Dear Artic ~ Those doctors aren't ANY BETTER than you are. They put their pants on just like YOU DO. They intimidate people on purpose. This is their way of gaining control. This is their way of scaring patients. If you go in there with the frame of mind that this guy is WORKING FOR YOU, you might just get better treatment --- of course there are SOME who will fire you on the spot too. LOL

But seriously, I've had to sit MY doctor down, and tell him -- "Look, doc I get the feeling you don't like me very well. What's the problem? You don't give me but 2-3 minutes of your time. I'm scheduled for at LEAST 15 minutes. Now what gives?" He was STARTLED!! Evidently he didn't realize what he was doing. He came over to me, gave me a BIG HUG and said, NO, it's NOT TRUE that I dont like you!!! Then he sat down, and said I could have all the time I wanted. Sure, that was true for THAT visit --- but the next one, we went back to the same old stuff. LOL At least I knew he didn't hate my guts. LOL

He IS a busy doctor -- I know that. But he's NOT going to walk all over me, and if I think he IS I'm going to let him know it. If I NEED more time, he's going to know it. I'm going to tell him to SIT DOWN -- I need to talk!

And with your problem, you've GOT to make him MORE AWARE of what's going on! It just not enough for him to tell you that they've been "extremely busy." BULL CRAP. How long does it take to make a phone call? He can do that between patients -- and if he's like any other doctor I've been to, they take BREAKS between patients. THEY ALL DO. So the stuff he's handing you is crap. Sorry, but I've been to hundreds (yes hundreds) of doctors, and they all take breaks!!!

Maybe they need more help in their stupid offices. I've also worked in doctors offices, and the phone had BETTER get answered in a timely manner, and the problems solved THAT DAY. That's the way my office was run, and it WAS a very busy office, believe me --- 2 doctors in that office, who were very busy.

Your doc is passing the buck in my opinion and a lot of docs do that. It's just not acceptable. Patients deserve better treatment and it's time they started DEMANDING IT. The docs get paid enough for it -- you don't see them living in bad neighborhoods, do ya? Or driving used cars? Hardly.

Just my opinion. Hugs, Lee