Monday, February 12, 2007

Bad Medicine

Why do so many doctors have bad bedside manner in New York City? In recent months, I've visited several doctors for a few ailments. The lack of common courtesy is obvious while sitting in the waiting room, and later across from their desk.The receptionists are just as aloof as the doctors they work for. I don't scare easily, but it's been enough that I've wanted to close the book or magazine I that I took with me for the obligatory wait, and head out the door.

I used to have a calm, caring, and soft-spoken primary care physician when I worked in corporate America and had a premium insurance provider, but I'm currently at the mercy of a state-provided healthcare plan, and the differences in the doctors have been enlightening.

One doctor in particular is abrupt and treats clients as if we're on a conveyor belt, or perhaps it's just me and my discount healthcare. I don't like feeling as if I'm in the way, or that I'm a second thought in anyone's life. I especially don't like feeling as if I'm a guinea pig as residents hover at the foot of the hospital bed before an outpatient procedure which happened recently.

Doctors should be graded and ranked by patients in a magazine or on a website similar to Consumer Reports for all to see.

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