YESTERDAY (8 November 2021) I COMPLAINED that “we’re not in Kansas anymore.”https://tinyurl.com/dy2rdjvk
Some things seem “universal.”
Yesterday I had a 6:45 p.m. appointment with a vascular specialist.
When we arrived at the office by 6:30 we discovered that my 6:45 appointment was actually slated for 7 p.m.
I finally saw the doctor only one hour after my initially scheduled appointment.
Our first PCP in Hollywood was excellent. I credit being here keying this to his diagnostic skills.
Great guy. Personable, albeit talkative.1
At one point he was three hours behind schedule.
When I had my own transportation, if a doctor made me wait more than an hour sans announcement to the waiting room as to why the delay (e.g., emergency surgery), I left.
Twice in my years I have had ophthalmologist appointments that went over my time limit.
The first time, no one told me until after the fact that the physician was tending to an emergency at a nearby hospital. I walked.
The second time, the doctor’s staff advised those in the waiting room that the doctor was dealing with an emergency. I waited until he was able to see me.2
My last PCP in Hollywood was, like the first, a personable fellow, but also managed to run late.
Even as the first patient of the day, he was late.
On one visit I cooled my heels in the waiting from for more than a half hour, then in an examining room for another 20 minuets.
At that point I left.
As I was leaving the doctor came by. “Where are you going?”
“Home,” I replied. “I’ve waited long enough.”
After that we had an understanding. One hour maximum from the appointed time sans notice and this patient walks.
As a patient you have to love a practitioner who tosses the recommended 15-minute visit limitation out the window.
I’ve known several who, because they either owned the clinic or carefully scheduled patients, frankly stated: “We’ll take as long as it takes.” One 3 even had after-hours “get acquainted” appointments.
The problem in Israel
The problem in Israel is too few qualified practitioners.
Israel has six medical schools accredited by the government:
- Faculty of Medicine, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University
Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Faculty of Medicine, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
Faculty of Medicine in Zefat, Bar-Ilan University
School of Health Sciences, Ariel University
The institutions, as they are in the U.S., are exceedingly selective. My current Family Doctor is a Sackler/Tel Aviv University graduate.
As in the U.S., many doctors go abroad to study. When they return to Israel, they must undergo rigorous examinations. (One told me she was approved to practice in Israel and the U.S. That was comforting.)
Back in the day when the “Russians” managed to escape to Israel, the government discovered that in “Russia,” there were different levels of doctors.
For example, a “Russian” dentist might be
- A tooth puller
A “real” dentist as in the U.S.
An orthodontist/dental surgeon
In addition to being selective, Israel apparently has a quota system. Each school must accept a percentage of Arab candidates; reverse discrimination. (So much for “ethnic cleansing” and “apartheid.”) On the other hand, an Arab graduate of an Israel medical school is as qualified as a non-Arab graduate. (Getting in is one thing; staying in and graduating is another.)
- At one point in the U.S. I had an older Lebanese Muslim ophthalmologist who spoke Hebrew better than I spoke Hebrew. I asked him how a Muslim from Lebanon knew Hebrew. His reply: He studied at Hadassah in Jerusalem.
Patients may find excellent doctors and/or they may find some practitioners who give them pause. I have encountered both over my nearly 80 years in the U.S. and Israel.
Some things change — the burden of paperwork — and some do not — on-time appointments.
No, “it’s not Kansas anymore,” but maybe still the flatlands.
Notes
1. Dr. Eduardo Perez-Stable (https://tinyurl.com/268kebe7)
2. Dr. Alan D Mendelsohn (https://tinyurl.com/4984dhfn)
3. Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein (https://tinyurl.com/e7m69rs2)
4. Hospitals in Israel (https://tinyurl.com/yshdbnds)
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