Shopping for Doctors
Jan 5th, 2012 by heidi
So, a nasty cold/flu/whatever thing meant that I needed to call my doc today for an appointment to get checked out. After two hours of not hearing from her, I gave up and called the clinic my husband visited for the first time yesterday. One same-day appointment later, it really is just a virus, I have a refill for my rescue inhaler, and all is well.
Thing is, my regular doctor hasn’t been great lately. I needed a Metformin refill and didn’t hear from her for a week. Luckily it’s for PCOS, not diabetes, but I consider that bordering on negligent, myself. I’ve had trouble booking appointments and her assistant never actually answers calls. They just go straight to voicemail and you get to hope that you’ll get a call back…sometime. Not okay, for my purposes, so I’ve been considering shopping for doctors and this was the final straw.
The guy I saw today was friendly and seemed to be really eager to be helpful. He’d never heard of HAES but was okay with my saying that I didn’t want to discuss my weight. He said that he was fine with that, although if I came in for a sore back, say, he’d want to throw it out there as a possible avenue, but that he would absolutely respect my wishes. The office was fine with my asking not to be weighed, which is also nice.
I think I’ll switch over, for the time being, although I’m tempted to mail him a copy of “Health At Every Size” for some homework reading. What made me proudest was that, when he said that he’d be willing to be my PCP if I wanted, I was very firm and unapologetic about my history of ED and desire not to discuss weight loss. I didn’t feel embarrassed, either. If he hadn’t been okay with it, that would have been fine, but I would have moved on to find a different doctor without feeling ashamed. I think.
It felt like a step forward. Now I just have to deal with all the other freaking issues that I’ve got, the biggest of which I can’t discuss here, resulting in my long absence from posting!
I agree that’s negligence! Wow! So not okay.
I’m glad you had a good experience with a new doc! I was so relieved to find one I liked at the Polyclinic
There is no excuse for no call back from a dr.
Sounds like you may have found a good fit for a dr, though.
i highly recommend finding a doctor that is part of the “ideal medical practice” movement. check out impcenter.org (i think it’s a .org, but i might be wrong. it’s the first google result).
my primary care doctor does this, and she is PHENOMENAL. she handles everything, save an assistant who comes in for a few hours a week to help with billing. no secretaries, no pharmaceutical reps, just the doctor. all calls go to her cell phone.
i can’t recommend this kind of practice enough.