# Why do medical offices not understand the idea of an appointment time?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-medical-offices-not-understand-the-idea-of-an-appointment-time/766651>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 23, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-medical-offices-not-understand-the-idea-of-an-appointment-time/766651 "2016-09-23T16:45:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-medical-offices-not-understand-the-idea-of-an-appointment-time/766651/41 "2016-10-09T13:16:32Z")

</div>

> [@TBG](#):
>
> That would probably violate some silly rule/law intended to protect your privacy.

Having you email the form back might in some cases violate some law/rule - but I’ve seen plenty of offices that have the forms available for you to download and instructions to bring the completed forms with you to the appointment.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-medical-offices-not-understand-the-idea-of-an-appointment-time/766651/42 "2016-10-09T17:04:51Z")

</div>

If a patient had an appointment before you and get to the doctor’s office late  
and that was your appointment time the late patient is taken first ! This piss me like HELL ! I hate being late for anything so I get to the Dr. office on time or a few minutes early then someone come in late on my appointment time . I really think people do this on propose b/c they think they’re better than anyone else !  
I really think the patient that was on time should go first and the late patients should be seen last . This might cure them of being so damn late !

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-medical-offices-not-understand-the-idea-of-an-appointment-time/766651/43 "2016-10-10T21:20:13Z")

</div>

> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> Once we were called back over 20 minutes after the appointment time then I was left alone with a sick, restless 2-year-old in an exam room for another 30 minutes before anyone showed up.
> 
> I am not trying to hijack the thread to a different topic, just emphasizing that the doctor’s office doesn’t give a flying fuck about _your_ schedule.

I had a doctor like that. A good GP, but his staff sucked, as did the entity he worked for. They both overscheduled his appointments and didn’t leave any emergency slots open for the inevitable walk-in patients.

I’d been kept waiting for over two hours a couple of times. Said something to the office staff, who didn’t care. And then one day, I had to go in with a combination asthma attack/bronchitis and was kept in the waiting room for FOUR HOURS, after which I waited forty minutes in the patient room.

So I sent a bill to the office for the half-day vacation time I had to take off work because they couldn’t get their stuff together.

Never had that problem again.

I get that doctors run late, but no one should be that late, all the time.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-medical-offices-not-understand-the-idea-of-an-appointment-time/766651.md?page=2)