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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Eddie Sylvano on June 18, 2003, at 9:30:19
After months (heck, years) of trying to obtain any kind of professional help from my PCP, I finally got her to refer me to a pdoc. It took over a week to get my referral number, then I had to call their office 6 times, leave messages (which they ignored), and call back again to finally get an appointment... in September! Is it always this hard to see a psychiatrist?
It bothers me that the tools of what are essentially a public good are so monopolized by the medical system as to make them unattainable for many. If we're powerless as individuals to address our own health (beyond diet and lifestyle), the system should at least recognize the responsibilities of their unique obligation to serve. Nobody would tolerate me having sole legal control over condoms or tampons, but doling them out via slow, expensive, exclusionary channels.
Posted by giget on June 18, 2003, at 9:56:07
In reply to Grumble, posted by Eddie Sylvano on June 18, 2003, at 9:30:19
P-docs are very hard to get into. I have had some good ones and some bad ones. Was the office open during the times you left messages? If that is the case, and they still did not call, you might want to find someone different.
Once you get in for the first app. they will give you so many weeks before you need to come back and they will have an opening then!... It is just getting that first app.
Posted by Dinah on June 18, 2003, at 16:07:19
In reply to Grumble, posted by Eddie Sylvano on June 18, 2003, at 9:30:19
Therapists are easy (many of them, anyway). Psychiatrists are usually a three month wait. When I finally decided to fire the pdoc from he**, all the pdoc waiting lists were three months. I had flushed all the meds from this guy in a fit of temper, but did have refills for the important ones. But in my desparation, I called my therapist and asked if I had to threaten to jump in public to see a psychiatrist. He calmly replied that I'd just be hospitalized and see a social worker and still wouldn't get to see a psychiatrist.
I finally got a referral from a friend of my mothers that got me in to see my current doctor in about three weeks. And a large clinic in our town scheduled intake appointments within a couple of days, and scheduled a pdoc appt within a week. Unfortunately the pdoc I was referred to had English as a very much second language, and that didn't feel right for such nuanced discussion that I needed to have with a psychiatrist. Another kind of doctor, fine. But this guy didn't understand idiom, and I had to keep re-explaining what I meant.
So yes, even in the US, getting access to a psychiatrist takes time unless you get a referral from a patient or perhaps a professional that the pdoc works with a lot.
This is the end of the thread.
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