As the son of a doctor (now deceased in India) and the brother of one who practices in the UK and who lives in the USA, I have some knowledge of the healthcare systems in these countries. I can also say, without reservation, that the UK is pathetic with endless waits for patients requiring specialised treatment and the USA is by far the worst as the HMO system here exploits people, charging them money and not delivering proper healthcare. About a year ago, I had to get a checkup done by my personal physician assigned to me in Chicago and the doctor refused to give me an appointment for more than a month. The HMO company (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois - the joke is that they pray to the cross when you fall sick and do nothing to treat you and the Shield represents how they changed the laws so that no one could sue an HMO) did not allow me to change my group and I decided to play a trick on the doctor, informing the Physician's office that I was considering contacting a lawyer because opf their pathetic performance. AN hour after my call, I received six separate calls from the doctor.
If you have a problem with a doctor in the USA, please report this to the physician's group and also to your State's Department of Registration with the complaint in detail. Doctor's offices are not supposed to keep you waiting for no reason and neither are they supposed to provide bad service. As long as people take this bad treatment without reporting it or changing doctors, this will continue to happen.
Call me a cynic if you will, but I came here from a third world country and I do think that the medical system where aI came from is vastly more accessible than in the world's two wealthiest countries.
yes, american health system sucks PK is much better. Here all the doctors care about is filling out their charts & making sure that they are following standard procedure so they won’t get in legal trouble.
Let me play the role of devil's advocate here.. i have worked in the ER in past and honestly I was just dumbfounded to see the so called "emergencies" that ppl come for in the urgent care.. usually they will be just sitting outside in the waiting area reading a book and as soon as the nurse would get them in, they started screaming n yelling how long the wait was and how painful was the bruised toe nail!! abay you don't go to the emegency if you slam your finger in a car door and if ppl like you do then expect the waiting period to be 3-4 hours.. we used to have patients in fast track that needed immediate attention and hence the delays for everyone else!
As far as the appointment wait time goes, I have never faced waiting period at the doctor's/ and or dentist's office.. everything was always on time!! Probably it's just one the advantages of living in a small town than in a big city. :-)
once you are in a certain profession, after hearing about the same things over and over again those problems means Nothing to you. but doesn't mean those problems are not the problems. sometimes you are forced to do the drama in order to get the immediate attention, you must admit that. let me tell you something, this pregnant girl in London start having complications during her 1st trimester. she went to hospital and had been said that there isnt anything wrong with her and its all natural and blah blah .. and never been looked after and sent back to home. she had the miscarriage. on her next pregnancy, she had the exact same issue .. she rushed to emerg. and being said the exact same blah blah things and told to go back home. but this time her husband decided to do the drama and start screaming and yelling on doctors. upon which, she was forced to be admitted and checked upon. and yes, there was the problem. doctors operated her and her fetus start growing normally. now you tell me, without macchaa-ing shoor what she would have get? another miscarriage!!!
PK is much better. Here all the doctors care about is filling out their charts & making sure that they are following standard procedure so they won’t get in legal trouble.