I had nephrology appointment at 3pm Tuesday with the VA. As required, I showed up at 2pm for lab draws, walked a couple of miles, then went and checked in for my appointment. Time passed as I read my book. At 4:15 I was called back. There was a very young doctor, and my dr was not there. I asked after him. The kid said he wasn't coming. I asked if I'd see him next time. The young one nervously said I would not. I asked if my dr had retired (he was elderly.) The doc nervously replied he had not. Getting tired of the evasions, I asked directly, "Where is doctor *****?" He finally told me, "He died."

I don't know why the young one was so nervous. He's a doctor. He's gonna see a lot of death. I wasn't upset, other than having waited so long.

On the way out it occurred to me-finally-an acceptable excuse for keeping me waiting over an hour!

That would have been my peeve. Okay, life happens. But hows about the common curteosy to let you know at the blood draw, so ypu could reschedule if ypu wamted instead of waiting.

Put the pressure on the young doctor. Say: Are you going to honor the arrangement I had with my doctor? What agreement? Well, I always pay with a live chicken and a home baked pie.

The young doctor may have been upset that a mentor and a co-worker had died. I'd cut him some slack.

True he may have been upset over the death...

But it is a valid reason for not showing up...

You'll be in for a real shock if the kid was lying and your old doc shows up at the next appointment.

quote:

Originally posted by bigwagon:

You'll be in for a real shock if the kid was lying and your old doc shows up at the next appointment.

Nephro doc would be necro doc.

Better late than never still holds true.

Maybe they hadn't notified next of kin yet.

Maybe the young Dr was kin of the older doc, maybe grandson.

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:
The young doctor may have been upset that a mentor and a co-worker had died. I'd cut him some slack.

^ This. + the young buck might have not seen a lot of death yet.

VA docs don't get paid by patients. And yeah, I cut him some slack. Young people often haven't been exposed to a lot of death. Me, I've dealt with a shit ton of dead people. The local funeral home used to put young employees on the midnight shift. The federal prison where I worked had a hospice unit. Yeah, 4 or 5 a month died. I used to go up and help the funeral home kids bag the bodies and soothe them so we could keep them on the contract. I fully admit I am a desensitized asshole, but I do try.

Perhaps it wasn’t himself that he was nervous about, but you?

We are living in an age when the titles of Internet videos use things like “k*ll” or “d*ed” in reference to death, not to mention the amazing “unalived.” He may have hesitated to tell you just because he thought it might be necessary to pick you up from the floor after suffering an attack of the vapors.

I was present when a patient’s leg wound needed to be debrided and the nurse wanted to make certain in advance that I wouldn’t faint dead away during the process. (Due to the strangely poor lighting in the treatment room I ended up using my ever-present flashlight to help the doctor see the dead tissue a little better.)

when I had a PCP doc, he was always late,

he was alive and well, but was one that saw a lot of older patients,

who would show up with 1/2 or more of the family that wanted to grill him with 14,368 questions about the grandparents health,,


he ended up leaving the practice, not sure if he left on his own or was asked to leave, rumors of drug and other issues,