Danger Live Wire!

Went to the doctor today for a checkup. He seemed distracted though. At the appointment’s end, he informed me that he had prescribed me a narcotic. Then he said that he had cancelled the prescription. He had tried to prescribe the drugs for another patient and thought that he was in that patient’s digital chart, but instead he was in my chart. He had to call the pharmacy to cancel the errant script.

This little mix-up in part explains why he was so late in seeing me today, but it doesn’t bode well for the future. He has been my doctor for thirty years. He is about my age or maybe a little younger. I can remember him when Obamacare first began to work its way into his office. He was not shy about making his displeasure with it known. One of its stipulations was the requirement to make all medical records digital. I can remember those appointments. Him hunched over the keyboard, paying more attention to his new robot overlord than me his long time patient. Now he has a medical technician interview me first and she does most of the heavy digital lifting and he is back to concentrating on his patients. It is human to error, but it takes a computer to really screw things up.

Before I was ushered into the little examining room, while I was still in the waiting room, some of the other patients were remarking on a display that announced the newest doctor who was joining the practice. They were surprised with how young he looked, like “right out of high school.” Like my dentist of similar longevity, who retired this year, I expect that my doctor will soon be gone too. Isn’t that just dandy. Just when you get to an age when you might really need a doctor, they up and retire on you.