It's 11:08 am. I am in one of those open-back gowns in a windowless, poorly ventilated room. It's been two hours since I arrived for a doctor's appointment I made two weeks ago for 9:30. I arrived early. I did the paperwork. What the hell? This is supposed to be our best option? If I'm waiting this long, it might as well be nationalized! There is clearly no room for the service to get any worse.
The other day I saw an ad on TV for the MedStar system, which this facility is part of. They purport to care about the patient. To have compassion. Compassion?!? Really? Because I am sitting in a windowless room in a drafty robe... for TWO hours. And the office is not crowded. It's a Thursday morning. I took the whole day off work because I suspected there might be a wait.
The last routine appointment I had here at Washington Hosital Center in Dermatology went the same way. Well, worse. I waited for an hour and a half before being seen. While I was being scooted back into a windowless room, my blood sugar got low. When I told the nurse this, she sort of mumbled something, told me to get undressed and wear a gown (I was there for my face) and closed the door.
This is NOT care. This is certainly NOT compassion. C'mon, America, we can do better. If this is the privatized system we are so dearly holding onto, why?!?
