Comments on: Does your doctor run late?

By: Rosalind

Rosalind — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:48:13 +0000

Thanks to both of you for responding. I see your point, Barbara, that it does mean that the doctor is listening and spending time. And I see your point, Sarah, that patients are late. And I’m glad the doctor is spending time listening but they should book accordingly. I’ve consulted to physicians and know very well how difficult a marketplace it is for them — and that they do have to overbook their schedules because of “no-shows”. I just know that my time is valuable, too. I treat my clients with respect to their time and want to be treated the same way by physicians. I think that we, the patient population, particularly the chronic illness patient population who spends so much time going to doctors, have to demand it - or it won’t change.

By: Sarah M.

Sarah M. — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:47:37 +0000

Experience in my rheumatologist’s waiting room taught me that the reason he occasionally runs late is that patients (many of them over 65) drive long distances to a city with which they are unfamiliar to see him. If a family has driven a loved one two hours and are twenty minutes late because they misjudged the traffic, then no, they don’t lose the appointment; he sees them anyway and gives them full attention. I respect that. I feel he would do the same for me if I were unavoidably delayed, and I always get full attention. For my part, I request appointments near the beginning of the day–the fewer the appointments before mine, the lower the chances of timing snafus.

By: Barbara K.

Barbara K. — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 04:00:26 +0000

As someone who is congenitally incapable of being late, I share your annoyance with doctors who keep me waiting. However, I see an up-side to this. If my doctor is keeping me waiting because he is spending time actually talking to another patient, then I can expect (and ask for) the same kind of commitment from her to spend time listening to me and answering my many questions.