Robyn LehrWhat to do when your doctor disappoints: professional advice on seven real-life situations
Problem: His office isn't well managed.
Real-Life Scenario #1: A pregnant woman regularly waits two hours to see her obstetrician. When she asks why, he says, "I'm just really busy."
Solution: Ridiculous, say most experts, if a two-hour wait is the rule rather than the exception. An occasional delay is excusable -- if, for instance, your ob-gyn had to perform an emergency C-section and the office kept you posted on her expected return. But any wait over 30 minutes is extended and grounds for, at the very least, walking out and rescheduling, says Karen Hickman, a corporate etiquette consultant and a former nurse in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That said, consistent promptness isn't particularly common. A 2005 study by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a federal group that focuses on improving health care for Americans, found that only 20 percent of adults surveyed were always taken to the exam room within 15 minutes of their appointments.
If you choose to wait, ask the receptionist if the doctor is in the office and running late or if he's out of the office altogether, suggests Pamela Gallin, an associate clinical professor of pediatric ophthalmology at Columbia University's Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute, in New York City, and the author of How to Survive Your Doctor's Care (LifeLine Press, www.amazon.com). If he's not there, you may want to reschedule. When he does appear, ask if there's anything you can do to minimize the delay next time and if the wait is normal or an exception. If the doctor admits to frequently running behind, you'll know to bring a good book to your next appointment. But "if being on time is important to you and a doctor says that delays are part of the experience of being his patient, it might be time to look for a new doctor," says Vicki Rackner, a board-certified surgeon in Mercer Island, Washington, and the owner of Medical Bridges, a medical-consulting company.
Real-Life Scenario #2: A pediatrician tells a mother that the office will call her within a week with important test results for her child. After a week, the mother calls the office. "Oh yeah, they're right here," says the receptionist. "Everything is fine." "Why didn't you call me?" the mom asks. "We don't have time to do that," she responds.
Solution: Test results should be delivered in a prompt, clear, respectful way, and anything less merits a call or a letter of complaint to your doctor. If the doctor doesn't apologize and you anticipate frequent visits, consider leaving her and looking for a doctor whose office is run more professionally. Some offices have stated policies that, for instance, they'll mail good news and call with bad. If it's a doctor you'd like to stick with (your child loves her; she has excellent credentials), bring a self-addressed, stamped envelope to your appointments and request that your results be mailed directly to you. Or just accept that you'll have to be vigilant about following up.
Learn How to Find a Primary Care Doctor at Real Simple.
Robyn Lehr Problem: His record is blemished.
Real-Life Scenario: A woman learns that her surgeon has been disciplined by the state medical board. Having already had two minor procedures with the doctor, she panics and decides to leave his practice.
Solution: Disciplinary actions aren't always cause for alarm. A doctor can be disciplined for small offenses, such as refusing to provide a patient with medical records in a timely manner, and large ones, like negligence during surgery. You can look up a doctor's history of disciplinary actions at Castle Connelly's website, www.castleconnelly.com. This research and information company provides links to all 50 state medical boards. To find out the specifics about his record, you may need to call or send a letter to the board, says Candis Cohen, spokesperson for the Medical Board of California, in Sacramento.
If you find that disciplinary action has been taken, don't be shy about asking the doctor about it. If the record sounds extreme (he was self-prescribing medications, or he made a sexual advance toward a patient) or it makes you uncomfortable (as it did the patient above) and undermines your confidence in the doctor, then it's time to leave.
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Robyn Lehr Problem: He has poor diagnostic skills.
Real-Life Scenario: A 50-year-old woman with high blood pressure visits her doctor complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath. Her doctor diagnoses anxiety and stress and sends her to a psychopharmacologist. Feeling skeptical, she sees a cardiologist, who finds that she has an arrhythmia and immediately prescribes beta-blockers.
Solution: "Cases of misdiagnosis are more common than you think," says J. Edward Hill. This is not necessarily grounds for dumping a doctor -- unless you've heard that the same thing has happened to other patients or the doctor has missed something obvious. If the misdiagnosis wasn't serious, take note of how your doctor reacts after the accurate diagnosis is made, whether it comes after more tests or is another doctor's opinion. "When I make a mistake, I tell the patient and the family, and they respect that," says author Mehmet Oz, who is also the vice chairman of surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, in New York City. But if your doctor hems and haws and makes excuses, he may not be someone you want tending to your health.
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