A System Error

Posted on September 27, 2004 in Encounters Health

I suppose I could have followed the example of other patients I had seen in the same situation and thrown a screaming fit. When we got to the doctor’s office this afternoon, they’d lost my appointment. I know that I had made it because I wrote down the time as we negotiated it and transferred it to my PDA. I distinctly remember the receptionist saying “Oh, I see your wife has an appointment at 3:30. I can slip you in at 3.” I heard the click of the keys. I confirmed it twice.

So when the receptionist calls me to the desk and says “Where did you come from?” (but not in so many words) and shows me that I am not scheduled for anything with my new GP, I feel a momentary boil. WTF? What happened here? But I take a breath. Listen as she attempts to fix things. “Maybe if you go through the door to the appointment desk they can fit you in.” I nod and do as she says.

It’s a mystery to everyone. I have no history of confusing dreams with reality. They don’t have me in the system. There’s a human error here. Perhaps it was a programmer. Perhaps it was the woman who took my call losing everything after I hung up. The appointments secretary is apologetic. That look of is-this-one-going-to-go-ballistic passes over her face. I smile. This is just a mistake. Not malice. I say to her “You have to do a hell of a lot worse to get me to lose it. Don’t worry.” She takes a breath and fits me in tomorrow with another new doctor.

The receptionist smiles as I return for the new patient paperwork. “You’ll like him,” she says of my new GP.