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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: July 24th, 2023

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  • Your guesses might be right, but most likely you are talking about the questionnaires about your medical history and what’s called the “review of systems”.

    In the US, medicare and most other insurances require those questions be asked every visit, however stupid that feels. Since your doctor may only get 10 minutes face to face with you, most of us will have an assistant or a paper ask those questions, so that we can say it was done but still have as much time as possible to talk about the more meaningful stuff.

    Some places do it better than others. Usually, though, the form is hard to follow and photocopied to the point of total illegibility.


  • The best way to fix this is to cancel the appointment if they make you wait. If enough people did this the clinic loses money which should cause change. Unfortunately, patients are largely a captive clientele, having already waited months and canceled work and with few if any alternative providers.

    The next best thing is much more realistic. Plaster the internet with reviews complaining of the wait. If your doctor (or more likely your doctor’s employer) does not respect your time, let everyone know.

    Many of the other comments are also correct. I have worked in clinics in government, military, academic centers, venture capital, physician owned, and even free community health centers, all in the USA. Doctors running late is going to happen. I’ve kept patients waiting while in the operating room, while telling someone they have cancer or are losing a limb, and by my burnt out underpaid government scheduler incompetently overbooking. I will also tell you that when I have at least a little control over my own schedule, I’ve never made a patient wait an hour, even with the above happening. It can be done, it just isn’t because for decades timeliness has not been a financial incentive.

    Make it one. Name and shame on google, yelp, zoc doc, wherever. Do it gracefully and sensitively, recognizing that there is a high chance the delay is not the doctor or nurse’s fault. Done right, you’ll do them a favor when their employer feels the sting of lost patients.









  • I’ll try to list things that aren’t in the typical internet echo chamber. Bring on the controversy. These are just my opinions.

    50% of the shelf space at the grocery store is just different forms of corn syrup, sometimes with some trans fat mixed in, generationally twisting our idea of what food is in a race to the cheapest, most addictive product.

    The only way it’s profitable for someone to knock on your door to sell ANYTHING is if they are obscenely inflating the price (think 100-600% markup)

    Most supplements, especially expensive ones with TV ads

    Dr Scholl’s and the goodfeet store

    Genuine leather is just about the opposite of what you’d think

    Bamboo fabric which is pretty much just a different way to say rayon but is pitched as a revolutionary and environmentally friendly cloth

    Most bladeless fans just hide fan blades in the base

    Many cleaning products don’t do better than diluted soap and water (even for sanitizing) especially the ones with TV ads

    Financial planners who are actually financial product salespeople

    Most single-purpose kitchen gadgets, especially as-seen-on-TV

    The realtors racket: I just paid $30k for an internet posting and mediocre advice

    Many personal hygiene products are just repackaging the same two or three active ingredients by the same one or two megacorporations

    Essential oils (even ignoring mystical claims) big names charge an order of magnitude higher than they should



  • The World Health Organization said it was safe up to a certain level. The people in the WHO who said that work for Coca-Cola.

    This means we can’t rely on the recommendation, and the actual “safe” amount may be much lower than that. The article goes into good depth and gives counterarguments too.

    It is important to note that in reality there is no safe amount for a carcinogen. Sometimes a threshold is set to reduce risk to a reasonable amount in necessary workplace exposure or medical treatments.

    The truth is, I think we’ll all eventually realize any sweetener should be seen as candy, not a thirst quencher.