The Arrogance of Physicians

     June 23 was the date of my annual cardiology appointment.  After the office electrocardiogram, Dr. C. said everything appeared to be in order, and gave me a script for a routine blood  test.  When I was at the checkout (not really) window, I asked the rep if the test results would be  posted on the patient portal. She wasn't sure, but said if any of the results were not as expected, I would be contacted.  Indeed, a sign posted nearby said the same. She asked if I wanted to have the blood test then and there.  I said no, I would do it later.  I hadn't fasted, though they don't seem to care about that.
     July 14, after the 8 hour fasting period indicated on the script, I drove to the lab on Hoosick Street for the bloodwork.  It was a Tuesday, and by Saturday of that week, I had the complete test results.
     In the doctor-knows-best world of that cardiology practice, I would not have received the results until June of 2016, at my next appointment.  The doctor would not have contacted me as none of the results were out of the ordinary.  That is a good thing, but think about the downside of that protocol:   I might have spent time worrying about whether the results were abnormal, without any clue as to how much time should elapse before I felt secure that no call was forthcoming.  Or the test results  may have gotten lost or gone astray.  I have sat in an office where the doctor was unable to access any results. I have been told that a lab had dropped and broken my blood sample.  I don't  know exactly how test results are put into the office system.  Who would decide whether to file them in my patient folder, or alert the doctor that something appears to be abnormal enough to warrant notification?  I do know, in any medical office I have been to in recent years, the doctor looks over any medical reports in the office just before he speaks to you.  In this instance, should I have waited until about May of 2016 before having the blood drawn?  They were prepared to do it then, so the results would be a year old before my next visit.
     Common sense should dictate that any blood work the doctor deems relevant could be done a week or so before the office visit so that the doctor would have the recent results in front of him at your appointment.  As my old science teacher, Mr. McMorris, used to say, " There is no such thing as common sense. It should be called simple sense.  What is called common sense is really not very common at all."