My secretary recently refused to schedule a patient to see me. You might think I’d be angry about it, but I wasn’t.
She and I have been together since 2004. She’s seen me at my best and worst. And she knows the rare personality types that will not like me at all: argumentative, belligerent, pushy, demanding of special treatment. She tells them to go elsewhere. There’s no shortage of neurologists in this town.
This is actually a good thing. It saves both me and those patients time and frustration. They don’t have to be horrified when they discover that I wear shorts to the office or that I won’t prescribe boatloads of narcotics for the hell of it. They don’t have to bother with leaving the office midappointment when they realize that my personality/decor/whatever doesn’t work for them.
Some might say it’s better to get the billing, but I disagree. I’d rather have an empty hour on occasion than an acrimonious one. The former can be used for another patient or catching up on the endless array of papers and reports that compose a modern neurology practice.
This job is tough enough as it is. Having a patient that you can’t work with only makes it harder, and isn’t worth the frustration for either of us.
Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.