“The Family Doctor”


The annual check up has become a joke as far as I can tell!
It seems to me that the only preventive part of preventive medicine is,
when the doctor's bank account is getting too low, he has his secretary call you to give an appointment so you can help him send in paper work and collect a fee.

Basically the check up consists of a series of questions that the doctor reads off his computer screen! It is some kind of hands off approach that they use these days to find out just how much they can charge the health care system for doing nothing!

I will go into more detail over the next few days when I write about the decline in doctors that actually care about therapeutic medicine!

Part two
Dr. Doolittle MD.

Because of a specific problem that I had been dealing with,
I called the family doctor to ask for more time on the 10min appointment they booked for me on a Wednesday. After a juggling act the doctor’s secretary said she could fit me in later in the week.

The first part of the annual check up is done by a nurse; the only thing that comes close to an examination is the nurse has me get on a scale that shows my weight 9lbs heaver than what it actually is, and then proceeds with an inaccurate height measurement shaving off an inch or two! Now if the doctor refers to the file I’m not only short I am also fat!

The nurse then somehow manages to get the blood pressure wrong and has to do it over!
She mumbles something about it not working right the first time, and then tells me that my blood pressure is fine!


When the doctor comes into the room, I make it a practice to be very clear as to why I came to see him. Even though he hasn’t seen me in some time, no hand is extended as a welcome; the doctor sits facing his computer and begins scrolling through my file.

As I sit and wait for the next asinine question to come my way,
I remind the doctor why I came to see him in the first place.
I notice the absence of a stet scope, or anything that resembles tools that a doctor would use to examine his patient.

The doctor asks, “Did you get the flu shot?” This is done without eye contact!
I answered, “Yes me and my wife both came to your clinic in October.”
Still looking at his computer he replies, “Oh yes on the 27th.”

Next question, “From 1 to 10 ten being the least, what stage are you at in thinking about stopping smoking!” I reply, “Ten!” The doctor asked, “Have you ever tried to quit?”
I answered, “No! But I’m sure that I could quit if I wanted to! But I like smoking, so why should I give up something that I enjoy?”

The Doctor makes one last try, “Don’t you know smoking can kill you?”

I answered, “I have been close to death on a couple of occasions and it had nothing to do with smoking! It had to do with incompetent doctors, you know the type that I’m talking about!"
“I’m talking about doctors that think they are God like and don’t believe they are capable of making a mistake, so they take risks by telling the patient he needs surgery so they can make more money.”

I then asked, “Are you ready to take a look at what I came to see you about?”