doctor's office

Yesterday I went to see a specialist. It had taken seven weeks to get the appointment. His office waiting room was cold and dank. The secretaries were unpleasant. I waited for 45 minutes to be called in. In fact, I was just about to get up and walk away (if you wait seven weeks for an appointment set for 9AM, doesn't it stand to reason that you should be seen right away?)

The actual office was colder than the waiting room. Literally no more than about 15 Celsius. The whole visit took about ten minutes. The doctor's questions were perfunctory. He didn't look into my file - until I asked him to do so. He didn't examine me or ask too many in-depth questions. His diagnosis was pretty much ready a minute after I walked through the door. He was professional and polite but cold and detached and obviously harried and uninterested (gee, that's a lot of adjectives! )

I went down to the parking lot, started my car and began the 40 minute drive home. I had learned nothing I couldn't have found out either from my own family physician or from the internet in the warmth and comfort of my home.

I am convinced that if a private system were allowed in Ontario and if I were permitted to pay the specialist $200 out of my own pocket, the office would be warm, the secretaries welcoming and the doctor attentive. I may have not come away with a more precise diagnosis but it would have been an all-round pleasant experience. As it was, it was a wasted mornig compounded by the aural insult of Rod Stewart's vile "jazz" renditions piped into the cold waiting room! Isn't OHIP bad enough? Do they have to throw Rod and his insipid "jazz" into the mix? Just asking....