While I completely agree that if you are supposed to be on call and have informed your patients or a health care facility that you are on call, it is your professional responsibility to answer the call.
That said, there is nowhere in the Hippocratic Oath that says “I will take call.” Doctors have traditionally taken call due a sense of responsibility to the patient. However, what other profession agrees to wake up at any hour of the night, make important decisions, incur liability and not get paid? Though I understand the sentiment of this post, I am frustrated with patient’s expectation that they get to call their doctor whenever they want for free. In the days when pay was better, primary care physicians gladly took call. However, now that times are tough, the public ought to be aware that having your doctor on call as a freebie that will likely soon go away. As fewer and fewer doctors go into primary care, this also means that there are fewer folks to share call responsibility. With the newer generation of physicians valuing work life balance and shift work, the days of being able to talk to your doctor after hours when you are scared, worried, have concerns or simply forgot to refill your medication on time will be a thing of the past….unless you are willing to pay for this.