i avoid
public hospitals when i can – not because of the doctors, but visiting is just
an exercise in futility. this morning we took a student for a fairly routine
visit, but every where we turned we hit a brick wall. first stop, emergency
room to get a referral.
i’m sorry,
we can’t do that. you’ll need to go to pediatrics.
there are
no appointments left today, you’ll need to come back on monday.
look lady,
this is kind of urgent. could you please just indicate the analysis that she’ll
need? maybe some medicine? something?
no, ma’am,
you’ll need to go the pediatrician.
i don’t
really know how we did it, but we got the indication for analysis and headed up
to the pediatricians. after arguing with the secretary about why we needed to
see the pediatrician – eventhough she was “full” – we got permission to “talk
to the doctor” to see if she’d made an exception…. except when we made it to
the doctor’s door, she had already gone home for the day. nice. and no doctors
were available for the afternoon, either.
they drew
some blood and did the obligatory pee test (had they given her an iv drip, the
visit would have been complete!) and sent us on our way, ready to see the
doctor on monday, test results in hand. we head to the pharmacy only to find
they have nothing that was prescribed.
we spent
two hours in the hospital and accomplished nothing.
sometimes
it’s like that. hurry up to wait. break through the red tape just to get held
back by something else. luckily we don’t have to do this every day.
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