Reality Check by Dave Whamond for August 31, 2016

Doctors are always so thoughtful of their patients.

Only a 45 minute wait? Must not be in Ontario.

Doctors are good at messing up your schedule.

Want that to stop? Send them a bill for YOUR time. I charge them $50 per half hour when they do that to me. If they can charge for you not being there or not being there on time, you can charge for them not seeing you when scheduled. If your wondering, yes I have been paid. I feel my time is just as valuable as theirs is and have I no problem letting them know that.

I did that once; they cancelled my next appt.

Brad MathewsOntario has always been messing up the system. Try BC, it worked quite well there even under the SoCreds.

My doctors office has a recording to call me to remind me of the appointment. It says arrive 15 minutes before your appointment time. If they want me 15 minutes earlier, then they should make my appointment time 15 minutes earlier!!!

My daughter went in for shortness of breath yesterday. Doctor suspected a possible blood clot in the lung, so he sent her for a CT scan. He also for all the preliminary work, but he didn’t actually schedule the scan. It was 11PM before she finally got someone to get it set up. This is a woman with a 3-year-old. Fortunately she was able to text a friend to come get the child, and the CT scan showed no problems.

I was late for a doctor’s appointment once and she bit my head off. I couldn’t help it, there was a crash on the road on my way there and there was a big hold up. That was in 1988 before I had a mobile phone. I have lost count how many times she has kept me waiting, in fact I cannot recall a time when she actually saw me on time.