Patients’ Rights and Privacy in Pop-culture
“Do you really need to know my employer’s address?” was the punch-line from a skit I recently heard in a sitcom. It was not something that I would usually watch, as I am not a big fan of most sitcoms. However, that one line caught my attention.
I’m wondering how many of us think doctors’ office forms could be cut down to bare minimum---saving us all time and frustration. Apart from payment of services, which all offices seem to ask for upfront anyway, and insurance information so that patients (i.e. customers) can get their deductible applied to the bill, such information just seems superfluous.
Also, apart from questions like what a patient might be going in to a doctor’s office to discuss, it seems as though forms about every member of our family would be best left “optional.” In reality, the right to refrain from answering anything we want kept private is ours. Just because the office staff “tells” us to fill out the forms completely does not mean that they have the right to demand it. In recent memory of more than one office---unfortunately---the word “please” has not been uttered.
Let’s face it, whatever tests are performed will determine our health needs. The rest tends to “label” and pigeon hole” which only causes patients to worry needlessly. Stress is, obviously, very bad for one’s health. These forms are often several pages long and cover both sides of the paper, and they seem to get longer every year. The result is to put everyone I know in a worse mood than before they entered the doctor’s office.
I recently overheard staff ask a patient in the waiting room why he was there. The reply came back: “I thought I was here for my physical.” With so much rigmarole, you’d think the office staff would know. When we make our annual appointments, we tell them. The problem lies with them not keeping track. When questioned a second time in the doctor’s examination room what brought us in, my husband and I couldn’t believe our ears. Add to that the doctor asking what words we used with the staff, when we made the appointment, implying it was our fault.
A good part of the time, it has been my unfortunate experience that the doctor has not even read the forms prior to the consultation. It becomes part of a bureaucratic filing system that leaves me cold.
Also, some of these employees are so brash about asking blunt questions out loud in front of the entire waiting room. A kind of confidentiality agreement or understanding exists between the doctor (service provider) and patient (paying customer). I’ve not heard of office staff confidentiality. It seems our privacy is not what it used to be.
Doctors’ offices should be made more inviting and hospitable. I’ve found some who are, and I’ll move on anytime I feel the need.
Michael Jackson's case is just another example of healthcare gone bad - extremely bad. There are uncaring and unprofessional people in all walks of life, including (unfortunately) healthcare.
For anyone interested my recently published book: Play Fair! The Art of Relationship and Friendship discusses issues ranging from how to deal with people from various business cultures to international and interpersonal relationships.
