Sad System

I had an experience this afternoon that opened my eyes to just how bad our public health care system is.

I had to take a client to the Los Angeles County Medical Clinic for minor surgery. The appointment was for 12:30 and we arrived at about noon. The building itself is gloomy and looks like an old mental hospital with ugly greenish cinder block walls and old worn linoleum on the floor. We had trouble finding the intake room and asked a security guard where we should go. He just pointed down the hall. We finally figured out that we should enter a room with a sign on the door that said "Clinic Personnel Only". Intake took about 2 minutes and we were directed to the waiting room.

This was a room that was about 12 feet square. Along the walls were plastic chairs filled with people. There were no magazines, no brochures, no toys for the children who were getting quite bored. There was a tv on the wall but it didn't work. More people arrived and had to sit on the floor in the hallway as every chair was taken. A few people were called in the next hour and even more arrived. And everyone just sat...and waited...

At 1:30 I went back to the intake room to find out when my client was going to be seen. The woman behind the desk looked up at me and said "You just have to wait". I told her that our appointment was for 12:30 and that it was already an hour later. She then told me that the doctor didn't get there until 1:00 anyway. I asked her why they booked appointments at 12:30 when the doctor wasn't there. She said to me "That's just how we do things. Now go wait".

Because I was representing my organization I bit my tongue and went back to the waiting room and waited.

At 2:30 another clinic worker stood in the doorway and said that the doctor had to leave and that we could either wait until about 4 pm or reschedule. My client, who hadn't had lunch just looked at me and groaned. I decided to reschedule. Some of the others who had also been waiting for hours decided to reschedule but most just agreed to wait.

I'm sure that for most of these people, this was all normal and to be expected. And that made me very sad.

I count my blessings. I have health insurance and don't have to go to clinics like this, and my heart goes out to those that do.

I will probably have to bring him back for his rescheduled appointment next Friday. This time I will bring a book and hope that he handles the wait as well as he did today.