I’ve been a patient at the clinic where Omar works for almost eight years now. Although he’s not my GP, I’ve seen him on enough times over the years that we even faintly acknowledge one another in the lobby. Recently I stopped by to try and get an appointment regarding a skin condition and, since my GP was on vacation, the reception arranged for an appointment with Dr. Eikrem. I arrived and was promptly greeted by a med student who was working as his assistant. She dutifully took down my report, examined my skin irritation. I was told to go down to the lab and offer a blood sample for a CRP test and then come back upstairs, at which time Omar would see me. When I came back and waited in the inner lobby I had to listen as Omar in one room discussed my case and condition by phone with the med student in the adjoining room. Although I couldn’t make out much of it because the doors were closed, they were obviously talking about me. This went on for some time. Very weird frankly. It got weirder; the med student came out and brought me back into her office where she wrapped up my appointment with an evaluation and a prescription to get a special skin cream. Now things got really weird, since I realized that Omar was not going to look at me firsthand---despite the fact that he was in the adjoining room. If he was busy, I could have waited. My appointment was with Dr. Eikrem, not a medical student. To make matters worse, as I went out I asked the med student since I was on Frikort if everything was clear and I could leave and didn’t need to pay anything. She said everything was fine.
It wasn’t. I wasn’t automatically included in the clinic’s system and ended up getting billed in full for a consultation where I didn’t even directly get to see the doctor. Irony of ironies is that my GP and her clinic are noted as being a very personal and caring and upfront hands-on place to go if you’re sick.
This was a very unsettling experience, a confidence breaker.
