a much much worse day. Assuming that the doc just isn't a dick that likes to mess with people, I'm more concerned about the outcome of the emergency he had to tend to.
What if the guy always runs 2 - 2 1/2 hours behind? Is that reasonable to ask of his patients?
 

kalrith

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2005
6,628
7
81
Not all OBGYNs are like this and not all specialists are like this. We arrived 15 minutes early to my wife's regular OBGYN and usually waited 30 minutes and never more than 45 minutes (30 minutes past appt. time).

We went to a specialist for a while, and we had to wait 45-60 minutes there but never more than 45 minutes past the appt. time.

Edit: I don't think I would go back to this doctor. I would ask for a different recommendation.
 
Last edited:
Feb 19, 2001
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What if the guy always runs 2 - 2 1/2 hours behind? Is that reasonable to ask of his patients?

I've had doctors like that. When I was a teen our family doctor was the worst. They hired the cheapest receptionists. I'm not trying to be racist but they were Filipino and they just acted like they didn't care. On the other hand my orthodontist had these nice white ladies... mid aged, and they would treat me damn well. But anyway, the difference was always a 30min-1hr nap at my family doctor versus being seen ON THE DOT with my ortho guy.

I mean clearly the doctor needs to get a clue about scheduling and time allocations. If you can't plan properly, that's just bad on you. Of course the smart thing to do as a consumer is to shop elsewhere.
 

preCRT

Platinum Member
Apr 12, 2000
2,340
123
106
Why is this guy on emergency call when he is conducting regular scheduled appointments? It would seem there would be others to cover an emergency for him, and he would return the favor for them. That is how some medical professionals work it.

That works in a group practice, not usually with a solo practitioner.

Part of it is there aren't enough OB high risk specialists, in part to the extreme cost of their malpractice insurance. Too many patients sharing a handful of specialists = long waits.
 

SirStev0

Lifer
Nov 13, 2003
10,449
6
81
Was this your OB/GYN?

Here is the thing, OB's are some of the most underrepresented of the specialties. One reason: Assholes suing at the drop of a hat. Malpractice is disgusting for them. Only diehards and people dead set on it go into it.
 

preCRT

Platinum Member
Apr 12, 2000
2,340
123
106
What if the guy always runs 2 - 2 1/2 hours behind? Is that reasonable to ask of his patients?

The alternative is the doc turning down accepting new patients. If there are no other specialists in the area, what are the patients supposed to do?
 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
Talk about stress... especially with the home build.

Go to Urgent Care?
 

moshquerade

No Lifer
Nov 1, 2001
61,504
12
56
That works in a group practice, not usually with a solo practitioner.

Part of it is there aren't enough OB high risk specialists, in part to the extreme cost of their malpractice insurance. Too many patients sharing a handful of specialists = long waits.
I have read that being a specialist is the only way to go as far as making the big bucks nowadays. Regular docs aren't cutting it like they used to.

Hopefully, more go into specialties so that monopolies will lessen and these long wait times for appts and in the waiting rooms will improve.