Happy to be British – a UK doctor to an obese patient:
“How do you feel about taking up my time when there are people dying of cancer in the waiting room?”He says he was also told that he couldn’t be assisted further because his body mass index was only 37.7, and guidelines said he needed to be 40 or more in order for him to receive help.
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I know I will get slammed for this, but every day I feel like telling patients in the ER the above statement. I see so many patients come to the ER for “checkups” or “med refills” or “I need a work note”. My favorite is the guy who took an ambulance from work to the ER. by the time he cam in from the waiting room, he couldn’t remember the chief complaint he had given, bu he still demanded a work note!
What kind of work note did he want? Something from a physician saying “yes, he was in the ER today”? Why didn’t he just show the bill?
Can a receptionist give the work notices? Better yet, you can have pre-printed notices ” so-and-so visited ER on such-and-such date”. I was about to suggest you can sell them, but this would probably be illegal.
I second that, Anonymous 12:03. The system is based upon the presumption of rational, logical behavior; but is constantly being thwarted by psychoneurotics dmanding that the doctor spends time with them filling out meaningless papers to the authorities, while real patients (you know, people who are actually sick or dying?) are suffering in the waiting room.
Fact is, it is very rare that a real patient file a complaint. Only the psychopaths do that, but they do it all the time.
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